I’ve learned so much from studying the life of Moses over the years. Yesterday I taught on Exodus 3 & 4 where Moses is facing his own fears of failure and personal inadequacies. Fears that can wreak havoc on my own life at times.
God calls Moses to go back to Egypt and free the Israelites from captivity but Moses is paralyzed by fear.
Exodus 4:1 Moses answered, “What if they do not believe me or listen to me and say, ‘The LORD did not appear to you’?”
In other words..
What if something out there goes wrong?
What if something bad happens to me in the process?
What if I’m not the right guy?
So how does God respond?
Exodus 4: 2 Then the LORD said to him, “What is that in your hand?” “A staff,” he replied.
3 The LORD said, “Throw it on the ground.”
Moses threw it on the ground and it became a snake, and he ran from it. 4 Then the LORD said to him, “Reach out your hand and take it by the tail.” So Moses reached out and took hold of the snake and it turned back into a staff in his hand.
Moses’ staff represented his identity, his income, his influence. But Moses is just an ordinary guy with an ordinary, not so impressive staff.
It’s as if God is saying, ‘Trust me Moses. Lay it down. I can take what you view as normal and unimpressive and do something extraordinary with it.’
I don’t know what ordinary thing you have in your life. I don’t know what your gifts and abilities are, or what your income or influence is. I just know what you have in your hand today is enough to do whatever God calls you to do in the future.
Fill in the blank: The one thing I need to lay down, the one thing I need to trust God with is_________________________.
Great reminder Pete! It is so easy for me to pick my staff back up once I have laid it down…
…my job situation.
Me too! I am trusting in His plan-not mine. Sometimes easier said than done.
My urge and desire to fix everything. I have a tendancy to want to control anf ix everything in my life. I can get caught up in being “the Mom” and forget to trust God to take care of things. Without God our lives would be huge messes, and sometimes we forget that and try to fix things ourselves. When we do that we create BIGGER messes. God has really been working on me the past couple of weeks with this. “Our God is greater. Our God is stronger. God You are higher than any other.”
Great perspective Jaclyn.
AMEN!
I need to lay down the “staff” of doubt/fear and press on.
The physical world, with its obstacles and potholes, so often trumps the reality of the much larger SPIRITUAL world. We only see God as powerful (in our gut) in the lives of others, and in the past.
We are no different than Moses, David, Isaiah, Peter, or Paul. We are all sinful, insufficient men that God can use mightily because He is an all-powerful and CREATIVE God of Love!
Have you ever thought of the creativity God must have to use to get something “good” and “useful” out of us?
Preach it, Pete!
…the process of accomplishing what I feel Him calling me to do.
My Plan B (or is it Plan Z now?)
Great message yesterday as God spoke through you, and yes, as a 60 something headed into a couple of new work realms, the fear of inadequacy can reappear! You probably should have titled yesterday’s message “Mo, Go!” but then again, probably not. Glad to know there is MORE out there for willing, teachable God-followers.
Thanks, Pete.
The difficulty usually rests in our willingness to lay it down. Pray that we will do whatever it takes to lay our all at His feet in humility and love.
Blessings.
My meager talents.
Hi Pete
Why is this so hard ?
The one thing I need to lay down, the one thing I need to trust God with is my abilities. Very ordinary gal, I can see other people’s abilities quite easily however( it gives me all kinds of excuses not to try)…………=[
Interesting that God told Moses to pick up the snake by the tail–the most dangerous way to pick up a snake. It could very well turn around and bite you as opposed to picking it up by the head–where you have more control(if of course you would actually WANT to pick up the snake in the first place). We trusted God on a big financial decision. And it turned around and bit us. However, the lives and relationships restored and our subsequent freedom could only have come about if we made that decision. We were never alone in the process. And now we’re free. Priceless.
For the record I wouldn’t have done it!!!!!
wow, I never saw that before, picking up the snake by the tail vs. the head ……talk about TRUST. THANKS for bringing that up, Joni, profound, glad you made that decision, it gives me hope!
My finances. I’ve been on unemployment for 2 years, lost my benefits this year, and have only been able to find a PT job that pays just above minimum wage…much less than what I need to live on. Definitely learning to completely trust Him with my finances!
Praying for you Jason!
dreams.
The one thing I need to lay down is my insecurity and trust God to help me find the confidence to do what He has said do- in Him..
my husband’s walk with Jesus and whether he will ever hear the call to adopt that I am hearing loud and clear.
My addictive personality,,un healthy desires. My whole Life I need to lay down and put it all in his hands. I need the faith that things will get better, I wont be this way for the rest of my life. Great going Pete !! I wasnt there for church but watched it online here in Orlando Fl. We are away on a vacation for the week,,hated that we missed church so we had church online lastnight,,,Thank you so much !!!
Ministry opportunities
The one thing I need to lay down, the one thing I need to trust God with are my relationships – all of them.
Even my friendships.
I feel like I AM trusting God with everything I can think of, just lately I can’t seem to figure out what He wants me to do. ha
When in doubt I’m thinking the “Love God and Love others” command probably is enough.
My finances.
Moses is a great example to me because I so relate to his fears! Your sermon yesterday brought a whole new light to me regarding Moses. God revealed to him that community is the best was to face the fear and his solution was to use Aaron as his voice. God built us for community. I loved you quote “community is the way I will confront and redeem your desire to give up”. That’s a WOW quote for me. Thanks Pete
I loved your statement, “Fear will always determine the limits of your life.”
Wow. I don’t want limits on my life and in order to remove those, I have to step out in faith.
Thanks for the consistently awesome messages. Looking forward to my first small group meeting tonight at Cultivate Her.
Ministry leadership. I’ve fought myself and God on it for months, and months, and months. I need to lay it down. Actually I have to lay it down.
That is an awesome question! Everyone of us have fears and failures until we learn that ultimately God is truly in control and that He is with us always. Its a trust issue. The biggest fear I have to lay down is answering to God for the things I should have done when He asked of me to do them rather than wait. I want to have time enough to finish the work he gave me to do and my fear is that I wont quite finish. That is something I need to lay down.
My job search.
My marriage
So good. I am very thankful for this post today.
my precious family.
Pete,
I have been reading your blogs for over a year from a good friend Phil Chalos who attends your main campus. I want to say that the “Laying it Down” was an incredible reminder of how much we need to turn to Him and give it all over, not just some things.
I believe it goes back to Joshua 1:9 “to be strong and courageous, do not be terrified do not be discouraged, for I will be with you”.
He laid down His life for me, so why can’t I lay down the simple things in life and give it all over. The reason is human nature, and we want to be in control and not allow Him to be in control.
To lay it all down, we have to be humble and give in, and let His spirit take over in our lives.
My spiritual journey. I have a hard time letting God be God. I feel like I have to do everything “right” or else God is not pleased. I feel like I have to earn His love and grace.
Tenth Avenue North sings a song “By Your Side.” It starts off “Why are you striving these days? Why are you trying to earn grace?” I have to keep telling myself that God gives freely of Himself and I have to let God by God.
Talking with him. Praying by myself, or out loud, in the presence of another human being(s), without being thoroughly self conscious about saying the right thing or sounding stupid.