July 2023 – Page 2 – A Work in Progress….

July 21, 2023

To seek and make connections…. (devo reflection)

Luke 10:30 In reply Jesus said: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he was attacked by robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead.

I love the way Jesus handles this situation. He knows that this expert of the law is trying to test Him and justify himself, yet He doesn’t bite. He doesn’t yell. He doesn’t tell the expert how very wrong he is, which is an exercise in futility. Instead, He tells him a story, a parable.

Luke 10:31 A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side.

And instead of drawing all the connections and wrapping it up neatly at the end for the expert, He is going to allow him to come to his own conclusions because He knows that He can’t convince the expert of anything and He doesn’t want automatons. He wants His followers to seek and see His truth and follow willingly because they make that decision.

Luke 10:32 So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side.

Lord, I love reading Your scripture and seeing something I didn’t notice before, pondering something that didn’t strike me before. Thank You for opening my eyes to Your truths every time I study Your word. Thank You for allowing me to seek and make connections instead of requiring that I not question, not seek, not ask. Thank You for who You are and who You are to me. Amen.

Luke 10:33 But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him.

Have a blessed day. I love you.

July 20, 2023

What can I learn today? (devo reflection)

Luke 10:25 On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”

Two words jump out at me in today’s scripture. In verse 25, the expert is wanting “to test Jesus,” and in verse 29, he is wanting “to justify himself.” This brings to mind 1 Thessalonians 5:11, “Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.” Neither testing nor justifying is designed to encourage nor build others up.

Luke 10:26 “What is written in the Law?” he replied. “How do you read it?”

I was reading and studying in Acts 9 earlier, specifically verse 4 where the Lord asks Saul, “Why do you persecute me?” I would say that the expert in the law in today’s verses could do with a similar question: “Why do you test Jesus? Why do you justify yourself? What are you trying to do, to prove?”

Luke 10:27 He answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”

Lord, One thing I am gathering loud and clear from Your word lately is that we need to question our own motives to be sure they are pure and we need to seek You with openness and curiosity so that we can hear what You are saying to our hearts. Please help me to always approach scripture with an attitude of “What can I learn today” and not with an attitude aimed at testing You or justifying myself. Amen.

Luke 10:29 But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”

Have a blessed day.

July 19, 2023

The curiosity of Moses…. (devo reflection)

Exodus 4:18a Then Moses went back to Jethro his father-in-law and said to him, “Let me return to my own people in Egypt to see if any of them are still alive.” …

After all the ups and downs of the last few verses, the burning bush, Moses’s hemming and hawing, God’s burning anger, I’m kind of surprised that it ends like this…. Moses just moseys on back to his father-in-law to say, casually, that he wants to leave.

Exodus 4:18b …Jethro said, “Go, and I wish you well.”

And Jethro, the father-in-law whose sheep he was tending that put him in the path of the burning bush in the first place, father of his wife, ostensibly friend of Moses….I wonder what was going through his mind? Was he angry that he was losing his sheepherder? Was he sad that his daughter and her family would be leaving? Did he have any idea that God had orchestrated the events leading up to that moment?

Exodus 4:19 Now the Lord had said to Moses in Midian, “Go back to Egypt, for all those who wanted to kill you are dead.”

Lord, I try to live the philosophy that “We don’t know what we don’t know.” Thank You for reminding me that when it comes to scripture, I often take a lot for granted. Thank You for helping me to read these verses with the curiosity of Moses. Thank You for drawing me closer to You through that curiosity. Help me to always seek You through my curiosity. Amen.

Exodus 4:20 So Moses took his wife and sons, put them on a donkey and started back to Egypt. And he took the staff of God in his hand.

Have a blessed day.

July 18, 2023

Earnestly seeking…. (devo reflection)

Exodus 4:14 Then the Lord’s anger burned against Moses and he said, “What about your brother, Aaron the Levite? I know he can speak well. He is already on his way to meet you, and he will be glad to see you.

I cannot read today’s verses without thinking about Exodus 32 and Aaron readily agreeing to make a golden calf for the Israelites because Moses has been on the mountain for so long and they are afraid he isn’t coming back. If Moses had just agreed to do what God was calling him to do in these verses, Aaron wouldn’t have been with him in verse 32 and the golden calf and broken commandments wouldn’t have happened.

Exodus 4:15 You shall speak to him and put words in his mouth; I will help both of you speak and will teach you what to do.

Imagine my surprise when I read today’s verses and realized that it was God who suggested Aaron go with Moses to speak for him. I thought Moses suggested it. So what does that mean for Exodus 32? God knows all. It’s not like He didn’t realize what would happen. But would Moses have budged now if not for the suggestion of Aaron accompanying him?

Exodus 4:16 He will speak to the people for you, and it will be as if he were your mouth and as if you were God to him.

Lord, I love digging into Your word, seeing and pondering the mysteries. I don’t think my curiosity is for naught. Help me to look and see, to listen and hear, to understand where You need my curiosity to take me. I’m earnestly seeking You, Lord. Help me to understand. Amen.

Exodus 4:17 But take this staff in your hand so you can perform the signs with it.”

Have a blessed day.

July 17, 2023

Pardon your servant…. (devo reflection)

Exodus 4:10 Moses said to the Lord, “Pardon your servant, Lord. I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since you have spoken to your servant. I am slow of speech and tongue.”

Props to Moses for a well thought out argument, but at what point does he go too far? And am I not guilty of the same thing when I grouch and grumble where God has planted me instead of buckling down and doing the work sans griping?

Exodus 4:11 The Lord said to him, “Who gave human beings their mouths? Who makes them deaf or mute? Who gives them sight or makes them blind? Is it not I, the Lord?

BibleHub.com says of verse 13, “Moses means that he will undertake the task if God insists; but that God would do far better to send another.” I would say that Moses has a lot of nerve, but don’t I do the same thing when I grumble? When I lay my problems at His feet and then pick them right back up to worry and fret over them again?

Exodus 4:12 Now go; I will help you speak and will teach you what to say.”

Lord, You are the God of all creation, Creator of heaven and earth. Forgive me when I grumble and complain, when I argue and fret. I don’t want to grumble. I don’t want to worry. You don’t want that for me either. Help me, Jesus. Amen.

Exodus 4:13 But Moses said, “Pardon your servant, Lord. Please send someone else.”

Have a blessed day.

July 16, 2023

A way to process…. (devo reflection)

Exodus 4:6 Then the Lord said, “Put your hand inside your cloak.” So Moses put his hand into his cloak, and when he took it out, the skin was leprous—it had become as white as snow.

Yesterday I pondered whether Moses asking all these questions, which I’ve always read as his fear, could be serving some other purpose and if so, how would that change things. God is asking Moses to lead 600,000 Jewish slaves–who are very comfortable in their lives–out of slavery. And not only that, audaciously, Moses and the Israelites will do this with the Pharaoh’s blessing and with the Egyptians’ possessions in tow.

Exodus 4:7 “Now put it back into your cloak,” he said. So Moses put his hand back into his cloak, and when he took it out, it was restored, like the rest of his flesh.

That’s a big ask. Huge. Moses would be a fool to just jump in without any thought to “What ifs.” Are these questions, is this dialogue, a way for God to help Moses work through his fear? Does it help Moses to process the monumental task before him? Is this where and how fear turns to faith? Is this the process?

Exodus 4:8 Then the Lord said, “If they do not believe you or pay attention to the first sign, they may believe the second.

Lord, I want cut and dried answers and a clear path forward, but life is seldom like that. Thank You for the reminder that You can use all people in all ways for our good and Your glory *if* we allow. Help me, like Moses, to work through my fear so that I can do what You are calling me to do. Amen.

Exodus 4:9 But if they do not believe these two signs or listen to you, take some water from the Nile and pour it on the dry ground. The water you take from the river will become blood on the ground.”

Have a blessed day.

July 15, 2023

How does that change things?…. (devo reflection)

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’?”

I read today’s exchange from the perspective of a parent and think, God wins the “patient parent” award for this one, but the irony of my thinking that is the fact that *I* was the “why” kid. “But why? But what if? But how?” Interestingly, I’ve always assumed it was Moses’s fear that led him here, to these questions, but what if it’s his curiosity? The same curiosity that led him to investigate the burning bush? How does that change things?

Exodus 4:2 Then the Lord said to him, “What is that in your hand?” “A staff,” he replied.

God planted that curiosity in Moses. Without it, Moses would have simply seen the burning bush in the distance and gone on about his business. Could Moses asking these questions, which seems like Moses being afraid and trying to weasel out of God’s plan, be serving some other purpose? If so, what? To what end? How does that change things?

Exodus 4:3 The Lord said, “Throw it on the ground.” Moses threw it on the ground and it became a snake, and he ran from it.

Lord, I have always struggled with my curiosity, its source, its purpose, its use. I truly believe that You made me a curious soul. I truly believe that You can use my curiosity for my good and Your glory. Help my curiosity to be eternally good and useful for You and not an obstacle for what You are calling me to do for You. Help my curiosity to change things for you. Amen.

Exodus 4:4 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.

Have a blessed day.

July 14, 2023

God’s audacious plan…. (devo reflection)

Exodus 3:19 But I know that the king of Egypt will not let you go unless a mighty hand compels him.

What strikes me about today’s scripture is that God’s plan is so audacious. Not only will He, with Moses’s assist, convince Pharaoh to let the Egyptians go, but also He “will make the Egyptians favorably disposed toward this people, so that when you leave you will not go empty-handed.”

Exodus 3:20 So I will stretch out my hand and strike the Egyptians with all the wonders that I will perform among them. After that, he will let you go.

I am reminded of Isaiah 43:19 “See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness….” I am absolutely certain the enslaved Israelites did not see this coming. Moses had no idea what he would find at the burning bush. But God….

Exodus 3:21 “And I will make the Egyptians favorably disposed toward this people, so that when you leave you will not go empty-handed.

Lord, Like Moses, I’m curious yet hesitant. Like the Israelites, I’m comfortable in my current situation and hesitate to change. Thank You that Your thoughts are nothing like my thoughts and Your ways are far beyond anything I can imagine (Isaiah 55:8). Keep pushing me outside of my comfort zone and closer to You. Amen.

Exodus 3:22 Every woman is to ask her neighbor and any woman living in her house for articles of silver and gold and for clothing, which you will put on your sons and daughters. And so you will plunder the Egyptians.”

Have a blessed day.

July 13, 2023

Turn my “But God…” excuses into Your “Because of God…” realities…. (devo reflection)

Exodus 3:18a “The elders of Israel will listen to you….

This is quite the elaborate plan to free the Israelites. It involves both Moses and God acting in concert to bring about freedom. I’m not at all surprised that Moses, in Exodus 4, balks and says, essentially, “But God…”

Exodus 3:18b …Then you and the elders are to go to the king of Egypt and say to him, ‘The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, has met with us. Let us take a three-day journey into the wilderness to offer sacrifices to the Lord our God.’

But God, the King of all creation, knows what we can do and what we can do through Him, with Him, and in Him. He knows Moses’s fears and doubts. He even allows Moses a crutch that will end up causing him trouble, but He knows that He can use Moses in a powerful way, even if Moses doesn’t yet believe it.

Exodus 3:19 But I know that the king of Egypt will not let you go unless a mighty hand compels him.

Lord, Forgive me when I balk at what you are asking of me. Forgive me when I allow my doubts and fears to hinder my saying yes to You. Turn my “But God…” excuses into Your “Because of God…” realities. Help me, Jesus. Amen.

Exodus 3:20 So I will stretch out my hand and strike the Egyptians with all the wonders that I will perform among them. After that, he will let you go.

Have a blessed day.

July 12, 2023July 12, 2023

Putting obstacles in my own path…. (devo reflection)

Exodus 3:15a God also said to Moses, “Say to the Israelites, ‘The Lord, the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob—has sent me to you.’

God is talking to Moses, telling him exactly what he needs to say to the Israelites so that they will understand and believe that He is who He says and does what He promises. The unspoken subtext is: “You, Moses, are my hands, feet, and voice to the Israelites. Here is exactly what you need to say.”

Exodus 3:15b “This is my name forever, the name you shall call me from generation to generation.

It seems pretty cut and dried with little room for doubt….However, Moses, like me, is fleshly and human. He does doubt. He does fear. He does question. He allows God to use him anyway… eventually, but he puts obstacles in his own path because of his doubts.

Exodus 3:16 “Go, assemble the elders of Israel and say to them, ‘The Lord, the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob—appeared to me and said: I have watched over you and have seen what has been done to you in Egypt.

Lord, You are the God of all creation. I am Your hands and feet and voice to the world. Help me not to doubt and fear. Help me not to put obstacles in my own path. Help me to say, “Here I am, Lord” and to listen and obey Your word, Your will. Amen.

Exodus 3:17 And I have promised to bring you up out of your misery in Egypt into the land of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites—a land flowing with milk and honey.’

Have a blessed day.