Continuing my 2020 Lenten Journey- with personal thoughts and commentary by Martha McDuff Wiggins on the book “Lord I Want To Know You” by Kay Arthur.
Day 14
Adonai, Your Lord and Master, Part 2
Day 13 was a whole lot of Truth to take in; even if you are a believer who considers him or herself to be Saved and on the ‘right path’. Throughout our life, our faith journey, we must continually evaluate our situations and assess our relationships with others, and most importantly for our salvation, with our God.
Do you call Him ‘Lord, Lord’ and then walk out the door into your day ignoring His nudges? Do you lean in at all to hear His voice, His commands to you? Maybe, in your very busy day and life, you just forget to look and listen for Him. Maybe, you blatantly ignore any nudges or stirrings in your heart, because it is too difficult to do what He asks of you. Maybe, your life is a mess and you are lost. Maybe you truly don’t believe in His promises; that they are for you. Maybe you call Him ‘Lord, Lord’ in lip service because it’s what is expected of you. Maybe you don’t believe He actually exists.
Maybe none of the above examples exactly fit your life or faith situation, only you and God know the real truth of you. No matter what your personal life story is, He wants you. He wants to pour forth abundant blessings in your life. To do so, He needs you to accept Him. Not just as Adonai, Your Lord and Master, but as your loving Creator.
In excerpts from the Old Testament Book of Exodus, we hear Moses pleading with God not to send him as His representative.
“Please, Lord, I have never been eloquent, neither recently nor in time past, nor since Thou hast spoken to Thy servant; for I am slow of speech and slow of tongue.”
If any being should know this, it is God, who created him! God listens and responds to Moses in a way that should quell all his inner anxiety and fear. “Now then go, and I, even I, will be with your mouth, and teach you what your are to say.” Yet, Moses is so lost in his fear he can’t hear what God is actually saying. He continues to ask God to send someone else in his place. “Please, Lord, now send the message by whomever Thou wilt.” The next line in Exodus reads, “Then the anger of the Lord burned against Moses.”
My first reaction to reading that last line was OUCH! I was right in there with Moses, thinking he wasn’t up to the task at hand, and in humility, asking God to let him off this time. I mean, right? Wrong! Moses was actually slapping God in the face! Please hear me out on this.
Can we not question God? Can we not tell Him we don’t like a situation (for whatever reason) that He is asking to us to go into? Can we not be mad that He would ask such a thing of us? Of course we can, and God welcomes the dialogue to bring us around to His way of thinking. However, after God gives you an explanation and the go ahead command, He expects your trusting obedience. He knows you inside and out. He is Adonai, Your Lord and Master. Making a deliberate choice to disobey Him is to risk His wrath, to risk your very salvation.
This is not to say we can’t and don’t make mistakes through our sinful nature. It is truly hard to relinquish total control. Like Moses, self is often our own worst enemy, which Satan continually feeds. Even so, Adonai, Your Lord and Master, provides a path to our redemption, through our sincere repentance and His Beloved Son, Jesus Christ, Our Lord and Savior. Moses, did end up following the Lord’s command to go and speak His message to the Egyptian Pharoh. Anxious and fearful? Probably so, but God gave Him the words to say and prepared the way by opening the ears and heart of the Pharoh.
I have a personal example to share when, much like Moses, I did not want to go where God was wanting me to. In His Grace, He literally dragged me kicking and screaming to my own good. I had been teaching art for ten years in a Catholic school. I loved it. How could teaching, and sharing Him with His flock, in a school of my faith not be where He wanted me to be? I was sure I would be there for a long time to come. However, He had other plans for me. And, He knew I would not just walk away; something would have to happen. Knowing that I was not going to be fired, He would somehow have to make me want to leave. It wasn’t easy for Him, and it wasn’t easy on me. He decided to make me good and angry so I would want to leave. It was a process that had to develop over time. Did I mention He dragged me kicking and screaming to a better place in my life? Everything changed for me. I quit and I was very unhappy about it. I dwelt in the pain and confusion of it for quite some time. After awhile I began to see, in my new situation, that I now had the ability to be there for my family, for my children, in ways I would not have been able to, except by the Grace of God!
So yes, we challenge and fight our path at times. However, in the very end, even if we are dragged or shoved down the path, when we succumb to His Will for us, we are acknowledging His ultimate dominion and rule over our lives. We come to know Him as Adonai, Your Lord and Master and we find our El Shaddai, The All-Sufficient One, waiting there for us.
Mental action to facilitate your Lenten Journey:
Looking back over your life and faith journey, can you see a time(s) when you possibly tried the Lord’s patience with you? Or even angered Him? Afterward, were you able to see Adonai’s hand at work. Were you able to call Him ‘Lord, Lord’ and praise and thank Him? If not, you still can.
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Further action if so inclined:
Do you harbor anger toward God for a situation in your life? Do you know how important it is to bow down before Him and ask what He wants or expects from you in that particular situation? Try to if you can. Question Him, scream in anger at Him, cry the tears of pain. Give it all to Him. He can handle it; He welcomes the interaction with you. He will hear and answer you. He promises; even if answers are not immediately heard, even if you have to repeat the above process more than once. He has been patient with you for a long time. Try to be patient with Him while He works all out for the good of all those involved.
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