Get 'Er Done God! Gettin' 'Er Done...

One day, when Moses had grown up, he went out to his people and looked on their burdens, and he saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his people. He looked this way and that, and seeing no one, he struck down the Egyptian and hid him in the sand. When he went out the next day, behold, two Hebrews were struggling together. And he said to the man in the wrong, "Why do you strike your companion?" He answered, "Who made you a prince and a judge over us? Do you mean to kill me as you killed the Egyptian?" Then Moses was afraid, and thought, "Surely the thing is known."
- Exodus 2:11-14

I just came back from a two day training on church planting. Church planting. It is a thing I have done more of than I usually give credit for since though I wasn't the actual head pastor in some cases I was involved in the opening works.

One of the things I recall, and that our conference teachers pressed us to understand is how God values and evaluates success. Also, how, regardless of our own capability the work He calls you to is HIS!

Normally the call of God has little to do with a horizontal view of life; a comparative way of looking at our work and the results of others in like work around us.

In the aforementioned verses we find our old buddy Moses. Here he is. And, Moses looked this way, and he looked that way. Isn't it interesting? He didn't look up. He looked left and right, horizontally, but he ignored the vertical view; he turned what was God's work into Moses work. And what did he do with the results of his murderous anger? Scripture says "he hid the Egyptian in the sand."

Invariably, when we act out of our own paradigm; our own skewed version of righteousness and truth, we end up with something to cover up. We have to bury our motive. We have to hide a contact we've made to manipulate the plan. We have to conceal a lie or create a non or half-truth. We have to backtrack on a boast. We have to cover up the evidence our actions created. It's just a matter of time before truth catches up with us.

There is actually an Egyptian saying based on this story. "The sand always yields its secrets."

Being gifted and skilled also means we possess inherent vulnerability. The highly qualified live on the cutting edge of the enemy's subtle attack - the very adversary who prods you to act out ("You know what to do. Why even bother God?"), to do the right thing at the wrong time. And how does he operate? Most of us know the drill.

We find ourselves moved by a sense of need. We utter a foolish vow, like Jepthah, and live to regret it for the rest of your days. We rush the process along (ah, shortcuts), as Abram and Sarai did when God promised them children, and later find yourself with an Ishmael on your hands. This mocked the child of promise.

Neglecting to ask God's counsel, neglecting to seek God's timing, we step in to handle things prematurely. And by and by, we have a mess on our hands. The thing we create leads to death. Like Moses we have a corpse, we must get a shovel and dig a shallow grave and pray we can reduce or eliminate the evidence against us.

You know the odd thing about all of this? The longer you walk in the Lord, the worse you get at covering things up. Most of us aren't very clever at cover-ups anyway. It amazes me that Moses couldn't even bury an Egyptian right! Makes me wonder if he left the guy's toes sticking out of the sand. He failed simply to cover up the corpse. Why is that? Because we were meant to be lights on a hill and not roaches in the darkness!

But what about years and years later, when God took charge and Moses acted according to the Heavenly Father's timing? Was God able to cover up the Egyptians? If "covering" needs to be done, my suggestion is you let God do the work. God buried the entire Egyptian army under the Red Sea - horses, weapons, chariots, and all!

When God's in it, the job gets done. With the Lord in charge, failure flees. I was reminded God has a specific spiritual purpose. If you have heard it and are struggling to fulfill it, then let go of it in your own strength. Stop looking at how others did it and what their results are...turn your anger, brought on by your frustration...caused by your exasperation in your own limitations to go. Give it back to God and let Him lead your way.

I remain...

InHISgrip,
~J~