Abide – Courage
Hello to each and every one of you and welcome to Abide. It's wonderful to make time to be with our Savior. And, especially in this series on virtues as we live our lives, and more and more do we recognize how these virtues are needed in the world. They need to be planted and grown, developed, to just change our environments, and so here we are doing this good work to cultivate these virtues. And today's virtue is courage. I don't know what you think of when you think of courage, whether you think of the Cowardly Lion in the Wizard of Oz, or maybe you think of The Voyage of the Dawn Treader with Lucy when the words of Aslan are “Courage, dear heart.” Or maybe you think of characters like David in David and Goliath, or even Esther, who we studied weeks ago. So many wonderful Scriptures and narratives for us to uncover, courage for us to think about fortitude and forbearance, strength and endurance, to open ourselves to God, to have the ability to confront fears and uncertainties and intimidation. And so this is the virtue we will open to today.
And so just get yourself situated, wherever you are. We want to be relaxed and yet alert and awake. And it's helpful to find a regular place where you do this prayer time, where you have a routine, or you sort of made a space with a certain trail you walk or a commute you're on, or light a candle, bring a shawl. Make this time to be set apart.
And let's begin to just settle our bodies by taking a nice, steady breath in and exhaling out. And we can begin to settle our minds by just gently letting go of different responsibilities and maybe hats you wear, so the hat you wear as a student, the hat you wear as a family member, a friend. Just the different responsibilities that your mind and body continue to hold and work with. This is a wonderful time to just set those down and create more space.
So as we go into our inner room with Jesus, we sit with him knowing he prepared this place for us. And we set down our different responsibilities, different things that we are attentive to in a day. We get to now bring our attention to our Savior and our longing to abide. And abiding means to connect, to remain, to make our home, to dwell. And so we often make our home in our jobs and in our relationships and in our careers, when we're really meant to abide and connect and remain in this relationship with Jesus. For this is where fullness of life flows. So this is a part of our practice today.
I just give you a moment to ponder why you came to pray today. What is it that you're seeking or desiring un your relationship with God or in your life? What is your intention in coming to prayer today? And you can just open that to God. Share with him your thoughts, your hopes, your longings in this time.
It's good to start out prayer honestly, for God already knows what you're thinking and where your heart is. And so for you to expose that, it just creates a tenderness in yourself and a compassion of God toward you.
And in this space I find it so helpful to grow in our gratitude each day in our prayer, that this would be a wonderful component in how we communicate with God. We could be struggling and having a hard time, but we also can practice gratitude at the same time and allow that to grow in us. So today's gratitude practice, we're going to actually study our hands. And so if you're able to, just allow your hands to come out in front of you so you can look at them. Look at each one of your fingers, your palms, maybe wiggle your fingers. Move them around and notice and marvel at all the bones, nerves, joints, skin. You might notice rings or tattoos or scars. Just notice how God created your hands to serve you. Notice how your hands have changed over the years from when you were a young baby to now. They've become more weathered and maybe even calloused in certain areas, certain spaces. Maybe your hands look like your siblings or your parents or your grandparents. And just observe what your hands do in a day. How they dress you, how they aid in washing your face and your body. How they make your lunch and do your dishes. How they play piano or guitar. How they write letters. How they type. How they drive a car.
Just notice how the right and the left hand have different tasks and work together, how they serve one another. It says in the Scriptures “Apart from me, you can do nothing.” I find it fascinating because God, we can't do anything. We can't move, breathe, talk, without the knowledge that God is the one who works all this in us, whether we recognize it or not, God is so near. And so just take this time to think about all the things your hands do in a day and bring gratitude to God.
Wonderful. So grateful to have two hands that work together to show me what it's like to be humble and work with friends and colleagues, and how we can share the load and be the body of Christ that works so well together. Thank you God for our hands.
And we take this time now to prepare our hearts, to move into the Scriptures. And like I said, there's so many examples of courage, so I just had to choose the one that has been the most instrumental in my own life and my own journey, and that is of Moses. And we’ll be spending time in Exodus Chapter 3 and 4. And so if you'd like to turn to that or open to that or just listen, we'll be starting there and just observing Moses' call, his interactions with God, his responses and how he moves forward. Hear the word of the Lord: Exodus Chapter 3, starting at verse 1.
Now Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law, Jethro, the priest of Midian, and he led his flock to the west side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. And the angel of the LORD appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush. He looked, and behold, the bush was burning, yet it was not consumed. And Moses said, “I will turn aside to see this great sight, why the bush is not burned.” And when the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.” Then, he said, “Do not come near; take your sandals off your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.” And he said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.
Then the Lord said, “I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters. I know their sufferings, and I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites. And now, behold, the cry of the people of Israel has come to me, and I have also seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them. Come, I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.” But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?” He said, “But I will be with you, and this shall be a sign for you, that I have sent you: and when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain.”
Chapter 4, verse 1: Then Moses answered, “But behold, they will not believe me or listen to my voice, for they will say, ‘The LORD did not appear to you.’”
Verse 10: “But Moses said to the LORD, “Oh, my Lord, I am not eloquent either in past or since you have spoken to your servant, but I am slow of speech of tongue.” And then the Lord said to him, “Who has made man's mouth? Who makes him mute, or deaf, or seeing, or blind? Is it not I, the LORD? Now therefore go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall speak.” But he said, “Oh, Lord, please send someone else.” Then the anger of the Lord was kindled against Moses and he said, “Is there not Aaron, your brother, the Levite? I know that he can speak well. Behold, he's coming out to meet you, and when he sees you, he will be glad in his heart. You shall speak to him and put the words in his mouth, and I will be with your mouth and with his mouth and will teach you both what to do. He shall speak for you to the people, and he shall be your mouth, and you shall be as God to him. And take in your hand the staff with which you shall do the signs.”
Allow this word to rest on your ears, on your mind, on your heart, on your body.
Let us look together at verse 1. Now Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law, Jethro, the priest of Midian, and he led his flock to the west side of the wilderness and came to Horeb the mountain of God. And the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush. I'm reminded in this story that God is in our everyday comings and goings. Here Moses is caring for his flock and he notices this bush. Not sure if it's a big bush flaming, or if it's in the corner, if it's small. But he notices it and he goes near it and he inquires and he listens and he has a conversation with God. And so, I want us all to just be reminded that God shows up in our everyday ordinary lives. He's speaking to us and comforting us and inviting us to join him through our colleagues and friends, through strangers, through happenstance. And so it's something just to be aware of, to listen to your life. It's not till Moses went toward the bush that we have this conversation. And so just be still for a moment here, realizing that God isn't off somewhere else, but that he's right here.
When the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am!” And then, he said, “Do not come near and take your sandals off your feet, for the place on which you stand is holy ground. And he said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob.” And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.
Here we see that God calls Moses by name. Here we see that God calls this space that Moses is standing holy. And he also reminds Moses of who he is, that he's in a great lineage of faith, of courage, of belief, of connection. And so God is very aware, of your family line, of who you are, and where you are. He knows you. And this is when Moses hides his face, it's too much to take in.
So I just invite you to think about how you are a part of something bigger than just yourself. You're in a line of, a lineage of believers, and you play a part in it all. And I wonder what your part is to play and what my part is to play.
Verse 7: Then the Lord said, “I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters, and I know their suffering and I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of the land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey to the place of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites and the Jebusites. And now behold the cry of the people of Israel has come to me and I have also seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them. Come, I will send you.” Here we see the task that God has given to Moses. God has heard the cries of his people and he longs to come down and aid them with compassion, with help, with hope, and he's chosen Moses to be a part of that.
And so I ask us all, God has given us tasks. Perhaps to be a student or a friend. Perhaps to a certain work or relationships, and this is when we get to act in the task if we choose it, if we choose to.
Let's see how Moses responds to the task.
But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?” He said, “But I'll be with you, and this shall be a sign for you that I have sent you when you have brought the people of Egypt, you shall serve God on the mountain.” “But behold, they will not believe me or listen to my voice. Oh, my Lord, I am not eloquent in speech.” Then the Lord said, “Who has made man's mouth? Who makes him mute or deaf, or seeing or blind? It is not I, the Lord? Now therefore go, I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall speak.”
So we see here that Moses has a lot of doubts, fears, shame, possibly, about carrying out this task. And so I just have us all spend a little moment here to think about what are our excuses, what are our doubts, in the tasks that God has given us, big and small tasks. Just begin to review what those excuses, those fears, what do they sound like and look like in your own life?
We see here with Moses that God responds by saying: “But I will be with you and I will give you the words, for I'm the one that made your mouth and your tongue.” And so we can trust that in the midst of all of our doubts, there's also a voice of courage, of God believing in us and wanting to provide for us.
And so it's a discipline to turn the volume down of all of our doubts and fears and understandings, and to turn the volume up of God's voice that says “I will be with you, I will give you the words.” I wonder if you spend more time thinking about your doubts, your insecurities, what you lack, more than God's promise of being with you and providing for you.
It also says here that the Lord will provide Aaron, to be a comfort, to help him to speak, to encourage him, so it's important to notice all the guides and the helpers and the friends that continue to encourage you on your journey, to help you carry out your tasks. To encourage you to write that paper, to keep reading, to keep studying. To encourage you to get up and take care of your heart, your body, your soul. We're not in this alone.
And so friends, in this story of Moses, I just want you to know that courage isn’t just a simple brave act. But courage can often have a task before you that you have a lot of doubt and fear. But that doesn't need to stop you. You can move above, beyond and through in the midst of those fears for the greater good. For not just yourself, but for the task and for the people and for the concerns of God, that God would love for you to participate with him for the greater good.
We want to develop courage in our own beings so that we can be a part of something bigger than ourselves, so that we can be a part of that lineage where the baton has been passed to us, and now we have the task to continue to be faithful, to continue to endure, and to say yes to God's tasks that are set before us.
I'd love to bring our prayer to a close with the 1st chapter of Joshua because Moses has finished his part of the task and been courageous to lead the people through the desert, with his staff, with the tablets, with the commandments, with all of the shenanigans of the people, he finished the race and passed the baton to Joshua. And so let us read of Joshua's continuation of courage here.
After the death of Moses the servant of the LORD, the LORD said to Joshua the son of Nun, Moses' assistant, “Moses my servant is dead. Now therefore arise, go over to the Jordan, you and all this people, into the land that I am giving to them, to the people of Israel. Every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon I have given to you, just as I promised to Moses. From the wilderness and this Lebanon as far as the great river, the river of Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites to the Great Sea toward [the] going down of the sun, shall be your territory. No man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life. And just as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not leave you or forsake you. Be strong and courageous, for you shall cause this people to inherit the land that I swore to your fathers to give them. Only be strong and very courageous, being careful to do according to all the law that Moses my servant commanded you. Do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may have good successes wherever you go. This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success. Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened and do not be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.”
Go in peace, my friends, to be strong and courageous in all that God has for you in this day. Big and small. Subtle and loud. Go and walk with him, knowing he is near.
