Tag: Work

The LORD Uses All for His Work

Moses was a relatively unknown individual at the time that God chose him. Yes, he had lived in the house of Pharaoh and knew all the comforts of that lifestyle and was known in Egypt. But he had fled that life and was known only as the Egyptian that had saved the flock and delivered the daughters of the Midian priest, so, a relatively unknown.

Isn’t it that way with us. Aren’t we all relatively unknowns in the world. Sure, there are those that are doing the work of the LORD in grand fashion and are known to all. But even they were unknown at the time the LORD called them to do His work.

Other than knowing he was of Jewish lineage, there is no real mention of Moses being a man of God. He was a shepherd in Midian and was called by God through the burning bush.

“2And 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. 3And Moses said, ‘I will turn aside to see this great sight, why the bush is not burned.’ 4When 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.’ 5Then he said, ‘Do not come near; take your sandals off your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.’ 6And 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.” – Exodus 3:2-6 (ESV)

Here is the beginnings of the call of Moses. He was out keeping the flock of sheep and saw a burning bush and went to see what was going on with it. The LORD came to him and introduced himself to Moses.

What an example of God working in ways that can only be described as mysterious. The LORD came to a regular man and commissioned him to do extraordinary work. Moses was asked to take on the leading of Israel out of the bondage of slavery. And, as just a regular guy, look at his response to this commission.

“11But Moses said to God, ‘Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?’” – Exodus 3:11 (ESV)

I believe that I would say something very similar if God were to ask me to take on such a notable task for Him. But, isn’t that how it is all the time? The LORD asks us to act and we do not really know the full impact of what He is asking. All of the actions He commissions us to undertake are notable to Him. My job is simply to take them on and know that I may see myself as a simple, unknown, regular guy, but God sees me as His child and chosen for a reason. God uses us all for His work.

What is your view of your station? Do you see yourself as a simple, unknown, regular person? What if you saw yourself as God does, His child and know that He chooses you for a reason, for His work?

Desire Creates Difficulty

Is there anything wrong with desiring something? I would not think so on the surface as it seems that desiring, or having a goal would be the way to go. After all, should we not have aspirations to achieve greater things.

“16To the woman he said,

“I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing;

in pain you shall bring forth children.

Your desire shall be contrary to your husband,

but he shall rule over you.”

— Genesis 3:16 (ESV)

This morning as I begin a new study on the word “desire”, I start out in Genesis and the fall of Adam and Eve. Here I see that based on the disobedience of the two of them, there were consequences. Yes, the one that we really look at mostly is that now they have seen good and evil and have been removed from the garden as a result of their sin against God. And, there is the beginning of sin for the rest of the world. But there was more.

Looking into the above verse, and with regard to the word desire, I have found difficulty. Thanks to the sin of the woman (she had not been named yet), she would seek things that are different than Adam and would have to understand that Adam would “rule over” her.

Now, depending on the Bible version you are looking at, you may see the word “for” as opposed to “contrary to”. This tripped me up a bit this morning as well. It is not until you look to the statement of ruling over that you realize the conflict between the two. That conflict is based on the desires of the two. The conflict is the difficulty in the relationship. They had been together for a while and all was working out great. Then there was the fall that created a wedge between them and God. In consequence for that wedge, there would also be a conflict between the two (man and woman) going forward. She would “desire” to go one way and he another.

This “desire” was the thing that began or created the difficulty. Man and woman would forever be seeking different things. You may have heard of or read the book “Men are from Mars and Women are from Venus” by John Gray. Now I am not going to get into the book except to say that even the title says it all. Man and woman are vastly different and that difference is the reason for the difficulty in the relationships. Prior to sin, man and woman were partners and companions and helpers to one another working together in the garden for the glory of God. They were there working to attain one goal. And then the fall, and now man and woman sought different things.

I think of my relationship with Lori and over the past 28 years, we have had our ups and downs, and we certainly have different desires. Our marriage is not easy, but it is worth it. We know one another well and as such, we move in sync a lot of the time. But that desire difference is always there and it does and will forever create difficulty that we have to work through. And work is it. Desire creates difficulty that has to be worked through. I have to remember that Lori and I are different and that we have to continue working through things daily.

Whether relationships or aspirations for other things, desire creates difficulty. The old saying “anything worth having is worth fighting for”, certainly applies. Desiring things and achieving them is not easy. There are challenges that will arise and in order to achieve, one has to get through the challenges. Know that your desire will likely be different or “contrary to” someone else. You will have to work it to achieve it.

What do you desire? Is that which you desire different than someone else? What if you were to realize that it was created that way thanks to the sin of man and woman in the garden and that to conquer the desire we have to fight through the difficulty that was created?