Thank God that we serve a Merciful and Loving Father.
What then shall we say? Is God unjust? Not at all! 15 For he says to Moses,
‘I will have mercy on whom I have mercy,
and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.’ Romans 9
I remember a day when I was upset over something that had happened to me in work (now forgotten, once so crushing, now gone). I asked the Lord to speak to me in my painful situation and the Spirit prompted me to read this scripture. I was encouraged and comforted by it.
The Book of Romans has been described as Paul’s greatest letter to the New Testament Church. Right at the heart of this powerful letter, Paul inserted three chapters about Israel. Surely proving that God still has a future and a destiny for His ‘First Born Son’.
Paul’s quote was part of God’s conversation with Moses in Exodus 33:15. Israel had failed God and Moses by returning to idolatry with the golden calves, when Moses was receiving the Commandments on Mount Sinai. We get to eavesdrop on Moses conversation with God, which the Israelites never did. They stood at the entrance to their tents and worshipped when Moses went to the Tent of Meeting and the pillar of cloud came down. Exodus 33:9 Interestingly, Joshua stayed on at the Tent after Moses left. Was he learning to ‘Wait before God’ when he would succeed Moses as leader?
Moses asked God to go up with him as he led God’s people. Israel had come out of Egypt, no longer slaves, but they still had to come into their inheritance, many battles ahead. We have the blessing of God’s Spirit within today, if we choose to listen, just like Joshua at the Tent of Meeting. Do we have a place for Meeting the Lord in our lives? One of Scotland’s best loved national poets, the late Norman MacCaig, used to sit in a particular chair and often received his next poem. He didn’t stress or strain and he said his poetry often came quite quickly. God wants to speak to us and IT NEEDN’T BE DIFFICULT, just be still and exercise some patience.
10 He says, ‘Be still, and know that I am God; Psalm 46:10
I come apart most mornings to seek a word from the Lord for this blog. Many times I have no idea what I’ll be writing about, but gradually(or swiftly), something will take shape within. It just takes some time and patience for things to come together.
The enemy tries to steal our time and our peace to stop us from being still and hearing/or seeing from the Lord for ourselves. If we’re interested in upgrading our inner life with the Lord it may be a lot easier than we think! Just fix a time and a place to be still and away from distractions. Have an adventure in waiting for God to share with us, as He did with Moses.
God bless and keep you today.