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Danger!! Danger!! If you haven’t yet read yesterday’s post, you should do that and then come back to this one. (Well, nothing really bad will happen if you don’t. It’ll just make more sense to you, hopefully.)
OK, so Moses is a mess! Was the problem really all the outside pressures of his life? If so, then Moses was going to stay a mess because “outside pressures” are going to happen.
Let’s listen to what the Shepherd has told us.
Before they left Mt. Sinai, Mo’ was all about the “good” that God had “promised” to do. Remember? He was inviting his father-in-law to join them and get in on it. But where is Moses’ focus now? In his complaints, it’s I…me…I…I and then me…I…I…me and one more “me.” Moses has made it clear that he cannot handle it. That’s OK. We’ve all been there. But it points out that the first sign of trouble was that…
- Moses forgot the promises of God.
It’s so easy to let outside pressures do that — to squeeze the time we need with the Lord out of our schedule. In fact, the pressure can make us so dizzy that we lose focus and begin to think that being able to handle everything depends on US. But that wasn’t all that was happening to Moses.
God reassures Moses that it isn’t all about him and that He is going to provide meat. Oh yea, God was going to PROVIDE! But do you remember how Moses responded? Here’s the second problem…
- Moses doubts the power of God.
Forgetting (or not knowing) what God has said and doubting what God can do is a recipe for all sorts of bad stuff! Of course, don’t we find it easier to blame it on the “outside pressures” rather than to be honest with ourselves and with the Lord and just agree that we’ve laid His Word aside and doubted His power? Isn’t it true when God seems distant that we, the sheep, have moved away from Him rather than the other way around?
Now that we know WHY Moses was all stressed out, what did the Lord tell him?
Did you look at the passage? You really should. Don’t take my word for it, take His!
OK, here’s what I heard.
- Let the Lord surround you with people who can help. (Numbers 11:16-17) [That's the church!]
- Get ready (holy) TODAY for what you hope to see the Lord to do tomorrow. (Numbers 11:18) [That's the importance of the spiritual disciplines.]
- Depend on (trust) the Lord to do what He says! (Numbers 11:23) [That's our only hope.]
Continuing to listen…
Is it possible for someone who was once excited about their relationship with the Lord to get to a point where they just want to give up? If so, what would cause that and what would the Lord do to help?
I asked the Shepherd that and here’s what He told me.
The exodus from Egypt and the parting of the Red Sea have already happened. Moses and the sons of Israel have been on Mt. Sinai for about a year. It’s been quite a year! The people worshiped the golden calf. Moses has proven himself to be a fervent intercessor for the people. And God has given not only the moral law of the ten commandments but the civil and religious laws. Throughout Leviticus and the first nine chapters of Numbers, about sixty times the bible says something like “And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying…”. So, Moses quite literally had a wonderful mountain-top experience with the Lord!
It’s no wonder that when the time came to leave Mt. Sinai, Moses was excited. He even invited his father-in-law to go with them because Moses remembered all the good that God had promised. So, excited about the future and inviting others to join the journey, Moses leads the people off the mountain.
But three days later, the people complain. The Lord is angered, the people cry out, Moses intercedes, and the fire of the Lord that had burned among them dies out. Whew! Surely, the people have learned a lesson.
Nope. They complain again. This time they are complaining about the daily menu. It’s not that God is not providing them something to eat. They want something better. They long for the good ol’ days back at Cafe Bondage in Egypt. Being ungrateful and selfish they just want what they want — meat! (See, sheep am dumb.)
And here’s where Moses loses it! The Moses we now see is very much “displeased.” He is no longer excited about the future. He just wants to die.
So the answer is “Yes.” It IS possible for someone to lose their excitement and passion for the Lord. It happened to Moses. Has that happened to you? I suppose Moses could blame it all on the pressures of life… the complaining people… his responsibilities in life. But is that really the reason? No doubt, those things didn’t help. What do you think? Why not read through the passage (Numbers 10:29-11:23) and listen for the Shepherd to guide you. I’ll be back tomorrow to share the two reasons I found.
Listening for my Shepherd’s voice
I’m concerned about some of our fellow sheep. Have you noticed? Not sleeping well…not eating well because they keep glancing from side to side…their “ba-a-a-a” sounds weak and distressed…more frazzled-looking than fuzzy? Yeah, I’m concerned. Something’s not right.
So, I’ve been listening to the Shepherd.
Here’s part of what He told me yesterday. Now, there’s a LOT there about some false teachers. All of it deserves our attention but the part that really got me was that they are “among” us. Whoa! We need to be on the lookout! They must be disguised like sheep because the Shepherd said they were deceptive. But don’t be scared. The Shepherd gave us lots of clues about how to know who they are…stuff like, they slander the Shepherd’s truth, they’re self-willed, greedy, and they don’t yield to the Shepherd.
The main reason that this should be a concern is that the Shepherd said that “many” of the sheep are going to be hurt by them. The ones that are most at risk are the ones He called “unstable souls”. No wonder so many of the sheep look so overwhelmed! There must be more unstable sheep souls than we first thought! That’s why we’ve got to stick close to the Shepherd and close to one another! It’s SO important that we strengthen our souls by closely following the Shepherd’s voice.
And here’s two things that He said that ought to give us hope!
- God still knows how to rescue His faithful sheep from temptation.
- God still knows how to punish those who aren’t His faithful sheep.
It’s good to listen for the voice of the Shepherd
In the New Testament there are 50+ passages where Christ followers are told to do things with, for, and to “one another.” In other words, none of the sheep can be all that the Shepherd wants them to be or enjoy the life He intends them to enjoy without the flock. We need one another.
This blog is an example of that. The new graphic at the top of this blog is the work of a very talented sheep named Joy. Originally, the heading was this picture of these dumb sheep walking down the middle of a highway. But Joy has donated her giftedness to help this poor ol’ dumb sheep make his blog look even better.
Thanks Joy! You can read more about Joy on her blog.
Listening for the Shepherd’s voice and enjoying the help of His flock
I’ve been thinking. What is it that too often still causes us sheep a lot of trouble? I’m thinking that most of us aren’t into stealing and killing or any of the “big” sins. No, we stumble over “smaller” things don’t we… like having the WISDOM to choose the best things from just the good ones? Or, don’t we still tend to let negative situations overwhelm us as if we have no STRENGTH available to withstand them? Maybe you can think of some more. Here’s what I’m thinking.
It’s nothing new…if you’re one of the sheep, you’ve noticed it too. The Shepherd regularly goes off to a lonely place to pray. (For instance, Matthew 14:23, Mark 1:35, Luke 5:15-16)
But why did He do that? I’m thinking the fully-human side of Him must have needed it. He benefited from it. But what were the benefits?
You probably should look into that. Maybe look at passages like Matthew 4, Luke 6:12-13, Luke 9:28-31, Luke 22:41-42, John 6:15, and John 11:38-43. Let me know what you come up with.
Here’s a rundown of what I found…
- 40 days and nights of prayer gave Him the needed spiritual STRENGTH to resist temptation even though he was physically hungry.
- At the end of a whole night of praying He had the WISDOM to choose the twelve disciples.
- It just so happened that GOD REVEALED MORE about what was going to happen to Him in Jerusalem “while He was praying.”
- He honestly opened His heart to the Father about the cup that was THE FATHER’S WILL.
- Prayer was His RESPONSE when others were trying TO PRESSURE Him into a wrong choice.
- He was getting ready for God to MAKE HIS PRESENCE KNOWN.
OK, so the benefits involve things like strength, wisdom, seeing God, yielding to His will, responding well to outside pressure, and having God’s presence be known. Wow, sounds like the kinds of things that would solve a lot of what we still struggle with. Could it be you and I lack those benefits because we haven’t been regularly, habitually, desperately going off to a lonely place to pray? I’m curious about what you’re thinking.
Listening for my Shepherd
Sheep am dumb . . .and I am a sheep.
Maybe it’s a bad title because I feel the need to explain it every time I think of posting. Again, it’s a good thing if you’re a sheep to know just how dumb you are (in other words, just how badly you need the Good Shepherd).
It doesn’t really fit with the whole “sheep” analogy, but I’ve been thinking lately about just how far beneath our privileges we, as the children of God, seem to live. I may carry on with this in a future post but for now I just wanted to share a link included in an email I got recently.
The link is . . . here
(Too many days in my life have been spent like the cat and not enough like the dog.)
How ’bout you?
Still listening for my Shepherd’s voice.
I am a sheep. . . .and sheep am dumb.
If you’re one of the sheep, don’t be offended. We’re cute. . .we’re fuzzy. But the best part about us is that we have a Good Shepherd.
Of course, the reason He makes us “lie down in green pastures” is because if He doesn’t, we’ll hang out in the same old pasture looking for grass that isn’t there. The reason He leads us “beside quiet waters” is because if the waters are moving, it scares us and we’ll refuse to drink even when we’re thirsty. Now how silly is that?
But isn’t that why our Shepherd is so Good? He knows how silly we can be. He knows we am dumb.
Those other guys . . .the goats. . .they’re really not that much different from me. They do silly things too. But the silliest thing they do is they don’t listen for the Shepherd’s voice. They just haven’t figured out how GOOD the Shepherd is…and how badly they need Him.
So…realizing that I am a dumb sheep is a good thing. It helps to remind me that I need to listen for my Shepherd’s voice. And that’s what this blog is going to be about — listening for His voice.
Some of the other sheep have been telling me that I need to write a blog. I’ll admit. I’m a reluctant blogger. I can’t quite figure out why anyone could be interested in the thoughts of a dumb ol’ sheep. But for now, there’s a new sheep on the blog. Your comments and encouragements are welcome. And as we hear from the Good Shepherd, let’s let one another know.
Listening for His voice
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