GOD'S MIGHTY HAND ALONE

God called Moses out of the land of Midian to return to Egypt. He was to tell the Hebrews that I AM had met with him and the LORD was going to lead them out of bondage and into a spacious land flowing with milk and honey. Moses was to go to Pharaoh and ask him to allow the Hebrews to go out into the desert to worship God. And God also told Moses that Pharaoh would not listen.

In fact, Pharaoh was so angered he decreed that the Hebrews would have to gather their own straw for the bricks they were making and they would have to make the same number of bricks as they were making when they were provided with straw. Of course this embittered the Hebrews and they took their anger out on Moses and Aaron.

When Moses went to the Lord with this problem the Lord told him, Now you will see what I will do to Pharaoh: Because of my mighty hand he will let them go; because of my mighty hand he will drive them out of his country. (Exodus 6:1)

In the eyes of the Hebrews, Moses and Aaron failed when they went before Pharaoh. Not only had Pharaoh not released the Hebrews, he made their bondage worse than it was before. Clearly Moses and Aaron were not men in whom they could put their trust. And I think that was the point! Had Moses and Aaron succeeded in securing the release of the Hebrews, all the attention would have gone to them. Our God is a jealous God who will not share his glory with anyone else. All the glory and praise had to belong solely to him. Pharaoh would go on to demonstrate just how stubborn he could be. God would do miracle after miracle and Pharaoh would harden his heart again and again. It would become clear to the Hebrews that no man could deliver them from such an obstinate ruler. Only God could lead them to freedom!

Here in Shafter, CA we are involved in planting a new church. It is not easy. We are still trying to figure out how God wants us to go about this task. It is becoming more and more apparent to all the others involved that I don’t have all the answers. In fact, none of us has all the answers! Not even all of us put together can come up with very many answers at all! It is slow going. We are trying to understand and reach into the Hispanic culture here in Shafter and we don’t know how to do it.

And that’s good! I am convinced that God has called us to do this ministry. We will pray and seek God’s direction. I believe God will bless us and show us what he wants us to do. It may well take quite awhile. People may begin to wonder if they called the right guy to lead this ministry. It may become very uncomfortable. But when it happens, only God will receive the praise and glory for the church he alone can build. He is a jealous God and will not share his glory with another!