Perfectly Aged

• Printable Version - Share on Facebook - Posted by Dion Todd November 5, 2016 - Filed in Devotional - 9,078 views
  Now, behold, the cry of the children of Israel has come to me. Moreover I have seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them. Come now therefore, and I will send you to Pharaoh, that you may bring forth my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt. Moses said to God, 'Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh, and that I should bring forth the children of Israel out of Egypt?' He said, 'Certainly I will be with you.' Exodus 3:9 WEB
  
  When Moses was a young man, he dreamed of delivering his people from their slavery in Egypt. Once when he saw one of his people being beaten by an Egyptian, he killed the man doing it and hid him in the sand (Exodus 2:12). When Pharaoh found out, he sought to kill Moses.
  
  So Moses had to flee from the land of Egypt. He went and lived with Jethro, a priest of Midian, married his daughter Zipporah, and tended sheep for forty years in the wilderness. The dream of helping his people slowly faded away. When Moses was eighty years old, God appeared to him in a burning bush and told him to return to Egypt, but Moses started making excuses:
  
  - Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh (Exodus 3:11).
  
  - They will not believe me (4:1).
  
  - I am not a good speaker (4:10).
  
  - Please send someone else (4:13).
  
  Moses had become just another humble shepherd and thought that he was all washed up, but God saw that Moses had just become usable and that Moses was just getting warmed up. It is not who you are, but Who it is that sends you. He often hides His people away until they become ready to use.
  
  In my own life, I graduated Bible college when I was young, ready to take the world for Jesus, but only met frustration and closed doors. For twenty years I worked various jobs, and long after I had given up on ever being in ministry, when it never even crossed my mind anymore, He pushed us into the ministry.
  
  I had no desire anymore to minister. I felt like I was empty and knew absolutely nothing. I was content to carry on just as I was and planned to continue working in our computer business until the end. But then He closed every other door, we began to starve, and now here I am writing this. Like Moses, I learned that He can be persuasive.
  
  So when you begin to feel that you are too tired, or too old, or too busy, and the dream that once burned hot within you is now cold and dead. There is still hope. Sometimes God ages us and lets that selfish ambition die before He will use us. Instead of going in your own strength, you will do it in His power. Instead of being washed up, you just might be warmed up.
  
  Prayer: Heavenly Father, I thank you for bringing me this far. I pray that you stir my spirit once again. Revive me Lord. Make me a fire for You. Help me to walk in Your strength and not my own, in the name of Jesus Christ I pray.