Moses was concerned, doubtful, worried–what if they don’t believe him? What if he got tongue tied? Can’t you send someone else?
But it’s God who empowers. It’s God who changes hearts.
Later, these signs would not immediately sway a Pharaoh’s hardened heart, but in this chapter, it’s love that brings about worship.
29 Then Moses and Aaron returned to Egypt and called all the elders of Israel together. 30 Aaron told them everything the Lord had told Moses, and Moses performed the miraculous signs as they watched. 31 Then the people of Israel were convinced that the Lord had sent Moses and Aaron. When they heard that the Lord was concerned about them and had seen their misery, they bowed down and worshiped. Exodus 4:31 NLT, emphasis mine.
In Luke, Jesus has been healing and raising the dead, and John asks, “Are you the one?”
But it’s the woman bent over the Lord’s feet, pouring out perfume and tears that underscores: it’s love that brings about worship. He knew her many sins and didn’t turn away from her. In fact, he forgave her.
Paul tells in 1 Corinthians 8:1B: It is love that strengthens the church.
The prettiest words, the best arguments, the fanciest decorations, the strongest resistance–no, no–exclusion, judgment, grudge, spite–matching T-shirts, Facebook pages, Tweets in 140 characters or less–they don’t touch love. I can’t Photoshop it. I can’t Pin it. I can’t sell it. I can only give it away.
It is the heart’s hearing of concern and the seeing of someone’s misery. It is the presence in a sinful life repented, and a forgiveness of wrongs. Oh, I can come up with any number of reasons and excuses to deny it and dispute it (it’s too hard; it’s complicated; do you know what they did; I don’t even like them)–but the barest essence of a life lived in faith is love.
What would your relationships be like if you treated every individual as a potential friend? This comes from Gary Chapman’s book Love as a Way of Life. I think of hurtful relationships, and can’t love shine there? God gives me opportunity to forgive and to love, and I can turn away and say, “Can’t you send someone else?” Like he used Aaron as Moses’ spokesman, he can use someone else for his glory.
But wisdom is shown to be right by the lives of those who follow it. Luke 7:35 NLT.
Lord, empower me, please, to serve you in the places you put me. Love draws people to you, to worship you. I don’t want to stand in the way of anyone getting to worship you–as my withholding of love or forgiveness is not a witness of my faith, but rather of my heart.
Courtney (66books365)
Sixty-six books in a year 