“But they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint” (Isaiah 40:31).
The nation of Israel had migrated to Egypt where long after the patriarch Joseph had long passed on, there was a generation of new rulers who had come about without any attachment to his past role in their once liberation from famine. Then one day Moses, “ went out to where his own people were and watched them at their hard labor. He saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his own people. Looking this way and that and seeing no one, he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand” (Exodus 2: 11-12).
Things didn’t work out as he desired. For when Pharaoh heard of the news, “he tried to kill Moses, but Moses fled from Pharaoh and went to live in Midian, where he sat down by a well” (vv 15). A door had been slammed right in the face of Moses, with his hopes of mounting a quick liberation all vanished.
This experience of Moses when one has a particular desire to achieve something is not unique. There are many episodes in the lives of Believers in Christ when they feel a certain urge to achieve something. This might be a job situation. There could be acquisition of a precious object, like land. It might be a matter of travel to somewhere. Or perhaps it is offering a marriage proposal expecting a positive reciprocal affirmation. Then the door is slammed.
Such a denial may leave one confused and upset, perhaps angry with God. These emotions are only natural, except that, it doesn’t mean God has forgotten or abandoned one. For in Moses’s case after a period of forty years, finally, the Lord reveals Himself in the wilderness. He roused Moses with a message, “Go, assemble the elders of Israel and say to them, ‘The Lord, the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob—appeared to me and said: I have watched over you and have seen what has been done to you in Egypt. And I have promised to bring you up out of your misery in Egypt into the land of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites—a land flowing with milk and honey” (vv 16-17). And the rest is history.
As in Moses’s case a door closed does not mean it is shut forever. There are cases where God is pointing you to yet another opportunity down the road. Sometimes it means to wait, for down the road, you will find the door wide open, in the most spectacular way.
Prayer today: Lord Father God of Abraham, maker of heaven and earth, as a new day dawns, where I find a door closed, I start with a fresh hope, for I know where one door is closed, lies another opening; so Lord I pray you give me the patience to wait on you with hope, this I pray in Jesus’s name!
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17/05/2024 - 18/05/2024 All day“And I in righteousness I shall see your face; when I awake, I shall be satisfied with seeing your likeness” (Psalm 17:15)
One of the defining aspects we see in the life of the Lord Jesus Christ is that He began the day with prayer. “Very early in the morning while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed” (Mark 1:35). As he was always surrounded by crowds and after such a busy day before of preaching and engaging the Pharisees in debates this must have been a therapeutic moment for Christ when he would have some good time to himself.
But there was also more. For Jesus being away in a secluded place would also mean a chance to pour out His heart to God, meditate in quietness, plan for the day ahead and listen to the Father. Jesus must have looked up to this moment every day knowing its benefits. Conversations with His Father must have been real and intimate, bringing a certain soothing and uplifting of His spirit. You do not wake up and stick to something on a daily basis that is a drag – this must have been his best time of the day!
Martin Luther the leader of the protestant reformation is reputed to once have said, “I have so much to do that I shall spend the first three hours in prayer.” Here is the point. In the olden days before the arrival of locomotive transport those who were setting out for a long journey on foot had to start early with the first cock crow before the punishing sun came out. One of the things they had to start with also was a good meal, which was fuel needed to give them energy through the long walk to their destiny.
There are no rules about waking up to pray as first thing- or even saying prayer at a defined hour of the day. God is everywhere and ever with us. He is accessible at any time of the day. But there is something special about prioritizing our lives that the first thing we do is to talk to God. Just like the early traveller we need fuel, for the long day ahead!
Prayer for today: Lord Father God of Abraham, maker of heaven and earth, what a joy and privilege to make time at the start of any day, talk and hear from you, for the power I need through the day, this I pray in Jesus’ name!
