A lesson in humility
Posted by superstippy on August 27, 2008
I got one tonight, and it was really cool. Tonight at Shockwave (the Wednesday night, youth worship service at FBCgT) they kicked off a new series called “Wipeout”. The idea came from the TV show, but really the only likeness to that is the Youtube clips they showed, and the games they will do throughout the series. The idea for the focus of the series is how God can redeem us from our moral failures. It seems really cool, and I think He is going to be able to do some great things in the lives of students through it.
Anyway, tonight, Brett (Levy, for those of you who don’t know. He is the youth minister at FBCgT) was talking about Moses, and how he went from being born into Hebrew slavery, then raised as Egyptian royalty, then cast out when he murdered an Egyptian man, then God uses Moses to lead His people out of captivity to the life He promised them…of course they end up messing that up (but who of us hasn’t messed up something that was supposed to be a blessing from God?!). It’s a really cool story, and if you don’t know it…go read the book of Exodus…I digress.
We get to the part of the story where Moses sees the burning bush (ch. 3). Moses kind of sees it, and then realises that this bush is on fire…but not being consumed! So he looks at it a little more closely, and what follows is an incredible encounter with the God of the universe:
When the LORD saw that he turned aside to look, God called to him from the midst of the bush and said, “Moses, Moses! And he said “Here I am.” Then He said, “Do not come near here; remove your sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground” (Exodus 3:4-5)
The point Brett was making out of this passage in relation to our moral failures is that we need to humble ourselves before God when we are coming out of that. It’s a great point, and is 100% true. When he shared the verse though, he kind of paraphrased it in a cool way that set my thought wheels in motion. He (Brett) said something to the effect of:
“What God is saying to Moses here is “Hey, show some respect before you come here, because you’re about to experience something the likes of which you’ve never even heard of. Me.”
I just thought it was really cool to picture God saying it this way.
A lot of time we’re going, going, going, with something that we think (and may be) God inspired, but at some point we take Him out of the loop. True Life? WE CAN DO NOTHING WITHOUT GOD, THE CREATOR OF THE UNIVERSE, WHO KNOWS OUR EVERY THOUGHT!
Whatever it is that we feel God calling us to do we MUST humble ourselves at His feet if we have any SHRED of hope of succeeding. When we pray for guidance from Him, we had better make sure that it is with a heart that knows how unworthy we are of His love.
Yet He gives it anyway.
For me, tonight, that is my deepest desire. That I would develop a more humble attitude toward what God has given me, and allowed me to do/part of, and what He is about to allow me to be a part of. As I embark on my Mission Year, I hope that I experience God in such a way that it would be something the likes of which I have never seen.
Learning all the time,
David
(Sorry this was longer than normal, thanks for giving it a look. I hope it got across the point that I had in my head)
jonathanmobley said
i hear ya dude. i have issues with this often.
some of the incredible things God’s allowed me to be apart of end up inflating my ego.
God has a way of sticking a needle in and deflating it pretty often
so i hear ya
Brett Levy said
Actually Moses had “heard of” God before. He still had his Jewish heritage becasue of the influence of his mother. I believe what I said was Moses needed to humble himself becasue God did not come to Moses because Moses was great, but rather because God is great and He would glorify Himself by using a flawed Moses.
Seriously, my agent is going to be really upset when he finds out I’ve been misquoted and am still waiting on your endorsement check!