My God is bigger…

In light of the chaos around us, I am taking a detour from our series on yes to address the obvious…

COVID-worldwide pandemic.  Schools closed.  Social distancing.  Working from home.  Homeschooling and homebound.  Travel bans. People sick or out of work. The threat of a health calamity.  Life seems to be out of control.

Yet, in my mind, I keep thinking my God is bigger.

We are not the first ones to experience threats or fears.  The Israelites experienced their “fair-share” of hardships.

They escaped Egyptian slavery and their army, confronted food and water scarcity and homelessness.  They experienced the pursuit of the Egyptian army behind and the Red Sea in front.  In Numbers 16,  14,700 Israelites were killed by an earthquake or a plague.  In Numbers 25, a plague killed 24,000 Israelites.

The Israelites wandered in the desert for 40 years and then fought 13 armies in order to enter the “Promised Land”.  They were God’s “chosen people”.

As I reflect on their journey/hardships: two things stand out.

#1.  The Israelites were tempted to make the giants around them bigger than their God above them.

The Egyptian army seemed bigger.  The Red Sea seem bigger as did their lack of food and water.  The giants of Jericho seemed bigger as did all the armies they would be forced to face. But in the end, God’s people prevailed.

Sometimes we are tempted to fixate on how big our giants are.  But, fixating on our problems distorts our view on things. The giants of Jericho were no match for our God, nor was the Egyptian army, Red Sea or the 13 other armies the Israelites would eventually face.

#2. When faced with unprecedented hardships, Moses did not quit.  He was not bitter. He did not become depressed or anxious.  He finished the work God called him to do. 

In Numbers 27, Moses faced his impending death, his inability to complete his life’s work and his own sin.  I cannot escape Moses’s response to these revelations.

His response to God’s revelation was an appeal for God to appoint someone over the Israelite community to shepherd them.  Moses’s concern was not for himself or his own hardships, rather for God’s people.  His heart was for God’s will to be done regardless of his fate. God directed Moses to commission Joshua so that Joshua could complete Moses’s life work.  Moses obeyed God.

As the chaos of our days ensue, may I suggest:

Don’t make the giants around you bigger than your God above you.

and

Do not quit.  Do not become bitter.  Do not become depressed or anxious.  Finish the work God has called you to do.