Confident Honesty
Scripture – Exodus 4:1-5: 1Moses answered, “What if they do not believe me or listen to me and say, ‘The LORD did not appear to you’?” 2Then the LORD said to him, “What is that in your hand?” “A staff,” he replied. 3The LORD said, “Throw it on the ground.” Moses threw it on the ground and it became a snake, and he ran from it. 4Then the LORD said to him, “Reach out your hand and take it by the tail.” So Moses reached out and took hold of the snake and it turned back into a staff in his hand. 5“This,” said the LORD, “is so that they may believe that the LORD, the God of their fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob—has appeared to you.”
Reflection: This is interesting. The Lord has just said, “The elders of Israel will listen to you.” (yesterday’s reading) Moses’ immediate reply is, “What if they do not…..listen to me?”
So God did His thing with the staff and the snake. Then He pointed out that this is so “they” may believe. At the same time, I’m thinking it’s also so Moses may believe. It makes all the difference in the world if I can move and act with confidence – if I trust God to really know what He’s doing.
I’ve heard from many people over the years who avoid getting into spiritual conversations with other people. They avoid those opportunities because they’re not confident in what they know. They focus on what they don’t know, and they’re afraid they’ll be asked questions they can’t answer.
I know my own experience with Jesus Christ. I know how He affects my life – including my perspective on all of life. I’m not able to answer all the questions people raise. I can only bring a confident honesty to the conversation and trust Christ to do the rest. I’ll keep that in mind today. Besides, most of the time people aren’t so much looking for answers as they are looking for a safe opportunity to talk.
An Invitation: A small group will be meeting this coming Sunday morning from 9:45 – 10:30am to share what we’ve learned and seen in this week’s readings. We meet in the Pastor’s office at Bethel Baptist Church, 13330 Trenton Road in Southgate. Everyone’s welcome to join us.
Reflection: This is interesting. The Lord has just said, “The elders of Israel will listen to you.” (yesterday’s reading) Moses’ immediate reply is, “What if they do not…..listen to me?”
So God did His thing with the staff and the snake. Then He pointed out that this is so “they” may believe. At the same time, I’m thinking it’s also so Moses may believe. It makes all the difference in the world if I can move and act with confidence – if I trust God to really know what He’s doing.
I’ve heard from many people over the years who avoid getting into spiritual conversations with other people. They avoid those opportunities because they’re not confident in what they know. They focus on what they don’t know, and they’re afraid they’ll be asked questions they can’t answer.
I know my own experience with Jesus Christ. I know how He affects my life – including my perspective on all of life. I’m not able to answer all the questions people raise. I can only bring a confident honesty to the conversation and trust Christ to do the rest. I’ll keep that in mind today. Besides, most of the time people aren’t so much looking for answers as they are looking for a safe opportunity to talk.
An Invitation: A small group will be meeting this coming Sunday morning from 9:45 – 10:30am to share what we’ve learned and seen in this week’s readings. We meet in the Pastor’s office at Bethel Baptist Church, 13330 Trenton Road in Southgate. Everyone’s welcome to join us.
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