O Radiant Dawn: December 18
Today, we have a treat for you! A whole devotion which will be new to all our readers. It’s a special gift to you as we get within one week of Christmas!
The might of God can be awe-inspiring: a flaming bush that is not consumed. It can also be incredibly unassuming: God-made-man in the form of a tiny child. There are many ways God displays His might, but are we capable of perceiving it? Are we ready to stand as witness to His power? Sometimes in our very person?
In the reading from the third book of Exodus, where Moses encounters the voice of God in the Burning Bush, Moses’ initial response to God is awe. But it very quickly evolves into fear. As soon as Moses is pulled into the equation, the awe he felt at the beginning starts to dissolve into fear about what God is asking of him. Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh, and bring the Israelites out of Egypt? (Exodus 3:11)
It is difficult to maintain that awe and faith in Him when our sights begin to shift to ourselves, to our capabilities, to our achievements. How can the might of God be shown through me, this lowly instrument? How can He work His mighty wonders to overcome the seemingly permanent broken cracks of this world? We fail to see past the weakness in the flesh, the brokenness of the material world, to the invisible Almighty who longs to make His power visible.
As soon as Moses wavers, God attempts to remind Him of Who He Is, but Moses persists in looking at his own deficiencies and the doubts of his fellow man. This is a common occurrence when God asks someone to do big things. The Lord calls upon them to do His work, but they turn their gaze upon their own capabilities, not keeping their focus on the One who calls them —the Omnipotent One who is with them through it all. (Exodus 3:12)
Do I not see this at play in my own life? I want to say with a resounding ‘YES!’ that I absolutely believe in the almighty power of God, but when I further interrogate the depths of my heart, I falter. Because, when it comes down to it, like Moses, I start to question how God can work through and in this fallen world to make seemingly impossible things come to fruition.
I’ve SEEN His might at work, yet I still often wonder if He really is capable of resolving a never-ending family dispute, healing a sick child, turning away an impending storm, healing a heart from gut-wrenching loss, finding a lost item…. All the things big and small which we carry with worry and concern, can He truly resolve them?
And when He seeks to use us as an instrument, do we make excuses and try to run and hide, or do we stand in the truth that He can work a good thing through us without question? Pride makes us proclaim we are not the one for the job, that God is not capable of using us as His instrument. In the heat of the moment, there is no way I’m going along with this plan.
The only way to overcome the fear and stand in awe once more is a posture of surrender.
Let it be with me according to your word. (Luke 1:37)
We must surrender to Who He Is and what He is capable of, keeping our eyes fixed on Him.
Paradoxically, the more we allow the Lord to work within us, the more we image God and become uniquely who we were made to be. He does not mean to consume us, but transform us --and, through us, transform the world.