PRAYER OF CONSECRATION
Wake up, sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.
Jesus, I belong to you.
I lift up my heart to you.
I set my mind on you.
I fix my eyes on you.
I offer my body to you as a living sacrifice.
Jesus, we belong to you.
Praying in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, amen.
Exodus 2:16–25
Now a priest of Midian had seven daughters, and they came to draw water and fill the troughs to water their father’s flock. Some shepherds came along and drove them away, but Moses got up and came to their rescue and watered their flock.
When the girls returned to Reuel their father, he asked them, “Why have you returned so early today?”
They answered, “An Egyptian rescued us from the shepherds. He even drew water for us and watered the flock.”
“And where is he?” Reuel asked his daughters. “Why did you leave him? Invite him to have something to eat.”
Moses agreed to stay with the man, who gave his daughter Zipporah to Moses in marriage. Zipporah gave birth to a son, and Moses named him Gershom, saying, “I have become a foreigner in a foreign land.”
During that long period, the king of Egypt died. The Israelites groaned in their slavery and cried out, and their cry for help because of their slavery went up to God. God heard their groaning and he remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac and with Jacob. So God looked on the Israelites and was concerned about them.
CONSIDER THIS
Life is what happens when you are making other plans.
Moses’s life seemed to have taken a detour. The text describes this season of Moses’s life as a “long period.”
He thought he did the right thing back in Egypt in coming to the defense of an Israelite slave. No sooner than he left Egypt, he found himself in another confrontation with a group of rogue shepherds trying to attack a band of seven defenseless sisters.
Moses is a good egg, but he is lost, and life goes on. Though good things happen to him, including finding a wife and having a son, he still finds himself somewhere between wasteland and wilderness. The name he gave his son tells the story.
Zipporah gave birth to a son, and Moses named him Gershom, saying, “I have become a foreigner in a foreign land.”
He must have wondered to himself, Why this? Am I being punished? What did I do wrong? He had been exiled twice; first as a baby—forced from his own people, the Israelites—and then from his adopted people, the Egyptians. He had gone from the privilege of the palace to herding sheep in Midian. The name Gershom says it all: “I have become a foreigner in a foreign land.”
Have you ever felt exiled from your life, stuck in a moment you can’t get out of? Things are not turning out as you planned. Something or someone intervenes in your best-laid plans and a promising path turns toward what seems to be an endless exile. “Where did I go wrong?” you ask. You find yourself saying things like, “I have become a foreigner in a foreign land.”
Here’s the good news. When you are doing your best to follow Jesus and it feels like you are exiled from your life, you are not being punished. You are being prepared.
At the same time, Moses is wondering aloud about what happened to his best life, another conversational drama is playing out a hundred miles away—as in, “Meanwhile, back at the ranch . . .”
During that long period, the king of Egypt died. The Israelites groaned in their slavery and cried out, and their cry for help because of their slavery went up to God. God heard their groaning and he remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac and with Jacob. So God looked on the Israelites and was concerned about them.
It can feel like life is an endless losing game of checkers until we discover it was not a game of checkers after all. God was playing chess. And he never loses.
In times like these, we must exchange the “Why me?” question for the “Why this?” inquiry. We must turn out the lights on our pity party and open our hearts to the curriculum of circumstances through which God is preparing us for a future season we cannot yet see, much less imagine.
“I have become a foreigner in a foreign land.”
The future may be a lot closer to home than we realize.
I’ll give the last word today to one of our sowers from the field, pastor and friend, Debo Onabanjo, who hails from Nigeria and pastors in Ohio. (If you have another dance on your daily card, he writes a brilliant daily devotion here.)He made a comment on yesterday’s entry which carries right into today:
“When we encounter Jesus at the Well that springs eternal, our Wasteland will become Graceland.”
THE PRAYER FOR DELIVERANCE
Lord Jesus, you are my Deliverer.
I hear you decree a season of exodus over me, over my family, and my church.
I receive it. And as you decree it, I declare it.
Thank you for all the ways you take hardships and difficult circumstances and weave them into your plan for my good. Because of this, I can thank you for even the hardest of times. I offer up my circumstances, turning away from my victimhood, my bitterness, and even letting go of my own dreams and best-laid plans. I trust you, and because I trust you I trust your path. You are the God who delivers me from lost to found, from exile to home, even from wasteland to graceland.
Prepare my heart, mind, soul, and strength for the deliverance that comes with exodus.
Now let it be as you decree—for my good, for others’ gain, and for your glory.
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost.
As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be. World without end, amen! Amen!
THE JOURNAL PROMPTS
How about it? Ever felt exiled from your life; like “a foreigner in a foreign land”? Maybe even now? How might you make the turn toward trusting God to do something new in the midst of it? What might that look like? How about heading back to yesterday’s well again today?
THE HYMN
Today we will sing “When Peace Like a River (It Is Well)” (hymn 344) from our Seedbed hymnal, Our Great Redeemer’s Praise. Get your copy here.
For the Awakening,
J. D. Walt
P.S. One More from Sower Nation Today
One more from Sower Nation today—Aunt Bette from North Carolina sent me Selah’s incredible rendition of “You Are My Hiding Place,” our spiritual song from yesterday. Listen here. (Volume up and put on repeat.)
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7 Responses
When the Israelites were being held in cruel bondage in Egypt, they groaned and cried out to God because of their slavery. God heard their cry for help and responded with His concern and supernatural action. He took a humbled group of slaves and surrounded them with marvelous demonstrations of the power and greatness of His presence. (See Exodus 2:23-25.)
I woke up today with this thought on in my heart (about “thoughts and prayers”): To let people know that you’re praying for them is one way to show them that you care. Prayer is much more than mere human thoughts. Heart-felt prayer is a cry of compassion and concern that comes from deep within you. It is to humbly and sincerely plead with the Engineer of all that exists to do good on someone’s behalf.
Let the curriculum of circumstances that circumvents you now create a deep craving for God in your heart until your slavery and painful circumstances cause you to begin to continually groan and cry out to Him. Let that curriculum train, empower, and prepare you to always yearn for, hear, surrender to, follow, and obey the risen Jesus.
What an insightful comment on today’s post. I really appreciate your comments on praying for others. It is the greatest act of compassion to take someone else’s concerns to our Father in heaven. We should never despise our wilderness experiences because it will determine the course of our life. Without taking to heart the lessons learnt in the wilderness, we will continue to wander aimlessly even when we manage to get to the Promised Land (Graceland). Grace and peace!
I believe that all true believers have experienced these “exiled into the wilderness “ situations. I know I have, and can confirm that they are ordained by our Heavenly Father for our good, for “We know that all things work together for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose.” (Romans 8:28) I also believe that without these exiled experiences, we could go through our entire lives, doing our own thing, and miss out on the discovery and participation of our true calling. Praise God for His “exile” interventions in our lives!
It’s a joy to sing along each morning! Truly a great feeling to know, “It is well with soul”.
Thank you J. D. or John David as you say sometimes. 😃
Beloved @JDW, thanks for your gracious comments this morning. I have always enjoyed the Wake Up Call (previously The Daily Text) and so excited about this journey through Exodus. It is one of the most consequential Books of the Old Testament and because the Israelites did not take to heart the lessons from their wilderness pilgrimage after their awesome and miraculous rescue from slavery in Egypt, they could not fully appropriate the blessings of the Promised Land. Sadly, many today who have gone through wilderness experiences and have failed to remember and put into practice the teachable moments fail miserably in the Promised Land. That is why I always reference the warning of Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 10:1-13. Grace and peace and I appreciate your friendship.
Another hymn that comes to mind is In Times Like These.
The refrain from Leon Russell’s Stranger In A Strange Land is on a loop in my mind as I ruminate on Exodus 2:16-25.
The world I was once of I am now only in.
Truly, I feel like a stranger in a strange land.
But here’s the good news! I have a reliable guide. Gods own Holy Spirit. He leads me on this journey through the wilderness. My steps are ordered by His Word. I only have to continue doing the next right thing.