Got excuses?

READ: Esther 4:12-17

Ever felt God calling you to do something? Ever responded with excuses?

If so, you’re like many heroes and heroines of the Bible. For example, Esther. 

Excuse #1 - God’s will is done whether I participate in it or not.

Somewhat true. In Esther’s case, God would save the Jews one way or the other, and Mordecai tells her so. However, as we read in Ephesians 2:10, “We are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” The call of God is the revelation of that work designed uniquely for you, and when you refuse it, the consequences can be both real and painful. For Esther, Mordecai predicted death. For you, it may be that the hungry go unfed, the lonely fall into depression, or your children grow up not knowing the Lord.

Excuse #2 - I do not have the skills to do what God calls me to do.

Moses was slow of speech and tongue; he felt inadequate to serve as God’s mouthpiece to Israel. The Lord said to him, “Who gave human beings their mouths? Who makes them deaf or mute? Who gives them sight or makes them blind? Is it not I, the Lord? Now go; I will help you speak and will teach you what to say.” (Exodus 4:11-12)

Esther understood the power of God and turned to him in fasting and prayer. “You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.” (John 14:14)

Excuse #3 - What God calls me to do is against the rules.

Esther was forbidden from entering the king’s presence unsummoned at penalty of death. In today’s world, many nations forbid proselytizing. Many bosses demand you keep your religion to yourself. Many social circles shun those who profess Biblical truth. Yet as Peter and the other apostles exclaim in Acts 5:29, “We must obey God rather than human beings!”

Excuse #4 - What if I obey God and fail?

As Esther says, “If I perish, I perish.” On the cross, Jesus perished, and yet his attitude was this: “Because the Sovereign LORD helps me, I will not be disgraced. Therefore have I set my face like flint, and I know I will not be put to shame.” (Isaiah 50:7) His perishing was obedience; his obedience, love; his love, God’s glory and our salvation. Take up your cross and follow him.

The powerful call to worship

Then say to Pharaoh, “This is what the Lord says: Israel is my firstborn son, and I told you, ‘Let my son go, so he may worship me...’”  Exodus 4:27

[Requesting permission to speak honestly.]  For much of my Christian life, something inside bristled a bit at God’s insistence upon our worship.  Perhaps the call to glorify him brushed up against my egalitarian notions of equality (admittedly misapplied in this case).  Maybe “worship me” seemed out of character for a humble God.  Most likely it was a “Bah! Humbug!” predictably bubbling up from a sin nature preferring not to exalt anything but itself. 

One morning, the devotional scripture included such a call to worship.  As I meditated on the passage and journaled the thoughts it evoked, my heart began to see worship from another perspective.  For the God who has called us to be his own is a good God, and all we wish life would be – beauty and friendship, peace and joy, life and truth, justice and mercy – is precisely what we find in him.  So what’s not to celebrate?  And who else is worthy of it? 

Moreover, God fights for us, his people and frees us from spiritual bondage.  So to all of the “pharaohs” that oppress us today, God’s command still thunders in authority, “Israel is my firstborn son, and I told you, 'Let my son go, so he may worship me.’” 

Now, all who are in Christ are Abraham’s offspring¹ and have become “the Israel of God”².  And at his word, the darkest of dungeons have no choice but to release us to the goodness of God.

Brokenness must let us go to worship our God who heals. 
Anxiety must let us go to rest in God's perfect peace. 
Sin must let us go to stand before God in righteousness. 
Despondency must let us go to celebrate God in whom we find joy. 
Fear must let us go and worship God in confidence and faith. 
Shame must let us go and worship the God who has claimed us as his own. 
Loneliness must let us go and worship God who calls us friends. 
Weakness must let us go and worship God in whom we find all strength. 
Injustice must let us go and worship the God who claims justice as his own. 
Weariness must let us go and worship in God's rest. 

In his boundless love for us, God wields his limitless power for us.  He is our God, and we are his people. 

So come, let us adore him!  For he is good.  And we are free. 

¹ Galatians 3:29
² Galatians 6:16

And ransom captive Israel

The Lord said to Moses ... “Then say to Pharaoh, 'This is what the Lord says: Israel is my firstborn son ... ‘”  Exodus 4:22

We have all struggled with God, haven't we? All mankind has struggled with God. That's what “Israel” means: “he struggles with God”! 

Yet God commanded Moses to refer to these struggling people – this Israel – as “my firstborn son,” a phrase that would echo throughout centuries, promises and proclamations to come. So then, who is Israel? Who is it that the God of all creation declares to be “my firstborn son”? Incrementally over time, God has shown us ...
 
As God began to reveal himself and his promises to the ancients, “Israel” referred to the people of a race, the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. And God called them, collectively, “my firstborn son.” Yet God would show us more.

For born of that lineage, was Jesus, the promised Messiah. This was the one of whom God had proclaimed in advance, “You are my servant, Israel, in whom I will display my splendor (Isaiah 49:3).” There through the prophet, Isaiah, God called the Messiah, “Israel.” He was God’s “one and only son (John 3:16)” and “the firstborn over all creation (Colossians 1:15).” Yet God would show us more.
 
For it was God’s will that all who believe in this promised Servant should live forever as one in him, with him and through him. And what do all who believe in him have in common? We are “the Israel of God (Galatians 6:16)” and included in “citizenship in Israel (Ephesians 2:12-13).” And we are “the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven (Hebrews 12:23).” And God will show us more.

For Jesus has gone to prepare a new place for us, where there will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain.

And there we, the Israel of God, will struggle no more.

O come, Desire of nations, bind
In one the hearts of all mankind;
Bid Thou our sad divisions cease,
And be Thyself our King of Peace.

Rejoice! Rejoice!
Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.

From "O come, O come, Emmanuel"
Author Unknown