God asks us to do things at times that are frightening to us because of our presumption that bad things might happen.
Many Christians are afraid to tithe, thinking that God won’t keep His promise to more than make up for the larger gifts to ministry.
Many Christians are afraid to forgive, thinking that if the person hurt us once and it really stung, then that same person will hurt us again and it will sting even more because we could have avoided the pain.
And many Christians are afraid to look for ways to talk about their faith with co-workers, neighbors, relatives, classmates and various other relationships. People have made it clear to them before that they didn’t want to hear about religion and many believers don’t want to catch grief again for evangelizing.
So are we to reject tithing, forgiving and faith-sharing just because of our fears?
You know the answer.
God never criticizes us for having fears. We are human, after all.
What He expects from us, however, is that fear never trumps our faith.
What He expects is that we’ll do what He calls us to do, even those things that shape our faith before we share His message.
There is a potent, relevant passage in Exodus that speaks to this principle. It involves God’s efforts to grow and shape Moses’ faith in advance of the history-changing ministry in Egypt before the escape from bondage.
God called Moses to lead the enslaved Hebrews out of Egypt and into the Promised Land. But that involved Moses going back to Pharoah’s palace and perhaps facing the long-delayed consequences for murdering an Egyptian 40 years earlier.
Not only was Moses afraid of facing the music in Egypt, he had no confidence that the Hebrews would listen to him.
There’s a lesson here for each of us — God never asks us to do something that’s not good for His Kingdom and good for ourselves.
If He calls us to it, He’ll get us through it. And He’ll provide the power we need if we provide the leadership His people need.
But Moses protested again, “What if they won’t believe me or listen to me? What if they say, ‘The Lord never appeared to you?’”
Then the Lord asked him, “What is that in your hand?”
“A shepherd’s staff,” Moses replied.
“Throw it down on the ground,” the Lord told him.
So Moses threw down the staff, and it turned into a snake! Moses jumped back.
Then the Lord told him, “Reach out and grab its tail.”
So Moses reached out and grabbed it, and it turned back into a shepherd’s staff in his hand. (Exodus 4:1-4)
I’m not sure what calling of God on your life has been put on hold because of your fears.
But you certainly know what it is, whether trusting God with tithing or forgiving or with evangelizing.
Reach out and grab the tail of that snake that has been causing you to step back from obedience.
Do what Moses did, believing as Moses did — take your fears by the tail and watch the threat become a great tool for ministry.
From fear to faith. It’s a journey we can all make as we take God at His word.
As always, I love you
Martin
