Tag: exodus

Never Too Short

On By Judy GlasserIn FebruaryLeave a comment

There are times when I am tired and discouraged and other days when I am sad and feel a little lost.   I also have hours of impatience and frustration.  So I pray.  And then, sometimes, I start wondering –

When is God going to do something about these things that are discouraging me?  When is he going to take care of this struggle?

How can God possibly work this out for my good?  I just don’t see how that’s possible.   Maybe it’s not going to happen.

Then God responds to me like he did to Moses thousands of years ago, “Is the LORD’S arm too short?” Numbers 11:23.

I just have to smile.  This really sets me back in my place.  Because – of course, God’s arm is not too short.  He is the Creator of the Universe, the Great I AM.  He spoke the world into existence.  He sees and knows everything.  Nothing is too hard for him.

When God said this to Moses, Moses was doubting that God could provide meat for all of the Israelites for a month.  The people had started grumbling about eating manna everyday and God responded by saying, “Tomorrow you will eat meat.”

As the leader of these complainers, Moses thought he had to ‘help God’ by figuring out how to get this done.  But he just didn’t see a way to make this happen.   It was impossible!

Yes, it was impossible for human hands.  But there are no limits for God.  His arm is never too short – it reaches across universes that we don’t even know about yet.

So we should not be surprised that the Israelites ate meat – they ate meat until they were sick of it.

God’s arm is not too short but sometimes our faith can be too small.  My faith can be too limited.

Do I really believe that God’s arm is never too short?

Do I really trust him?

Looking for Guidance

On By Judy GlasserIn February1 Comment

Every morning,

looking….

What’s in store for me today?  Do I move?  Do I stay?

I’m imagining what it was like for the Israelites as they began their journey through the desert.  When the Cloud of Guidance covered the tabernacle, they stayed.  When the cloud lifted above the tent, the estimated 2.4 million Israelites packed up and moved on.

There were times they stayed in the same place for months and other times when they were moving again the next morning.  Every time they stopped, they set up the tabernacle right away because God wanted his presence known first and foremost.

Every morning, they would look to the tabernacle to determine their direction for that day.  Everybody could see it – not just the priests and the leaders.  God made this visible to everybody – he wanted all of them to be able to see that he was the one leading them.

What would your life be like if you had that clear guidance from God for each day?  What would it feel like to know for sure you were on the path God had designed for you, confident of God’s presence beside you each step of the way?

Great news!  This is all available to you and to me.  God’s guidance through his Word is available for us each day.  It’s much easier to feel his presence when we’re reading his Word, letting it soak into our hearts and minds.

“Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light to my path.” Psalm 119:105.

He wants me to look to him before I stay or go….

he wants you to check with him on a decision you are making to ensure that’s its going to be the best for you…

he wants me to look to him for help when I’m trying to choose what words to say in a conversation about a difficult subject….

and he wants to be our leader on this journey towards the truth.

I know I need to keep moving forward, growing in my faith and trust in God.  And I’m confident that I’ll stay on the right path when my eyes are focused on him.

I’m watching and I see your light, Abba Father.

Together, We Win!

On By Judy GlasserIn FebruaryLeave a comment

I love the visual image I get as I read Exodus 17.  Moses is holding up his hands with the help of Aaron and Hur as the Israelites fight the Amalekites.  As long as Moses held up his hands, the Israelites were winning.  But, when his hands got tired and he lowered them, the Amalekites started winning.  To help the Israelites win, Aaron and Hur stood on either side of Moses and held his hands up for him.

God’s message to you and I? Together, we win.

This is what our church families should be like.  God tells us in the New Testament that we are all different parts of the same body.  When we all show up and do what we are called to do, we all win.

When we hold each other up, encouraging each other, loving one another, and spurring each other on in this marathon of faith, we stand firm as the body of Christ.

The Kingdom of God dwells on earth for all to see when the people of his church are obedient.

So, let’s hold up each other’s arms and share the victory!

Glory to God!  Amen!  Hallelujah!

The Light of the World

On By Judy GlasserIn FebruaryLeave a comment

Secret Arts.

Those are the words used in Exodus 7 to explain how the Pharaoh’s magicians did the same ‘tricks’ as God did through Moses.

Do you know who the power is behind these ‘secret arts’?  Satan.  And he doesn’t like the fact that I’m pointing him out today.  He loves to lurk in the shadows, creating havoc while speaking lies into our minds.

The battle of good versus evil has raged across our planet ever since the Garden of Eden.  Most of the activity is in the spiritual realm.  This altercation between Satan and God is unusual because it was very visible on earth.

It started when Aaron, Moses’ brother, threw his staff down in front of Pharaoh and it became a snake.  With Satan’s help, Pharaoh’s magicians did the same thing with their staffs.

But here’s a twist – Aaron’s snake swallowed up the other snakes.  In the writing world, we would call this foreshadowing – this is how the whole battle is going to go.  God is all-powerful, Satan is not.

Even after his snakes are eaten right in front of him, Pharaoh remained stubborn and unmoved.  No surprise there – that’s who he was.

Next, God changed the Nile into blood. (Yuck!)  But then Pharaoh’s magicians did the same thing – again with Satan’s help.

Of course, Pharaoh’s heart remained hard and stubborn.

So God sent a plague of frogs which covered the ground as well as the insides of their houses.  Once again, Satan helped Pharaoh’s magicians do the same thing.

Pharaoh’s stubborn refusal to let the Israelites go continued, so God sent a plague of gnats.  But – get this.  Pharaoh’s magicians were unable to produce gnats.

What happened, Satan?  Run out of steam?

Or did the Creator of the Universe get tired of playing your games and shut you down?

Suddenly, Satan no longer replies but we read the deadly result of his continued whispers into Pharaoh’s ear.  Pharaoh’s heart becomes more and more stubborn so God ups his response with the next plague of flies.

Do you notice?  Now the plagues start to only affect the Egyptians, not God’s people.  The 9th plague of darkness is truly amazing to me.  The land was in total darkness – they couldn’t see their hands in front of their faces – except God’s people.  The light still shone down on the people of Israel.

I feel that is true today.  Our world can be such a dark and confusing place – full of disappointment and heartbreak.  Only God brings true light into the darkness.

We can fool ourselves into thinking that money or recognition or a relationship with the right person brings light.  But all of those will eventually feel empty – ‘is this all there is?’ – without God.

Have we figured this out yet?  Our lives will be ‘plagued’ by darkness until we put God in the center.

Thank you for being the Light of the World, Jesus.

What’s in My Hand?

On By Judy GlasserIn JanuaryLeave a comment

Sometimes I don’t feel like I have the right skills or experience or knowledge to do what God is asking me to do.  That’s how Moses felt when God told him to go back to Egypt to free his people from slavery.

“What if they do not believe me or listen to me..?”  Exodus 4:1.   I can hear the worry and concern in Moses’ voice, can’t you?

And then God asked Moses to look at what he already had in his hand and use that to do what God was asking him to do.  Moses was holding his staff in his hand.  As the story of the Exodus unfolds we will read of Moses regularly using his staff in order to do what God is asking him to do.

Applying this to my life, I need to consider what I already have and figure out how to use it to serve God.  What is God asking me to do and what has he already given me in order to accomplish it?  I have a car.  I have a house with chairs.  I have leadership and writing skills.  If I turn off the TV and close down my computer and lay down my phone, I also have time.

When God asked me to start writing this blog, I was already writing a different blog.  So I had everything in my hands to do what he wanted me to do except for time.   I had to take a couple of things out of my already packed schedule to fit in the new blog but God blessed my efforts.  Here I am, 15 years later, still reading through the entire Bible every year and sharing the journey with you in this blog.

I have learned that it’s important to remember when God tells me he wants me to do something that I’m not doing it alone.  God with his supernatural power is working with me – making the impossible possible.  When I focus on what I can do, God takes care of the rest.

The questions God has for you and I today are – what is he asking us to do and what can we use that is already in our hands to do it.