I had prepared for the lesson. I always prepare for the lesson. Not preparing for a time with my youth group would be like showing up to a meal without any food.
However, God sometimes has His own ideas about what's going to happen. I'm okay with this, even though it does throw my Type-A planning style into a bit of a tizzy. Of course, since I often teach others that God is not as concerned about their plans as He is His plans, I suppose that applies to me as well.
It happened again this week.
We were discussing all the excuses Moses was making when God called Him. I'm sure it's not the first time they have heard this idea, but we were rolling along in the story. We came to the part of the story where Moses asks what will happen if the people don't believe God sent him. God provides Moses with a sign. Moses is to throw down his staff. God will turn it into a snake. Then Moses is to pick it up by its tail and it will turn back into a staff.
It was as I was reading this that I realized just how lame Moses' excuses were becoming. Everyone should know that grabbing a snake by its tail is not what you want to do. Personally, I make a habit out of not grabbing snakes anywhere. But grabbing them by the tail is the last place you want to grab them from, since they can curl around and make you regret your last five decisions, starting with, 'let's go play with snakes!'
But Moses does it. He has had an excuse and a question for everything else God wants him to do, but when told to grab a snake by the tail, he does it. Why? I can only assume that Moses either wants to die, so he can get out of going back to Egypt, or he actually does trust God.
I'm leaning towards the latter, which means his excuses are just that...excuses.
Perhaps we should all look past our excuses. If we trust God, I mean really, actually trust Him, then lets do what He says. Choose to lose the excuse.
However, God sometimes has His own ideas about what's going to happen. I'm okay with this, even though it does throw my Type-A planning style into a bit of a tizzy. Of course, since I often teach others that God is not as concerned about their plans as He is His plans, I suppose that applies to me as well.
It happened again this week.
We were discussing all the excuses Moses was making when God called Him. I'm sure it's not the first time they have heard this idea, but we were rolling along in the story. We came to the part of the story where Moses asks what will happen if the people don't believe God sent him. God provides Moses with a sign. Moses is to throw down his staff. God will turn it into a snake. Then Moses is to pick it up by its tail and it will turn back into a staff.
It was as I was reading this that I realized just how lame Moses' excuses were becoming. Everyone should know that grabbing a snake by its tail is not what you want to do. Personally, I make a habit out of not grabbing snakes anywhere. But grabbing them by the tail is the last place you want to grab them from, since they can curl around and make you regret your last five decisions, starting with, 'let's go play with snakes!'
But Moses does it. He has had an excuse and a question for everything else God wants him to do, but when told to grab a snake by the tail, he does it. Why? I can only assume that Moses either wants to die, so he can get out of going back to Egypt, or he actually does trust God.
I'm leaning towards the latter, which means his excuses are just that...excuses.
Perhaps we should all look past our excuses. If we trust God, I mean really, actually trust Him, then lets do what He says. Choose to lose the excuse.
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