January 26
Ex 2:11-3 | PS 22:1-18 | Prov 5:7-14 | Matt 17:10-27
The other day I had to deliver a woman who was just shy of 29 weeks pregnant. She has a multitude of high risk factors and delivered her previous child only a week later. We were watching her for a couple of days in the hospital, but I had a real concern that disaster might strike her child if we did not intervene. She broke down and cried, and seemed panicked. The delivery was to be by cesarean, which she knew, but she broke down again, as she was considering having her tubes removed, but wasn't sure what to do. Her mother was in the room with her and I asked if they would like prayer. Before praying, I explained to them that this is what I did before entering the room with this news. After prayer, I told her that I would leave the room and explained to her that the Holy Spirit will often give peace when you follow His plan, not our own, and that I would accept her verdict no matter what it would be. I came back and in total peace she was prepared to move forward. In another situation recently, I was to perform the surgery on a woman who had just miscarried. Part of the paperwork now includes the option of burying the remains, but for early losses, such as the case I was involved in, this is rarely done except in Orthodox Jewish circles if the life was beyond 12 weeks. The patient that I was caring for was neither Orthodox or had a child more than 12 weeks. She began to panic when she was forced to make this decision. I reminded her that what was left inside her was simply the remains or the tent that housed the soul of her baby. The soul of her baby was already with Jesus. I prayed with her and her husband, and gave them a moment. They had total peace as they signed the papers.
The point I am trying to make is that God has a will for our lives, but at times it doesn't match our wills, and at other times we allow our emotions or feelings to prevent us from listening to His will rather than our own. All too often, even Christians can attempt to follow God's will their own way. When this occurs we get God's permissive will, not His perfect will for our lives. We don't get much of the background, but after 40 years being raised in an Egyptian royal household, Moses feels the call to return to his people and lead them. the problem is that he does it his way. We read in Exodus 2:11-15, "Now it came to pass in those days, when Moses was grown, that he went out to his brethren and looked at their burdens. And he saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his brethren. So he looked this way and that way, and when he saw no one, he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand. And when he went out the second day, behold, two Hebrew men were fighting, and he said to the one who did the wrong, “Why are you striking your companion?” Then he said, “Who made you a prince and a judge over us? Do you intend to kill me as you killed the Egyptian?” So Moses feared and said, “Surely this thing is known!” When Pharaoh heard of this matter, he sought to kill Moses. But Moses fled from the face of Pharaoh and dwelt in the land of Midian; and he sat down by a well." God's will, Moses' way, had disastrous consequences. It is said that Moses spent his first forty years thinking he was a somebody, his next forty years in the desert as a shepherd learning that he was a nobody, then his final forty years learning what God can do through a nobody. We will see Moses as he leads, continuously hesitating to listen to God and follow His lead.
Whether it be choosing a spouse, a college, a church, a job opportunity, even taking the vaccine, which voice were you listening to and which voices are you continuing to listen to. Do you go with the flow and simply do what the rest of society is doing, such as living with your significant other prior to marriage. Do you poll godless individuals, be it friends or family, your doctors, or experts as they are paraded before the camera. God has not stopped communicating with His children. But how often are we listening? He still talks to us through the words of Scripture, are you reading? He still speaks to us through prayer, are you praying? He still speaks to us through other Christians, are you regularly going to services? The Holy Spirit still communicates with us, do we pull ourselves away, get rid of the noise, and listen to Him? God's will, God's way, that is what we should all seek.
Messages from Pastor Lloyd Pulley: