Acts 7:17–43
Be still: Dear Lord, thank you for your desire to meet with me wherever I am, whatever my circumstances. Please bless this time spent reading Scripture and teach me how to apply it to my life. Amen.
Read: Acts 7:17–43
This is the same Moses they had rejected with the words, ‘Who made you ruler and judge?’ He was sent to be their ruler and deliverer by God himself. (v35)
Encounter: In C.S Lewis' Narnia story Prince Caspian, the children are on a journey where it's vital they reach their destination in time.
They are about to take the most obvious route, when Lucy, the youngest, sees the lion Aslan telling them to go in the opposite direction. But none of her siblings believe her. They take the most direct path, only to come under attack. When they double back, and follow Aslan's direction, they find it was a shortcut all along.
In my walk with Jesus, I’ve sometimes felt prompted to choose paths which in the moment don’t make much sense. Later they do! But little in my life compares to the doubling back and forwards in Moses' life.
Stephen shows the story of Moses is defined by rejection. When Moses first tries to rescue his people, they reject him so strongly that he runs away. Much later, after Moses leads the Israelites out of Egypt, they still turn from God: ' they rejected him and in their hearts turned back to Egypt.'
It can be hard to follow God’s will for our lives for many reasons: lack of trust in God’s provision; a long wait for promises to be fulfilled; longing for what we’ve left behind.
Knowing the tendency of my own heart to wander off-course, I find these lines by the poet Christina Rossetti comforting:
O Lord, when Thou didst call me, dids’t Thou know
My heart disheartened thro’ and thro’,
Still hankering after Egypt full in view
Where cucumbers and melons grow?’
'Yea, I knew.'
God knows our struggle to follow him wholeheartedly, but he never stops calling and loving us.
Apply: God sees our heart-battles to follow his ways. Are there situations you’re reluctant to bring to God, fearing what he’ll say? Write them down or say them aloud; imagine placing each one at Jesus’ feet. What does he do?
Devote: Dear Lord, ‘surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life.’(Ps23) Help me to see your love following me today, and give me faith to allow that love to guide me.