Obedience That Defies Logic

 God gave Moses a HUGE assignment. Moses doubted his own ability to fulfill the mission just like we do. Henry Blackaby wrote in his study Experiencing God when we think things like that, we are really saying more about what we believe about God than what we believe about ourselves. God is powerful enough to work through anyone He chooses. That includes you and me. 

Moses doubted and asked God what if the Israelites would not even believe God appeared to Moses in the first place. God responded with three signs in Exodus 4:1-13. I am only going to address the first one. Moses' profession for forty years was a shepherd. One of the most important tools for a shepherd was his staff. It could be used to prod sheep along, rescue a fallen sheep from a ledge, or fight off prey attacking the sheep. 

God told Moses to throw his staff down on the ground. I find this symbolic. It is like God was saying, "Throw down your identity as a shepherd. Throw down your old way of life. Throw down the familiar and comfortable life you have known for forty years. Throw down living beneath your destiny.  

When Moses threw the staff down it turned into a serpent causing Moses to flee. God told Moses to do something very strange. He told Moses to pick up the serpent by the tail. Everybody knows the business end of a snake is the head. Especially venomous ones. Watch snake handlers catch snakes by the head so they cannot be bit. To pick up a venomous snake by the tail is to invite trouble. It defies logic. Does not make sense. Is irrational. 

I find God often asks us to do things that don't make sense. He tests our faith repeatedly. He constantly pushes us beyond our comfort zones. He nudes us toward things that look illogical. It comes down to obedience by faith. Will we trust what God says or what our eyes see? 

Incredulously Moses stretched out his hand putting himself at risk. When he grabbed the tail it immediately turned back into his staff. I am sure he was greatly relieved. He learned a valuable lesson. God can be trusted.  Even when obedience defies logic. That was to be the first of many tests Moses would face leading the Israelites. Small tests build our faith for the larger assignments down the road. We have a choice to obey or give into logic. 

Best Laid Plans

 I just got off the phone with a distraught friend. She told me how devastated her daughter is because she had to change her scheduled wedding on Saturday to a scaled down version on Friday due to a major ice storm coming to Dallas this weekend. She has dreamed of her wedding day since she was 3. She kept herself pure and waited until she was 29 for God to bring the right man into her life. Now her dream fairy tale wedding will be scaled back to family a few close friends. I can feel her pain. We were scheduled to celebrate our 75th anniversary as a church on Sunday. We are pushing it back a week to February 1 now due to forecasted heavy snows. We had that scheduled since back in the summer. 

We can make our plans, but God alone knows the future. He sees past, present, and future in their entirety. He was in the past. He is in the present. He is waiting for us in the future. God has a plan that He set in motion before this planet existed. He is working that plan to its conclusion. 

Truth is not once did I ever consider the weather could be an issue when we put that date on the calendar to celebrate our 75th anniversary. It has been a very mild winter here this year. We have been lulled to sleep, even though I woke up last Saturday to snow falling. It melted quickly. Forecasters are predicting multiple inches of snow for us and ice further south past Dallas. Everything we ever plan should have the word tentative next to it. We never know what could happen. 

[Is 25:1] starts off with Isaiah exalting and thanking God. Why? Because God has worked wonders. Just consider creation. The varied landscapes, foliage, introduced and concluded with sunrises and sunsets that are stunning each day. His wonders are not limited to creation. Periodically He steps into our worlds doing something stupendous that leaves us awed. He moves mysteriously and masterfully. He weaves a tapestry of His design connecting people and circumstances to a masterplan of His design. 

We plan and program with limited knowledge and confined control of our climate. He sends rain, hail, tornadoes, snow, sunshine, hurricanes, and tsunamis when we least expect them. Such weather events do not fit into our schedules. It is just one more opportunity to be reminded we are not God. We are not in control. Even weather forecasters do not always predict correctly. 

God is precise in His plans. No detail is left to chance. From the beginning of creation God knew He would send snow and ice across a great swath of Texas January 23-25 2026. He knew temperatures would plummet. He knew all this and more in advance. I did not. My friend and her daughter did not either. God works plans formed long ago with perfect faithfulness. 

At the end of the day, we are left to trust. I talked to a preacher who had two preaching events this weekend. Both are now canceled. A training event several in our church were supposed to attend is now canceled. God's plans are moving along according to schedule. While many of our plans are turned upside down, and we scramble to amend the situations, God is at peace. He is not scrambling but firmly in control. I need His peace to get transferred into my heart and mind. No matter what unexpected things might come my way I want to rest in His peace. To take setbacks in stride. To rest easy. To walk and sleep in perfect peace. AAAAHHHHH. Much better when it is turned over into His hands. Wish I had done it in the first place.