Why?


 "Then Moses went back to the Lord and protested,'Why have you brought all this trouble on your own people, Lord? Why did you send me? Ever since I came to Pharaoh as your spokesman, he has been even more brutal to your people. And you have done nothing to rescue them!'" Exodus 5:22-23 

"Okay! Okay!" I said as one more prayer time had been interrupted by the Holy Spirit's conviction to take a step of faith in regards to our giving to the church. We were young, trying to juggle young children, keep up an old house and old cars all on a small single income. The thought of giving more literally took the oxygen right out of my lungs. I "argued" (code word for disobeyed) with God for a long time until I finally relented. Upon increasing our giving, our slow financial decline went into a free fall. "Seriously God! Why did you tell us to do this?!" 

Have you ever been there? Moses was. In Exodus 5, any grand visions of marching into Egypt, giving Pharaoh what for, and marching out triumphantly with God's people were quickly shattered. Pharaoh apparently didn't get the memo and struck out at the people because of the message from God that Moses proclaimed to Pharaoh. He did what he was told to do and things only got worse. In time, he was able to see the bigger picture, but it was rough in the moment. Obedience doesn't equal comfortable and easy. It's an investment into God's bigger purposes, a treasure laid up in heaven.

Our continuous struggle between a here and now perspective and an eternal perspective will not cease this side of eternity. The tension is real. Will we walk by faith or will we walk by sight? In time, God did turn our financial situation around in ways we never could have imagined. Our trust in him grew through that whole difficult process. However, we still struggle every time he calls us to obey and then get hurt when we do so. What about you? An eternal perspective doesn't just happen. It's cultivated in the quiet on our knees. It's fueled by a relentless pursuit of his word. God can still part seas. Are you in? 

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