Exodus 90/Day 9: I Started My Day With Prayer
And it made all the difference…
“But Moses said to the LORD, ‘Oh, my Lord, I am not eloquent, either heretofore or since you have spoken to your servant; but I am slow of speech and of tongue.’ Then the LORD said to him, “Who has made man’s mouth? Who makes him mute, or deaf, or seeing, or blind? Is it not I, the LORD? Now therefore go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall speak.’ but he said, ‘Oh, my LORD send, I pray, some other person.’ Then the anger of the LORD was kindled against Moses and he said, ‘Is there not Aaron, your brother, the Levite? I know that he can speak well, and behold, he is coming out to meet you, and when he sees you he will be glad in his heart. And you shall speak to him and put the words in his mouth, and I will be with your mouth and with his mouth, and will teach you what you shall do…” Exodus 4:10–15
Last night I shared that the subtle shifting of the morning daily hour to the evening changed everything. Well, insanity is doing the same thing and expecting a different result so instead of going down that path I opted to pray in the morning. This post is the result.
What is there to say that is worth saying?
This shouldn't be about me. It already has my face on it way too much. And That is taking away from the message, which is the LORD (I love the way ‘Lord’ is capitalized in some Bibles). Last night wasn't about me being too tired. It was about the incremental change of prayer, of communicating with our LORD that had big changes. After one morning! Imagine a whole week, a whole month, a whole year, two years, five years, a decade, a lifetime!
The message of the daily passage was centered on a part of Moses’ story that doesn't often get ingrained in our minds. God called him and he turned down the offer! Twice! And would continue turning down the offer, the calling! And what angered God (pause — reflect on what it would mean to anger God!) wasn't his shortcomings, his lack of eloquence, but of his little faith. Throughout the Bible we see how often this is said, “You of so little faith…” by prophets in the Old Testament and by Jesus in the New Testament. What was ailing me last night wasn’t my lackluster day or the slip up of my disciplines but it was my lack of faith that God was working on me, in those moments and would continue working on me throughout Exodus 90. I took my eyes off of the Lord! And I placed it on me.
A few years ago at my parish in Oakland (Shiloh — a phenomenal church if you are ever in the Bay Area!), my pastor preached on “trying God for one year.” For one year try God, try to keep your eyes on Him, try to read the Bible yourself, try to attend service/mass more than you had before. Commit to it. Don’t give in after the third month, don’t give in when summer comes around, don’t give in when disaster hits, don’t give in when it seems like you’ve achieved every single one of your goals but instead note these life events and see the year out in fellowship with God for 12 months, 365 days.
That is what comes to mind this morning. A battle against that readiness to through it all away and sink back into old habits and old coping mechanisms.
My ‘Why’ I started this program is because I want to try God for one year. Through the days I don’t pray and through the days I do. I’m nine days into the program and twelve into the year. 81/354 days left…
Amen.
