The Plumbline

God said to Moses, “Now you’ll see what I’ll do to Pharaoh: With a strong hand he’ll send them out free; with a strong hand he’ll drive them out of his land.” God continued speaking to Moses, reassuring him, “I am God. I appeared to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as The Strong God, but by my name GOD (I Am Present) I was known to them. I also established my covenant with them to give them the land of Canaan, the country in which they lived as sojourners. But now I’ve heard the groaning of the Israelites whom the Egyptians continue to enslave and I’ve remembered my covenant. (Ex. 6:1-6) It is possible to go head-to-head with God and still resist his powerful hand. Pharaoh had been given one warning after another about the Lord’s plan to release his people and to allow them to leave their position of slavery in the courts of Pharaoh. Yet, in the midst of such tremendous warning, Pharaoh resisted the plans of God. It is utterly impossible to escape his plans – even the hardest of hearts can ...

I’m not saying that I have this all together, that I have it made. But I am well on my way, reaching out for Christ, who has so wondrously reached out for me. Friends, don’t get me wrong: By no means do I count myself an expert in all of this, but I’ve got my eye on the goal, where God is beckoning us onward – to Jesus. I’m off and running and I’m not turning back. (Philippians 3:12-14) We can often deal with emotional struggles, physical challenges, or other catastrophic hurtles in our own valiant efforts, all the while thinking that we “have it all together”. The reality of the matter is that we seldom “have it all together” – we are going through the motions, attempting to create a semblance of being assured in our stand or ability. The very best we can do is to create an illusion of “ability”, all the while dealing with intense emotional struggles that if we were to be real would reveal our internal inabilities and stress. Paul knew the joy of reaching out to Jesus – of relying...