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Continuing on our journey in Exodus, seeking lessons for our own lives in our own type of Exodus—living in our own form of Egypt, wandering through our own wilderness on our way to the Promised Land. Today, Life in Exodus: Pressured. Our Scripture reading is the familiar Exodus story of the crossing of the Red Sea. Because it is a long passage, I’ll read portions of the story and paraphrase other portions. Exodus 13:17-14:31. (Read) We have our own phrase for what the Israelites were facing, pressed in on one side with the formidable waters of the Red Sea and on the other side the even more formidable force of Pharaoh and the Egyptian army on chariots. Our phrase: Between a rock and a hard place. Facing the pressures of a decision, certainly not of the magnitude the Israelites are facing in this story, but a difficult decision nonetheless, we might speak of it as being between a rock and a hard place. It does not necessarily mean we are facing a dire situation—life or death, as is the case with the Israelites. It does not necessarily mean facing a negative situation, a choice between the lesser of two evils. It might be a decision between two positives—for instance, the offer of a new and challenging job with a new company and a promotion and raise being offered in our current job. We weigh the risk and rewards and find ourselves "between a rock and a hard place" in having to make a decision. Our life in Exodus probably does not include synonymous pressures of facing the Red Sea or the Egyptian army, but we face difficult decisions and pressures at various points in our lives. During such times, people of faith seek guidance from God. Facing difficult decisions is often strong motivation for one to fall to the ground, sometimes literally, and seek wisdom and direction from God. How does God guide us in such moments? First of all, I think it’s important to note two different types of situations we might face in seeking direction from God. One is what I call a "Jonah-like" situation and the other is what I refer to as a "Abraham-Lot" type of decision. Let me explain the distinction. When I was contemplating a call to ministry and attending seminary, I sought the counsel of my pastor, Jim Farley. You might remember Jim as our Guest Leader four years ago for our Consecration Sunday stewardship campaign. The first words of advice Jim gave me when I sought his counsel about going into ministry were words that his pastor had shared with him—and likely his pastor’s pastor had shared with him and so on and so forth—a kind of chain of advice on going into ministry. Jim’s first counsel to me was, "If you can do anything else, do it." Now, that can initially be taken a couple of ways, neither one of them very positive. Was he saying, "Sorry, Ron, you’re just not ministry caliber? You need to do something else, anything but ministry, that would be a disaster imposed upon the Church and Christ Himself!" Or was he saying, "No! Don’t go into ministry! It’s a nightmare. Trust me, you don’t want to go into ministry for a career!" I wasn’t sure which one of those statements he was making in his response, "If you can do anything else, do it," but I knew I didn’t particularly care for either one! Then he explained his statement a bit more. "The call to ministry," he said, "is a Jonah-like call. If God wants you to go into ministry you’ll discover you can’t do anything else. Whatever you do, you won’t find satisfaction or fulfillment in it. It might be that God wants to use you in some other way, in whatever other career or job you might have. But if God wants you in ministry, you’ll find you can do nothing else. Like Jonah, wherever you go you’ll find God intervening and directing you into ministry." So there are some decisions we face in life that are Jonah like decisions. Jonah, called to prophesy to the Ninevites, choosing instead to board a ship heading in the opposite direction of Nineveh, only to find himself tossed overboard during a storm, swallowed by a large fish and, three days later, spit up onto the shores of…Nineveh. Some decisions—particularly calls to serve God in some specific way in ministry—are Jonah-like decisions. Try to do anything else and you find yourself spit out on the shore of whatever particular ministry God is calling you to. Most decisions, however, are what I call "Abraham-Lot like" decisions. From Genesis, chapter 13, prosperity in the new land God has called them to (that was a Jonah-like decision!) has led to pressure on both tribes—Abraham’s and his nephew, Lot’s. They’re growing and the land they are on cannot sustain both tribes. So, a decision must be reached. One must go one way—to the east—and the other must go west. And Abraham, who interestingly is the bearer of the covenant promise from God, invites Lot to choose. I have to admit, if I were Abraham, my temptation would be to say, "Get lost, Lot! I’m the man with the covenant promise. I’ll choose which way I want to go and you can go the other way." Instead, Abraham lets Lot pick, in part I believe, because Abraham knew whichever way he would go the God of the covenant would go with him. Oftentimes, most often, the decisions we feel pressuring us in life are decisions like that. Not a decision between right and wrong, but a decision between two rights. But, which pathway are we to take? Even with the knowledge God goes with us on either pathway, we want to know with some certainty which pathway to take. I want to suggest to you a way to seek guidance today from God. It’s a way I believe helpful toward determining both Jonah-like calls and Abraham-Lot like decisions. And it’s a way I’ve mentioned before—but I believe it is worth repeating. And, besides, I now have visual aids to help you receive it! It comes from a book I read a long time ago, entitled, Take Another Look at Guidance: A Study of How God Guides, by Bob Mumford. And you might recall the analogy Mumford uses for God’s guidance, the story of three lighthouses. Mumford writes of a harbor some place (I don’t recall him identifying the harbor and one of you told me, when I spoke of this analogy several years ago, where you believed the harbor was…but I don’t remember what you told me!) that is very difficult for the captain of a ship to navigate through. And the system for navigating this difficult harbor is a series of three lighthouses. The system is this—to safely travel the direction a ship should go through the harbor, the captain is to line up three lighthouses so that they appear as one. Any course that brings three lighthouses into view needs to be adjusted so that the three line up as one. Mumford suggests that God guides us in a similar way. The three "lighthouses" God uses to guide us are (1) God’s Word, (2), circumstances and (3) God’s Spirit. When facing the pressure of a decision and seeking God’s guidance in that decision, good questions to ask are, What does God’s Word say about it?, What do I sense God’s Spirit is saying to me about it?, and, What are the circumstances I’m facing? Let’s consider a few things about each "lighthouse." First of all, God’s Word. It is here that God calls us back from the precipice of a crazy, sinful decision I spoke about last week. The office flirtation, for example. Circumstances might be lining up to pursue a full blown affair with someone in the office. One might even, mistakenly, believe that God’s Spirit is directing us to such a decision. "But it feels so right when I’m around her!" "If God didn’t want this to happen, why doesn’t He take away this feeling?" Or, "If God didn’t want this to happen, why doesn’t He take away the circumstances?" We can delude ourselves into believing a decision is the right one because of the circumstances and because of the mistaken notion that God’s Spirit is leading us that way. But, clearly, such a decision is a violation of God’s Word. The "lighthouses" aren’t lined up and the conclusion must be that God is not directing us toward such a decision. The first lighthouse to line up is God’s Word. What does God’s Word say about the decision? The second lighthouse I want to address is "circumstances." Are the circumstances in place? Circumstances alone are a terrible reason to make a decision. They must be lined up with the other lighthouses. And they cannot be forced. The lighthouses of God’s Word and God’s Spirit might be lined up, but if the lighthouse of circumstances is not in place then one should not proceed, forcing the circumstances into place. In his book, Mumford speaks to his own experience with this. He was pondering a decision to become a missionary—I believe it was to Brazil. God’s Word certainly supported such a decision. And Mumford felt strongly God’s Spirit directing him to such a decision. But the circumstances weren’t in place and he tried to force them. The result was disastrous and the whole calling fell apart. Until seven years passed…when the circumstances started falling into place. Mumford realized he had been hasty in his decision—lining up two of the lighthouses, but not the third…circumstances. Decisions should not be made on circumstances alone and the circumstances should never be forced. The lighthouse of circumstances must line up with the lighthouses of God’s Word and God’s Spirit. The third lighthouse is God’s Spirit. What do we perceive God’s Spirit is saying to us about a decision? This is a tricky one because we can often fool ourselves into thinking our spirit, our voice, our feelings are God’s. Discerning God’s Spirit requires cultivation. And it comes through participating in the regular disciplines of prayer, meditation and the study and reflection on God’s Word. At first, questions and some confusion about God’s "voice," or God’s Spirit prompting us. Is that God prompting me, or my own thoughts and feelings, or the voices of someone else in my life? But with practice, and much like a newborn baby beginning to recognize the voice of her mother, we begin to properly discern the Spirit of God prompting us—along with the other "lighthouses" of His Word and the circumstances He brings to our lives—prompting us to a decision. Seeking to make a decision that is guided by God is one reason why it is so important to have a regular quiet time with God—a quiet time where we read and reflect on His Word, where we ponder the circumstances we face in life, and where we seek and listen for the prompting of God’s Spirit in our lives. I guess I’ve been encouraging people to do that for years because recently I was invited by someone from my past, someone from our days in Greeley and before seminary, to be a "friend" on Facebook. And somewhere in that invitation she wrote about one thing she remembered about me—that in a small group or a Sunday school class we had participated in, she remembered me often asking the question after someone shared about a challenge or a decision they were making, "How are your quiet times going?" It really is basic and foundational to our journey in the Exodus of our lives. Only on rare occasions will God intervene at a level of the parting of the Red Sea—that is an extraordinary event for an extraordinary time. And very rare are the Jonah-like decisions in life—where whatever we try and do leads us to the inevitable decision of God’s will for our lives. Most decisions in life are more subtle than that. Most decisions, if we are seeking God’s guidance for us in the decision, require lining up the lighthouses of God’s Word, circumstances, and God’s Spirit in order to feel confident we are choosing the pathway of God’s will for our lives. So, I think it is still an appropriate question to ask. As you face whatever situation in life, as you find yourself between a rock and a hard place, facing a decision in which you’d really like to be guided by God in making that decision…"How are your quiet times going?" Let’s take a quiet time moment right now in silent reflection on our answer to that question. |
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