Don't Take It In Your Own Hands

This morning I was reading in Acts 7 and Stephen's oration about the working of God through the history of the Jews. As I read about Moses it hit me: when Moses killed the Egyptian he was working on his own strength and supposed calling. The response of the people? "Who has made you a ruler over us?"

Moses was in the wilderness after that fourty more years, and when God called him in the burning bush, Moses refuse to go at first. He questioned God's direction relying on his own strength once again. He gave God excuses for why He should choose someone else.

When Moses finally agreed to go, with the help of his brother Aaron God had provided for assistance, the people followed, though it was a difficult leadership, and in the desert they grumbled to go back for food. God had raised up the leader He desired in Moses, and had Moses not gone through the growth process he did, I cannot say what kind of leader he would have been. God is able to use all circumstances to bring about what He wills, but we must wait for His calling.

Moses was "ready" to lead on his own earlier, but since he pushed ahead of the will of God (did he know much about God since he was raised in an Egyptian home most of his life? He may have from the training and care of his mother while very young, but I wonder how well he knew to wait for God.) he was unsure of himself later when God officially called him to lead.

To application points today. The first is, wait on God. Don't do it yourself because though we might be doing the right thing, it the timing is off, we could mess it up and have to wait longer than necessary to see it come to fulness. Second, if you hear God calling you to do something today that you say in your heart "I tried that and it didn't work," please listen to His voice. If He is calling you do it, it is time and He will work. We are to work in Christ's strength, and in doing things this way, we will be more able to respond to His calling.