WATER OF LIFE

Not only do I see myself in Abrahams’ being drawn to distant lands but also in Moses’ being “drawn to what needed to be righted. Throughout his life, he was at his finest and his worst responding to the conflicts around him. Even the burning bush experience was an illustration of his character. Having spotted the fire and seen the bush did not burn, he had to investigate. Whether jumping into a fight to defend a Hebrew slave or trying to referee a struggle between two kinsmen, when Moses saw conflict he reacted. Over the years, he didn’t stop reacting but learned to react correctly.” (LASB)

I, like Moses, am drawn to situations that need to be righted and sometimes react in the wrong way. And if I saw a fire in a bush that didn’t burn I would be the first to go and check it out. However, I do avoid conflict and that becomes a problem because things add up and I finally have to say something.

God gave Moses the gift of standing up for what was right. And this was a gift that needed to be used when giving the Israelites all of God’s commands and laws and holding them to them and even killing some of them who rejected God after he came down off the mountain.

Standing up for what was right was a gift to be used to hold God’s people to the refinement God was doing in them, in the face of grumbling and complaining and attacks on Moses’ character. God didn’t give Moses gifts of a warrior like Joshua. God used Moses to lead and hold the people accountable in the desert. In contrast, God used Joshua to lead the people in conquering the peoples of, Canaan, the promised land.

Moses never experienced the comforts and security of the promised land because God had called him and gave him gifts and abilities to lead in a desert place. For years God trained Moses how to be a shepherd and live in the desert while he was in Midian (before he went back to free his people). God used that ability in Moses in the Israelites desert wanderings. Moses also married a woman of the desert which also is another confirmation of his calling to the desert. Moses wife wasn’t an Israelite and maybe that is another reason why God didn’t use Moses to lead the conquest of Canaan because God would tell the Israelites they were not to make wives of any of the people of Canaan lest they fall into sin because of those Canaanite wives worship of false gods. I see myself also in not ever really finding a comfortable place in my life. And maybe I am similar to Moses with his strings of conflict, difficulties, hardship, and wandering. Moses never entered the promised land because of his one disobedience (hitting the rock to make water) BUT THAT WAS ALL PART OF God’s plan because God needed Moses to keep the Israelites faithful in the desert for forty years and he needed Joshua to conquer the promised land. Some of us never experience a promised land in our lives because our gifts have been made for a desert place. I”M GETTING THE SENSE THIS IS TRUE FOR ME TOO>

God made a leader out of a man with no self-confidence. I resonate with that part of Moses because I also lack self confidence unless its a situation I feel very strongly about and then I react, sometimes very much like Moses throwing down and breaking the stone tablets that he just spent forty days making with God, and having to confront the problems at hand and starting all over again.

Moses was fed up with their backsliding, grumbling and attacking him and in his anger he reacted and struck the rock to give them water but he did it out of anger and in a way contrary to what God had told him. And he paid a heavy price for his sin, God wouldn’t let him enter the promised land. And like Moses I have to be careful how I react, being ever conscious of God’s Word and His leading in every situation and not letting my anger cause me to sin.

Moses may have lacked self-confidence but he wasn’t a coward. He stood up against those greater than him in position or number, yet not always for the right thing or in the right manner. He challenged God by telling Him he couldn’t do the job of leading the Israelites out of Egypt because he wasn’t a good speaker. He also turned God away from destroying the ISRAELITES AFTER THEY WORSHIPPED THE GOLDEN CALF> He challenged the supremacy of the male shepherds over the female ones at the well in Midian. He confronted the King/ Pharaoh of Egypt over and over to the point the Pharaoh said he’d kill him if he saw him again. The Israelites were on several occasions either complaining or attacking Moses and he reacted according to God’s instruction except for the one time he let his anger get the best of him and he took matters into his own hands.

“God did not change who or what Moses was; He did not give Moses new abilities or strengths. Instead, he took Moses’ characteristics and molded them until they were suited to his purposes.” (LASB) I can’t deny I have a heart for standing up for what is right. Obviously, it would be easier to be the humorous office worker that everyone enjoys to be around but that isn’t my ability or strength. He has given me a love for His Word and ways, and an ability to be a ethical rudder in the workplace. HE HAS ALSO GIVEN ME A STRONG AVERSION TO AND DISCERNMENT OF SIN WHICH ALSO ISN”T POPULAR IN A WORKPLACE AND CULTURE THAT RATIONALIZES SIN IN THE NAME OF TOLERANCE> As a result I come off as too serious or even judgmental.

Loving God comes easier to me but I still have to practice at loving others. I FEEL I am being loving through my strength in standing up for what is right but I also have to remember that love keeps no record of wrongs and that is sometimes my weakness.

Do not nurse hatred in your heart for any of your relatives. Confront people directly so you will not be held guilty for their sin. Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against a fellow Israelite, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the LORD Lev. 19:17-18

When I first started reading the New Testament I loved the brutal honesty of Paul and envisioned myself similar to him but four years later I can’t imagine having the faith that endures persecution and suffering like he did.

Later I thought I was more like Joseph—especially with his dream interpretation—and I even imagined that my previous circumstances at work in Hawaii were like his imprisonment and suffering but today I can see that I also couldn’t have the faith of Joseph, patiently waiting for Gods plan to unfold while in circumstances I just can’t understand and enduring complete injustice.

Jeremiah kept confronting Gods people with Gods Word. And he knew they would attack him but he also knew the conviction in his heart that sustained him. Paul persuaded Roman and Jewish leaders to hear his gospel while being persecuted for it. Jeremiah spoke mainly to God’s people about their sin and especially to the Israelite leadership who should have know better. Jeremiah confronted sin, Paul confronted them with the truth about Jesus. I completely resonate with Jeremiah and not as much with Paul. Evangelizing non-believers isn’t my strength but maybe convicting believers of God’s truth is. Even yesterday I was telling someone at work how if the program goals conflicted with Gods truth that Christians must stand up. At the same time I was thinking about the issue of muslim worship in the youth center that I raised with my boss in Hawaii.

Lastly, probably the closest one I FEEL I am similar to, even more than Jeremiah—since I’ve proven I’m not good at suffering—is Abraham. He followed where He felt God was leading him—into new places and different lands. He didn’t pursue the easy comforts of settling in one place near family. He pursued Jesus’ calling him into other lands. I too have left the comforts of familiar places, friends and family, to seek something deeper. He called me away from my hometown and later away from our comfortable Hawaiian paradise and our friends and church there. I was ready to leave Hawaii. I was hungry for something deeper in Him but Alaska has been a desert place to me—a wandering in the wilderness—where everyday the climate wears on me and continual little misfortunes add up.

Yes, God does bring people to Alaska to grow them, because places like Fairbanks have very little distractions compared to places like Hawaii or California. He also opened my eyes this Christmas to how even my hometown, Fort Collins, can have so many comforts (sunny weather, low cost of living, quality of life, etc.) that its easy to be a complacent Christian in Colorado.

One co-worker said they are thankful for the negative 40 degree weather in Fairbanks because it gets rid of the riffraff. The difficult climate truly is one of God’s refining tools. The overpriced, unattractive, ho-hum town is also a kind of sandpaper on my soul. I’m having difficulty keeping completely surrendered to his will. His discipline is lighter the closer I stick to him and the peace comes more easily—but that is easier said than done, when my very flesh and soul cry out for escape.

The Army (as well as the Federal Government) have long since turned away from God.

THE Army spends a lot of money on psychologists (MFLACs) and social workers (ACS) to try to help soldiers and their families. Yet, there is still a rampant culture of adultery on bases and an astronomical divorce rate of deployment returnees.

The Army also spends lots of money on technology to attract youth and even made the teen centers free; yet, many of the youth centers are poorly attended.

I believe that Christians have no need for psychology but many disagree with me. However, few can disagree that the federal government has used psychology and social programs to replace God’s Word and faith-based programs.

God is the only one who can heal the Army’s families and guide and protect the youth from the devices of the enemy. All we have to do is look at the armies in the Old Testament for examples of ones that succeeded when they followed God and failed when they turned away from God.

When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command the locust to devour the land, or send pestilence among my people, if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.
2 Chronicles 7:13-14

I’m already hating the dark and the cold here in Alaska and it’s not really the worst yet. January gets four hours of sun and negative forty degrees.

We receive a regular email updates from Japan Mission. It is interesting how the Lord uses these emails to speak to me. This week’s scripture was:

From whose womb comes the ice?
Who gives birth to the frost from the heavens
when the waters become hard as stone,
when the surface of the deep is frozen?
(Job 38:29-30, NIV).

When I was applying for jobs (before I landed this one in Alaska) I applied for plenty of them overseas. The song that ran through my mind was Hillsong’s To the Ends of the Earth:

“And I would give the world to tell Your story
Cause I know that You’ve called me
I know that You’ve called me

Jesus, I believe in You
And I would go to the ends of the earth
To the ends of the earth”

When I thought of the ends of the earth I thought of going to other countries. I wasn’t thinking of the literal ends of the earth, i.e. the artic north. On top of that the DOD (that I work for) considers Alaska an overseas location. Who says God doesn’t have a sense of humor?

Some compare the people here to Mayberry but the cost of living in Fairbanks isn’t like Mayberry, it has been higher (excluding housing) than it was for us in Hawaii. I can understand paying a premium to live in Hawaii but not to live in the dark and cold of Fairbanks. There is also a song I like to play on the ukulele by Chris Tomlin called God of this City.

“You’re the God of this City 
You’re the King of these people 
You’re the Lord of this nation… You’re the Light in this darkness… 

For greater things have yet to come 
And greater things are still to be done in this City”

Yet, despite all these words of encouragement I still believe He has given me more than I can handle…