No Other Rock

And Moses returned unto the Lord, and said: Lord, wherefore has Thou so evil entreated this people? Why is it Thou hast sent me? For since I came to Pharaoh to speak in Thy name, he hath done evil to this people; neither hast Thou delivered Thy people at all. ~ Exodus 5:22-23

Today’s devotion opened with a longer passage of the same scripture used yesterday. We see the utter confusion, perplexities and maybe even the resentment that was polluting Moses’s mind at the time.

God was working inside Moses. Baxter refers to this as a “death of selfism” as Moses learns to rely upon God. And while we cannot fathom this concept real well in today’s world (not that it was easy back then), it IS possible.

Think of the ramifications: “Moreover, such death to ‘self’ brings wonderful peace. With pride and fear and envy and self-seeking gone – oh what peace!”

But let us not forget that dying is painful. Baxter quotes F.B. Meyer in saying that:

It is not easy to forego one’s own plans, to cease from one’s own works, to renounce one’s own reputation, to be despised and flouted by the very slaves you would save. What corn of wheat enjoys having its waterproof sheath torn from it, its elements disintegrated, its heart eaten into, as it lies helpless, exposed to the earth-forces, in the cold, damp, dark soil?

What a graphic way of looking at the death of one’s “self” - by seeing yourself stripped of your protective shields and all the “stuff” that establishes your identity – your worth – and being left with nothing but a core! Only then can you allow God to build you up.

Today, my prayer for you and I is that we will remember that when we are in conditions of distress, we will remember that it is BECAUSE we are in God’s will. Allow Him to build us up!