May God Do An AWESOME Thing With Us!

Being a Pastor is not easy. To say that it is the most difficult occupation in the world would be presumptious and probably untrue. But I have done a lot of things in my 38 years of life, from working for a moving company, to working as a plumber's helper (not fun!), to working for a trenching company (yes, digging ditches), to farming, to filling sandbags, to lifting kegs of beer (no, not recently!), to working with Greyhound buses, and to working in gold mining in the Yukon (by Alaska for all you Americans...and no I did not see any polar bears-a favorite question from my friends to the South), and NOTHING I have done is as difficult as being a Pastor and Shepherd for Christ in His Church. And I must admit (though I probably shouldn't) that there have been times when I wished that God would offer me the same offer He did to Moses in Exodus 32:9-10, "I have seen this people, and indeed it is a stiff-necked people! Now therefore, let Me alone, that My wrath may burn hot against them and I may consume them. And I will make of you a great nation." Yes, there have been days when thoughtlessly I would have said, "Okay, I agree! Do what You want to do, and let's start over with a people who will ADMIRE ME!" And then verses 11 & 12 rebuke me, and reduce me to a heap of dust and ashes: "Lord, why does Your wrath burn hot against Your people...Turn from Your fierce wrath, and relent from this harm to Your people." I am sure that Moses loved many, or even most, of the people that he had led out of Egypt, but that is not what drove him to plead with God in this way in Exodus 32. No, what drove Moses to plead with God for mercy instead of wrath was this, "Why should the Egyptians speak, and say, 'He brought them out to harm them, to kill them in the mountains, and to consume them from the face of the earth'?" (v.12b) Moses plea to God was as God-centered as it gets- "Why should you give the opportunity to the Egytians to laugh, mock, or belittle Your NAME? If you pour out wrath on Your people and destroy them, it will effectively reduce the AWE that Egypt (and soon all the nations around the Middle-east) has of You. And You cannot permit that!" On those days, that I referred to earlier, I just wouldn't care. Okay so God's glory would be a little less (but He has a lot of it!), but I would become a great Pastor (er...nation). If Moses were British at this point he would politely remove a white glove from his hand and slap me with it! My whole theology from the Bible and the springboard from which all my preaching comes is at the core--God-centeredness! But, O' how easy it is to become self-centered, self-indulgent, self-pitying, and self-reliant, no matter what your occupation may be. I pray that God would conintue to "make me complete in every good work to do His will, and work in me what is well pleasing in His sight through Jesus Christ; to whom be glory forever and ever. AMEN!" (Heb.13:21) I long for, even more so, I crave to always and automatically respond in times of difficulty and in times of accolades in a God-centered way that always keeps God's glory at the forefront of things. I pray that self-pitying and self-advancement would become less and less a part of my expereince in reacting to things around me. Two chapters later in Exodus 34:10 God has indeed turned aside from His wrath and states, "Behold, I make a covenant (with you)...and all the people among whom you are shall see the work of the LORD (Yahweh). For it is an awsome thing that I will do with you." Yes, that is what I long for as a Pastor. Yes, yes, yes!!! Show us (my little church, and Your universal Church around the world) Your grace and mercy through the covenant of the Cross of Jesus Christ-the exalted Messiah of mankind, and DO AN AWESOME THING WITH US so that all the world will be in AWE OF YOU! I want for God to do an awesome thing with me and the church He has called me to Pastor, so that He is marvelled at! "Oh, that I might have my request, that God would grant me the thing that I long for!" (Job 6:8) That I may continue to live for His glory by His grace...always.