We have been talking the past several weeks about places in our lives where chaos might be found. If we are honest, we all have a degree of chaos in our life. Some more than others, and to be honest some whose life is totally chaotic.
So far, we have looked in two areas of our life where we might find chaos in our life: in our family life, and in our schedule.
Today, we are going to look at chaos in a completely different area. Chaos can occur in our life when God ask us to do something that we feel like we cannot do. The classic example is Jonah. God called him to go to Nineveh to preach the Gospel, and by his actions he told God that he could not do it. He boarded a ship to Tarshish. A great storm occurred as a result, and he endangered the others on the ship. He was thrown overboard to save the ship and the crew, and he was swallowed by a great fish. He was inside the fish’s belly for three days until God caused him to be vomited up on dry land. That was quite a ride! That was quite chaotic all because Jonah could not do what God had asked him to do.
Just like Jonah chaos may occur in our life because God has asked us to do something that we feel we cannot do. I remember the chaos Anne and I experienced in our lives when I knew that God was calling me to preach, and I was telling God “No” I cannot do that. I remember plainly when I agreed with God to go into vocational ministry, the chaos subsided.
God may be asking you to do something today, that you feel you cannot do, and the result is that chaos has come into your life. It might be tithing; God has asked you to give to his church. You tell God “No” I got too many bills to pay to give. And you find, your money takes wings and flies away making your financial decision even more chaotic.
It may be praying out loud in public, God has asked you to be bolder in prayer and you told God I cannot pray in public. God may place you in situations where you the only Christian and if a prayer is to be lifted to God, you must do it.
How about if God asked you to go on a mission trip? How about if God asked you to witness to a stranger. Could you do that?
The point is when God ask me to do something, and I don’t think that I can do it usually chaos will follow in my life until I surrender to what God is asking.
So, what we need to learn today, I think we learn from an interaction between God and Moses when God appears to Moses at the burning bush. In Moses’ early life, Moses anticipated that God was going to use him to lead God’s people out of Egypt. But he killed an Egyptian, fled to the desert and stayed there 40 in hiding and tending the flock of Jethro. And so, when God asked Moses now 40 years later to lead the people out of Egypt, I can see the chaos going through his mind as he talks with God. Moses is thinking, I am no longer a young man; I have a lot of baggage in my life, I don’t think I can do it. And God was gracious, and He reminded Moses of somethings we all should remember.
Turn with me in your Bible to Exodus 3:11-14 and Exodus 4:1-5 and Exodus 4:10-13.
Scripture
Exodus 3:11–14 (NKJV)
11 But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh, and that I should bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?”
12 So He said, “I will certainly be with you. And this shall be a sign to you that I have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain.”
13 Then Moses said to God, “Indeed, when I come to the children of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they say to me, ‘What is His name?’ what shall I say to them?”
14 And God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.” And He said, “Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’”
Exodus 4:1–5 (NKJV)
4 Then Moses answered and said, “But suppose they will not believe me or listen to my voice; suppose they say, ‘The Lord has not appeared to you.’”
2 So the Lord said to him, “What is that in your hand?”
He said, “A rod.”
3 And He said, “Cast it on the ground.” So, he cast it on the ground, and it became a serpent; and Moses fled from it. 4 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Reach out your hand and take it by the tail” (and he reached out his hand and caught it, and it became a rod in his hand), 5 “that they may believe that the Lord God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has appeared to you.”
Exodus 4:10–13 (NKJV)
10 Then Moses said to the Lord, “O my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither before nor since You have spoken to Your servant; but I am slow of speech and slow of tongue.”
11 So the Lord said to him, “Who has made man’s mouth? Or who makes the mute, the deaf, the seeing, or the blind? Have not I, the Lord? 12 Now therefore, go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall say.”
13 But he said, “O my Lord, please send by the hand of whomever else You may send.”
Point #1
Before I tell God “No” to what He has asked me to do, I need to remember that He promised His presence is with me.
Exodus
11 But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh, and that I should bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?”
12 So He said, “I will certainly be with you.
What God just revealed to Moses is one of the greatest truths that you can need to know when things are spinning out of control. God is with you in your whirlwind.
Proverbs 10:25 (NKJV)
25 When the whirlwind passes by, the wicked is no more,
But the righteous has an everlasting foundation.
That Proverb tells us when the tempest or whirlwind comes the wicked are blown away, but the Christian, the man or woman of God, is not moved. And why not? Because God presence is with them keeping them unmoved.
If you have some terrible illness today, you do not have to be in chaos because God’s presence is with you.
If you in a deep financial hole that you do not believe that you cannot dig out, you do not have to be in chaos because God’s presence is with you.
If you seriously messed up and you are facing some prison time, you do not have to be in chaos because God is in the prison cell with you.
And Moses, the task I am asking of you is massive, but you don’t have to be in chaos because MY Presence is with you.
The truth is that as Christians, we are never alone- He tells us that He will never leave us or forsake us no matter what the circumstances. So, no matter what the circumstances I find myself in- God’s presence is with me.
So, let me ask you a question. How can you tell God “No” if you know His Presence is always going to be with you?
Point #2
Before I tell God “No” to what He has asked me to do, I need to remember that He has the power to carry out in my life what He asked me to do.
Exodus
4 Then Moses answered and said, “But suppose they will not believe me or listen to my voice; suppose they say, ‘The Lord has not appeared to you.’”
2 So the Lord said to him, “What is that in your hand?”
He said, “A rod.”
3 And He said, “Cast it on the ground.” So, he cast it on the ground, and it became a serpent; and Moses fled from it. 4 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Reach out your hand and take it by the tail” (and he reached out his hand and caught it, and it became a rod in his hand), 5 “that they may believe that the Lord God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has appeared to you.”
When God asked me to do something, He is not asking me to do it in my own strength and power. He is asking me to do it in His power. His power is a power that can get it done. God tells Moses, My power will be with you. This is not something you are going to do in your own power, God says I am going to use My power to move My people from the slavery of Egypt to their Promised Land. And over and over, we saw God’s power at work: parting the Red Sea, sending manna from heaven; getting water from a rock, knocking down the walls of Jericho. No way Moses could have done those things even if he was the most powerful man in the world.
And let me share with you what God tells us, today’s Christians, about His power. This is a word to you and me, present day believers in the Lord Jesus Christ
Ephesians 1:19–20 (NKJV)
19 and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power 20 which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places,
You and I cannot go to the Hollywood Cemetery in McComb and go to a tomb, any tomb that we pick out and tell that person buried there to rise from that tomb, and they would rise out that grave. But our God could tell that person to rise, and they would rise. And in case, you have your doubts, Jesus was three days late to the death of his friend Lazarus. Jesus went to the burial site and said: Lazarus come forth, and Lazarus came out of that tomb.
And so, when God ask us to do something that resurrection power is available to us to make sure that we can do what He asked us to do.
So, let me ask you a question. How can you tell God “No” if you know His Power is going to be with you to accomplish what He has asked you to do?
Point #3
Before I tell God “No” to what He has asked me to do, I need to know that He will give me whatever provisions are needed to do what He asked me to do.
10 Then Moses said to the Lord, “O my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither before nor since You have spoken to Your servant; but I am slow of speech and slow of tongue.”
11 So the Lord said to him, “Who has made man’s mouth? Or who makes the mute, the deaf, the seeing, or the blind? Have not I, the Lord? 12 Now therefore, go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall say.”
13 But he said, “O my Lord, please send by the hand of whomever else You may send.”
Moses says that I am not eloquent in speech to which God replied that I will make you eloquent of speech. Let’s me tell you something. Our God can supply whatever you need to accomplish what He wants you to do.
If you don’t mercy to forgive a situation in your life, our God can supply the mercy.
You may not know this about me, but when I became a Christian, I was stingy with my money. But God obviously wanted me to be compassionate and so He opened up my generosity in my heart.
What I am telling you is that God will supply what you need to do what He asked you to do. But that wasn’t good enough for Moses and the Lord went beyond all that He needed to do and said that I will give you Aaron. He will become your mouthpiece. God went beyond what He needed to do to provide the provisions Moses needed to do what God asked him to do.
So, let me ask you a question, how can you tell God “No” when He will give you whatever provisions you need to do what He asked you to you.
Conclusion
His Presence, His Power, His Power- How can I tell God “No”.
