Plan

God also said to Moses, "Say to the Israelites, 'The LORD, the God of your fathers--the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob--has sent me to you.' "This is my name forever, the name you shall call me from generation to generation. (Exodus 3:15 NIV)

I didn’t speak about this step this past Sunday, but it is an important part of Moses’ story.  God didn’t just want Moses to draw near in a God Encounter, listen to Him, and adjust in his mind.  God wanted Moses to act.  God had a job for Moses to do.  This job had specifics to it and God started to relay the specifics.  There was a plan.

"Go, assemble the elders of Israel and say to them, 'The LORD, the God of your fathers--the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob--appeared to me and said: I have watched over you and have seen what has been done to you in Egypt. And I have promised to bring you up out of your misery in Egypt into the land of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites--a land flowing with milk and honey.' (Exodus 3:16-17 NIV)

The saying has become so common that it is on a bumper sticker now: “If you want to make God laugh, tell Him your plans.”  We laugh at it and nod our heads.  Yeah, that’s so true.  But then we go on with our day as though we are stuck.  We act like there is no way to know God’s plans.  We say that God’s ways are higher than our ways and then move on.  The problem with this approach is that God often tells us His plans.  We just need to stay a little longer and listen.  We need to read to the end of the passage.  We need to look at the whole book.  God is telling Moses His plans AND God is telling Moses what part he has to play in it all.  All Moses had to do was listen.

"The elders of Israel will listen to you. Then you and the elders are to go to the king of Egypt and say to him, 'The LORD, the God of the Hebrews, has met with us. Let us take a three-day journey into the wilderness to offer sacrifices to the LORD our God.' (Exodus 3:18 NIV)

God has given me an encouragement in recent weeks.  “If you listen to Me, they will listen to you.  If you follow Me, they will follow you.”  I know this probably isn’t a big “ah ha” for many of you, but for me it was life-altering.  When I am laying out strategic plans, I often spend time worrying about thinks like marketing, communications, and getting people “on board” with the vision.  The two statements above came to me during time of prayer and then flooded my mind with Scriptures from the  Old and New Testaments.  God was letting me know that God has such things covered.  Not only that, when I try to control those things I am often trying to do God’s job.  He’s got the money under control.  He has the marketing plan laid out.  He has the communications strategy ready to go.  I simply need to seek first His Kingdom and His Righteousness.  I need to listen to Him for my part of His plan.  I need to follow Him so others will see it in me.  The elders listened to and followed Moses because Moses listened to and followed God.  Pharaoh didn’t listen or follow because he already thought he was a god.  Moses would end up leading millions. Pharaoh would end up paying.

But I know that the king of Egypt will not let you go unless a mighty hand compels him. So I will stretch out my hand and strike the Egyptians with all the wonders that I will perform among them. After that, he will let you go. (Exodus 3:19-20 NIV)

How about you?  After you encounter God, draw near, and listen, do you adjust your plans to match God’s plans?  Do you listen long enough to hear God’s plans?  Do you read far enough to see God’s plans?  When you do, do you follow Him like Moses or fight Him like Pharaoh?