Repeat

We had a student at Life Bridge who recently posted a picture of me preaching.  With the picture, she included the following caption: “What do you get when you stay for two services at Life Bridge?  Re-Pete!”  Pretty smart, wasn’t it?

Pharaoh said to Moses, "Get out of my sight! Make sure you do not appear before me again! The day you see my face you will die." "Just as you say," Moses replied. "I will never appear before you again." (Exodus 10:28-29 NIV)

Moses never faced Pharaoh after that moment.  One more plague was going to hit the land and then Pharaoh finally let God’s people go free.  He would change his mind again and chase after them, but God wouldn’t let his people die that day.  They would be protected by God’s pillar of fire and cloud.  The Red Sea would part.  They would walk to the other side on dry ground.  Pharaoh’s army would try to follow and then drown.  God did exactly what He said He would do.  He set His people free.

Now the length of time the Israelite people lived in Egypt was 430 years. At the end of the 430 years, to the very day, all the LORD's divisions left Egypt. Because the LORD kept vigil that night to bring them out of Egypt, on this night all the Israelites are to keep vigil to honor the LORD for the generations to come. (Exodus 12:40-42 NIV)

All the way through this process, Moses needed to be faithful to his part of God’s plan.  He encountered God at the burning bush.  Then he made it real by working through his questions and doubts with God, Aaron, and the Israelite elders.  Finally, he lived it out by confronting Pharaoh.  Once he had done this, however, he couldn’t quit.  He needed to repeat the process all over again.  His God encounters happened in different places through prayer.  He made it real by removing doubts at different times with different people.  He lived it out over and over again as more conversations took place with Pharaoh.  In the end, Moses had to repeat the process, repeat it again, and then repeat it again.  Moses took step after step after step walking together with God.

How about you?  Have you taken more than one step with God in your life?  Do you take those steps more and more consistently?  Do you encounter God, make it real, and live it out?  Do you repeat?  Do you walk together with God?