Frustrated Into Purpose

The journey of moving from our plan to walking in purpose can be a frustrating one. When we change directions, and choose His plan over our own, it is invigorating, at first. We know that a better life lies in following Him, but the fruit of our decision isn't immediate. And this can be frustrating, especially once we have received a vision from God. Because that vision gives us a sense of direction that we can move toward. But the problem is that He has not revealed the steps that we must take in order for us to get to where He is taking us. So every step we attempt to make on our own, is met with the inability to move forward. Instead of resting in the grace of the moment, we are frustrated in stagnation. We know where we are going, only we don’t know how to get there. I know how this feels, and I’m sure you do too. But, this is a part of the process. Our frustration leads us to depend on God. At the point of frustration we realize that we don’t have the ability to walk in purpose on our own. It is at this point, that we understand that we can only walk in purpose with Him leading us into His perfect plan, in His perfect timing. If there’s any story in the bible that displays this frustration for us, I think it is the story of Moses, the one that God used to lead the Hebrews out of captivity. With Moses leadership, God supernaturally delivered them from the hand of the Egyptians. The story of these events is truly astonishing, but today, I want to focus on Moses, and his process. And I don’t want to just focus on Moses’s willingness to lead the Israelites by faith, but I want to take a look at the journey that he took to get to that point. Because his leading Israel was the climax of his calling. But Moses had to endure a much less glorious journey, in order to walk in the purpose that God set before him. And I believe that as we take a deeper look at his process, we will see how it relates to our own. From the beginning, Moses’s journey was one of faith. Born a Hebrew, his mother saved him from Pharaoh’s order to have every Hebrew newborn boy killed. After birth, Moses’s mother hid him for three months, and then, unable to hide him any longer, she placed him in a basket among the reeds along the Nile River. Moses’s sister stayed close by to see what would happen. As Pharaoh’s daughter went to bathe in the Nile that day, she found Moses, and decided that she would raise him as her own. And when the sister realized what was happening, she asked the princess if she wanted her to find a Hebrew woman to nurse the baby, and the princess said yes. So Moses's sister went and got their mother, and the princess paid her to nurse Moses. “Take this baby and nurse him for me,” the princess told the baby’s mother. “I will pay you for your help.” So the woman took her baby home and nursed him. (Exodus 2:9 NLT) Once Moses grew older, his mother returned him to the princess. Later, when the boy was older, his mother brought him back to Pharaoh’s daughter, who adopted him as her own son. The princess named him Moses, for she explained, “I lifted him out of the water.” (Exodus 2:10 NLT) Through scripture, we know that Moses grew up in the palace, raise by the princess. But there is a big gap in his story. The next scripture tells us that one day, Moses went to visit his people. Many years later, when Moses had grown up, he went out to visit his own people, the Hebrews, and he saw how hard they were forced to work. During his visit, he saw an Egyptian beating one of his fellow Hebrews. After looking in all directions to make sure no one was watching, Moses killed the Egyptian and hid the body in the sand. (Exodus 2:11-12 NLT) When reading Moses’s story, the last passage seems pretty random. How did Moses go from being raise in the palace, to murdering and Egyptian? Whenever I think of Moses, I think of a man that grew up in the palace unaware of his place in the world. But that wasn’t his life at all. I believe that Moses grew up knowing who he was, and I believe that he knew the call that God had placed on his life. We know from scripture that Moses spent a great amount of time with his birth mother and his family, before being adopted by the princess. We don’t know for sure how much time that was, but scripture says that he was an infant when the princess first found him, and it says that he was a boy that had grown older when his mother returned him. So, Moses spent time with his family and his people. We don’t know for sure, but his mother might have even shared her journey of faith with him. Scripture says that his mother knew from the time that he was born that he was special. The woman became pregnant and gave birth to a son. She saw that he was a special baby and kept him hidden for three months. (Exodus 2:2 NLT) And I know that everyone thinks their own child is special, but maybe this was more that that. Maybe God spoke to her about who her child would become, and that he would be the one to save her people. Maybe that’s why she went through such great lengths to protect him. Maybe this is why she had such great faith to put her baby in a basket, trusting that God would protect him. Maybe this is why she had the wisdom to do so near where the princess would bathe. Just think about it, Pharaoh wanted to kill her baby, but she chose to leave him there, where he would be found by the princess, the daughter of the king. We don’t discuss Moses’s mother much, but she must have been a woman of great faith. And, through the grace of God, Moses had the privilege of spending time of his youth with her. So, maybe the day that Moses visited his people wasn’t his first time doing so. What if he visited his people on a regular basis growing up? He obviously knew who he was. Maybe he knew the story of how his mother placed him in the Nile. What if Moses grew up knowing that God saved him for a reason? What if he grew up compassionately watching his people, feeling like if anyone could save them, it should be him? What if, from a young age, God put the desire in His heart to do just that? And what if we kept all of that in mind, as we read about Moses visiting his people one more time. Many years later, when Moses had grown up, he went out to visit his own people, the Hebrews, and he saw how hard they were forced to work. During his visit, he saw an Egyptian beating one of his fellow Hebrews. After looking in all directions to make sure no one was watching, Moses killed the Egyptian and hid the body in the sand. (Exodus 2:11-12 NLT) If we view Moses through a different lens, his actions don’t seem random at all. Actually, at this point in his life, it seems that Moses is frustrated, and it seems that this day, was only the tipping point for him. Up until this point, he stood by and watched his people suffer, but now, he has had enough. And so this day, as he watched his fellow Hebrews being beaten, he lashed out in anger. Frustrated at the current state of his people, and with the burning desire to help them, he took matters into his own hands. Moses attempted to reach purpose in his own strength, outside of God’s timing. And as a result, he was forced to flee from Egypt. And sure enough, Pharaoh heard what had happened, and he tried to kill Moses. But Moses fled from Pharaoh and went to live in the land of Midian. When Moses arrived in Midian, he sat down beside a well. (Exodus 2:15 NLT) At this point, Moses is probably feeling disappointed at the state of his life. The man that he lived with most of his life wants him dead, and he is living as a foreigner away from his people. I’m sure he doesn’t know what will become of his life, but I’m also sure that the desire to see his people free remains. Have you found yourself in this place before? Are you there now? Maybe God has given you a vision, or you have a desire that burns to the depths of your heart, but you have yet to see your desires manifested in your life. Have you ever looked around and asked yourself, “How did I get here?” Have you ever looked at your life, knowing that God has good things planned for you, but your current situation shows no evidence of that? Maybe you are frustrated in your current circumstance. But can it be that God has brought you to this place, in order to speak to you? Can it be that this place is where He intends to train you for the call that He has on your life? Faith begins where our understanding ends. And for Moses, I’m sure that this season was full of a lack of understanding. When Moses arrived in Midian, he was invited to settle with the priest and his family. And eventually, the priest gave Moses his daughter in marriage, and the two had a son. One day, Moses led his father-in-law’s flock into the wilderness, and they arrived at Mount Sinai, the mountain of God. One day Moses was tending the flock of his father-in-law, Jethro, the priest of Midian. He led the flock far into the wilderness and came to Sinai, the mountain of God. There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a blazing fire from the middle of a bush. Moses stared in amazement. Though the bush was engulfed in flames, it didn’t burn up. (Exodus 3:1-2 NLT) And as Moses moved closer to the burning bush, God called out to him. When the Lord saw Moses coming to take a closer look, God called to him from the middle of the bush, “Moses! Moses!” “Here I am!” Moses replied. “Do not come any closer,” the Lord warned. “Take off your sandals, for you are standing on holy ground. I am the God of your father—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” When Moses heard this, he covered his face because he was afraid to look at God. (Exodus 3:4-6 NLT) Moses’s reaction, when he realized that it was God speaking to him, shows the deep reverence that He had for God. He’d probably heard his mother speak of the God of his ancestors, but now, this God is speaking directly to Him. In this encounter, God tells Moses that He has heard the cries of His people. He tells Moses that He intends to rescue His people and lead them to the promised land. So I have come down to rescue them from the power of the Egyptians and lead them out of Egypt into their own fertile and spacious land. It is a land flowing with milk and honey—the land where the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites now live. (Exodus 3:8 NLT) This land that God spoke about was promised to the Hebrews generations ago. This is the same land that God promised to their ancestors Abraham and Jacob. “I will confirm my covenant with you and your descendants after you, from generation to generation. This is the everlasting covenant: I will always be your God and the God of your descendants after you. And I will give the entire land of Canaan, where you now live as a foreigner, to you and your descendants. It will be their possession forever, and I will be their God.” (Genesis 17:7-8 NLT) Jacob said to Joseph, “God Almighty appeared to me at Luz in the land of Canaan and blessed me. He said to me, ‘I will make you fruitful, and I will multiply your descendants. I will make you a multitude of nations. And I will give this land of Canaan to your descendants after you as an everlasting possession.’ (Genesis 48:3-4 NLT) The Israelites weren’t just crying out to God because of the heavy labor that they endured. They cried out to God because He had given their ancestors a promise. They were reminding God that He promised them more. He promised them a place of blessing and rest, a land flowing with milk and honey. And this is a promise that was passed down from generation to generation. So when God spoke to Moses, introducing Himself as the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, Moses understood the gravity of who He is. He understood that this is the God that made the heavens and the earth, and spoke to his ancestor. Moses understood that this is the God that spoke to his mother, and that this was the same God that saved his life as a baby. Not only did God tell Moses that He intended to rescue His people, He told Moses that he would be the one to lead them out of captivity. Now go, for I am sending you to Pharaoh. You must lead my people Israel out of Egypt.” But Moses protested to God, “Who am I to appear before Pharaoh? Who am I to lead the people of Israel out of Egypt?” (Exodus 3:10-11 NLT) As I read and reread this passage, Moses’s growth and maturity is evident. He was raised as a prince of Egypt, but he was full of the purpose and desire that God place inside of him. The only problem is that he tried to fulfill that calling in his own strength and in his own timing. But here Moses is, years later. He is living as a foreigner, he has a family, and he is a shepherd. His calling is still inside of him, but now, he sees himself and the world through a different lens. When God calls him he replies, “Who am I to lead the people of Israel out of Egypt.” Moses went from believing he could save his people, to realizing that he can’t. He realized that he doesn't have the strength, ability, and wisdom, that is necessary for this great rescue mission. And because of that realization, Moses was ready to be used by God. God can use us when we understand that we can’t do anything in our own strength. When we have the posture that Moses had, when we can say...“God, who am I?” ...that is when we are ready to follow Him. When Moses realized he wasn’t enough, He was able to understand that God is enough. God answered, “I will be with you…” (Exodus 3:12 NLT) But Moses protested, “If I go to the people of Israel and tell them, ‘The God of your ancestors has sent me to you,’ they will ask me, ‘What is his name?’ Then what should I tell them?” God replied to Moses, “I Am Who I Am. Say this to the people of Israel: I Am has sent me to you.” (Exodus 3:13-14 NLT) Moses said, “Who am I,” and God said, “I Am Who I AM.” God is saying, it doesn’t matter who you are, what matters is Who is sending you. In order for Moses to rescue his people, He would have to be dependent on God. Moses knew he couldn’t do it, and God knew that Moses was ready to follow Him. But, in order for Moses to be ready to fulfill his calling, he first had to go through a season of frustration. Understanding his purpose was not enough. He needed to know his Shepherd. And as Moses ran in fear, frustrated at life, he ran right into his purpose. He ran to the place where he would build a family. And this is also the place where he would learn to lead a flock, and he led this flock to the place where he first heard God’s voice in a burning bush. And it is this place, that he later led the children of Israel to, Mount Sinai, the place where God gave him the Ten Commandments and the instructions for building the Tabernacle. This is the beauty of the grace of God. Even when we are frustrated in our calling, His grace pushes us into the middle of His purpose. That’s just how good our God is. He’s not upset at our frustration, because He uses it. He makes everything work according to His perfect plan. So in the seasons when we look at our life, and can’t see the evidence of his calling, we must remember that His presence is still there. In that wilderness, is the very place that He speaks to us. That is the environment that He uses to cultivate our character, and bring us to a humble place of depending on Him. And we can’t walk in purpose without that quality. We can’t do it without being a person that depends on God. So depend on Him, in the place that you are in right now. And at the perfect time, He will call on you, as he did Moses. He will be the one that leads you. And then you will have the confidence of knowing Who is on your side. You won’t have to walk in your own authority, because you will have the One that is greater leading you, protecting you, and fighting for you. Prayer Heavenly Father, thank you for the call that you have place on my life. I know that your plans for me are beyond what I can imagine. And I trust that you will bring forth your plans in your perfect timing. Forgive me for the times that I have tried to manifest your plans on my own instead of waiting for you. Thank you for your grace that covers me, and makes everything work out for my good. Today I choose to leave my plans behind, and I choose to live my life for you. But I realize that I don’t have what it takes to walk in purpose. I don't have the strength, but you do. I don’t have the wisdom or ability, but you do. So I will rely on you Father. I will rely on you to lead me. I will trust that you will fight for me, and I know that you will protect me. As you set your path before me, I will follow you. In Jesus’ name, amen.