“He made known his ways to Moses, his deeds to the people of Israel.” Psalm 103:7 (NIV)
God proclaimed in Isa 55:8-9 that His divine ways and thoughts are characteristically higher than our limited human ways and thoughts. Therefore, since we human beings are creatures of habit, it is quite understandable that we have perfected our own ways of relating with our world. However, the problem with this approach is that God is unable to use us the way we are without tinkering with our constitution and renewing our thinking to give us the heavenly mindset that unfailingly gets heavens ideals done on earth.
Over a decade ago, I read a book by a Chinese Christian leader called Watchman Nee titled ‘The Normal Christian Life’. This book proved seminal for me in that it opened my eyes to the way heaven reasons as opposed to the way we earthlings go about our business. One truth that I came away with and which has actively impacted my life ever since is that whatever God declares as normal remains so even if doesn’t seem so in the eyes of the world. I have since discovered that apprehending this truth is pivotal to our understanding of how God operates in our world and also determines how far we will go in our desire to be used of God to impact our generation. More often than not, our commitment to live this life-changing truth will render us counter cultural and an absurdity to the very people whose lives we desire to impact, as we are forced to swim against the strong tide of pubic opinion and sometimes pressing legitimate expectations in order to positively relate and maintain our link with the God whose word remains true for all time, irrespective of the circumstances.
Our anchor passage alludes to this truth by declaring that God singled out Moses in his generation to make known His ways to him. It was only after Moses had passed the test of character alignment with God and had understood God’s priorities that he was then qualified to represent and speak for God in the intimidating court of the Pharaoh and thereafter. The implication for every aspiring Christian leader is that if we are to be our best we must endeavour to imbibe God’s perspective and commit to living a life of total obedience to His will. This is chiefly because understanding and adhering to God’s modus operandi will keep you at the cutting edge of God’s move and also enable you to positively impact lives for God as well as live a fulfilled life.
The other part of this divine equation is that God also demonstrated His deeds to the Israelites, the recipients of His grace. The way God often accomplishes this is to jam pack His grace into chosen yielded individuals who then become the conduits of His anointing. He still desires to do the same in this generation, but can He depend on you to surrender your life to the necessary tutelage of His Spirit in order to gain that vital perspective that unfailingly enables God to perform the extraordinary through the perfectly ordinary?
Prayer:
Lord, your word assures us that love for God implies enmity with the world. I choose today to side with your word so that I can learn your ways and become the best that you intended me to be. Lord, help me to understand that normal is whatever you call it and not be ashamed by or submit to the world’s intimidation. Amen.