Arguing with God

Did you know Moses stood in the presence of God at the burning bush—and argued with Him? It wasn’t just arguing over God’s plan to lead the Israelites out of exile. Oh no! He argued with God over what He said Moses could do. He argued that he wasn’t good enough for the job.

It’s pretty ironic when you think about it. Arguing that you’re not equipped to do a job—with the One who created you. But he did. 

We do, too, don’t we? “God, I don’t know how to teach, speak, parent, write, disciple, draw, calculate, help, build, cook, witness, play an instrument, lead, save money, spend money, create, counsel…fill in the blank.” 

But if God has called you to do those things, don’t you think He knows your giftings—and your limitations? The point is…He called you. He will do it through you.  He’s the One who is able.  

Moses argued long enough that God became angry and called Aaron to come and speak for Moses. But that wasn’t His first and best plan. I wonder how things would have been different if Moses had just agreed with God and obeyed?

I guess I can find out when I agree with God about His plan for me.  

Who am I?

Has God ever asked you to do something so big or so scary that you questioned, “Who am I to do this thing?” He’s asked me before. In fact, I felt it was the place for a man to speak and I asked him if there wasn’t a man to do this thing. But he required me to do it. It’s a scary place to be…a job so big that it seems to be too big for you. Who am I?

That’s how Moses felt when he came to the burning bush. God told him he’d heard the cries of the Israelites and he wanted Moses to go lead his people out of Egypt. Moses asked, “Who am I?” God’s reply was, “I will be with you.” And later, he told Moses to tell Pharoah and the people that “I AM WHO I AM” has sent me!

It’s not about us being big enough for the job. It’s about Who is going with us. I AM WHO I AM.  

And He can do anything. He just wants our obedience.  

Mind Games

Satan knows how to control us. He uses mind games. The more we grow spiritually, the stronger his tactics become. His biggest, strongest, and surest weapon is fear.  

Remember Joseph?  He’d become second in command in Egypt after arriving there as a slave. There was a famine and he moved his father and brothers to Egypt to survive. That generation of father and brothers had all died. Now it was the grandchildren of Jacob and their descendants—and they had multiplied and become powerful! They’d become so powerful that it sent alarm bells to the new king. 

Satan doesn’t just work in the minds of believers. He filled this new king’s mind with fear. The king said, “Look, the people of Israel now outnumber us and are stronger than we are. We must make a plan to keep them from growing more.” A plan was created out of fear. 

So the Egyptians made Israel their slaves. So in four verses, Israel went from “multiplying greatly and becoming extremely powerful” to being made slaves. How does that happen??  Fear. What tactics did Egypt use? We don’t know. The Bible doesn’t tell us how Egypt made Israel slaves. But we do know it was created out of fear. The Egyptians worked the Israelites mercilessly—they wore them down. And then the king told the midwives to kill their babies (which they refused to do because they feared God!). So Pharoah commanded every Hebrew baby to be thrown into the Nile. 

Here’s what we know…the whole sadistic plan was birthed out of fear. That’s how Satan starts every evil plan. It’s also why God tells us to “take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ!” (II Corinthians 10:5) Stop fear at the first thought. Satan is the author of every fearful thought. Just remember when you become fearful that Satan is wanting to destroy you. You must have “multiplied and become extremely powerful” for him to want to stop you. So he’s planting fear in your mind to control you. And it works. 

Satan fears believers will multiply and become powerful. So he plays mind games using fear as a weapon of mass destruction to stop them.  

He’ll do whatever it takes. He wants slaves.

God Partners with EVERYTHING!

Joseph was young…and he was favored by his father over his 10 older brothers.  And they hated him.  It didn’t help that Joseph tattled on them.  And the coat of many colors?   It was the straw that broke the camel’s back.  Well…almost.  

Joseph began having dreams. He dreamed that his sheaf of wheat stood up and theirs bowed down to his.  They hated him more.  Then he dreamed that the sun, moon, and eleven stars bowed down to him. His father even reprimanded him at this point!

I always kind of laughed at these stories thinking, “Joseph was just an immature kid!”  It even hurt my heart that Jacob showed favoritism to one of his twelve sons.  I always wondered if Joseph regretted telling his dreams to them.  

You know the story…his ten older brothers hated him so much they conspired to kill him. Instead, they ended up selling him into slavery.  He went from slavery to prison and prison to ruling over Egypt. And his brothers came to buy grain from him…and bowed before him.  

If Joseph hadn’t told them his dreams, they never would have known the significance of that moment!  And Joseph learned that God partners with EVERYTHING for our benefit.  He can take our mistakes, our sins, our mess-ups and turn them into something amazing!  God restored these brothers’ relationships.  And do you remember what he told his older brothers?  “What you meant for evil, God meant for good.” Genesis 50:20

God can use EVERYTHING in your life for good, too.  

Difficult People

Have you had a difficult person in your life?  Have you rehearsed in your mind a hundred times what you wish you could say to them?  Have you tried drawing a boundary?  Jacob eventually did just that…but that’s not the way he started out.  

Jacob fulfilled his name “supplanter.”  He traded soup for his brother’s birthright and then deceived his father for Esau’s blessing.  But he met his match when he went to his Uncle Laban’s house.  I’m sure God needed a mirror to show Jacob his own heart—so he could see what he would become if he didn’t change.    

Jacob worked for Laban for seven years to marry his daughter, Rachel.  But the morning after his wedding, he woke up to find Rachel’s older sister, Leah, had been given to him instead of Rachel.  So Laban told him if he’d commit to working for him another seven years, he could have Rachel, too.  

That was only the beginning.  Jacob ended up working for Laban twenty years—for his two daughters and then to build his own flock.  During that time, he was made to absorb every loss himself.  Laban changed his wages ten times.  Bottom line?  Laban was underhanded and mistreated, abused, and stole from Jacob. He was a difficult person—or a tyrannical  antagonist. 

When Jacob left to take his family and possessions to his former home, Laban chased him down, ready to demand what was his. But God met Laban and warned him, “Leave Jacob alone!” When they met, Laban accused him of running off with some of his possessions.  Jacob had finally had a belly-full and unloaded. He found his voice! (He was probably empowered when Laban admitted that God had told him to leave Jacob alone!) He spoke truth in full righteous anger.  

What happened? Laban backed off. In fact, I believe he was so shocked at Jacob’s anger and the TRUTH that he decided to create a boundary (a pile of rocks) “so neither could cross it to harm the other.”  Ha! I think Laban was scared. And…he knew God was on Jacob’s side. 

I’ve seen this happen so many times.  An antagonist tries to control, manipulate, intimidate, and even abuse others. But when strongly confronted with TRUTH, they back off.  Until they’re confronted, their bad behavior will continue. Truth is powerful!! Know that God is on the side of truth because Jesus IS Truth!  Use your voice—it sets captives free. And boundaries can become a very good thing.  

Oh!  And later, Jacob wrestles with God and prevails!   God renames him Israel “because you have fought with God and men and have won.”  Which man did Jacob fight?  Laban.  He won the battle against Laban…a very difficult person. 

“ And you will know the Truth, and the Truth will set you free.”  John 8:32

The Broken Yoke

Jacob had stolen Esau’s blessing.  It was the blessing reserved for the firstborn (Esau).  But Rebekah, their mother, had come up with a deceptive plan and Jacob implemented it.  His father, Isaac, felt something was “off” when Jacob came to him; he asked questions seven times to make sure he was blessing the firstborn.  

When Esau then came in for his blessing, Isaac began trembling.  He knew he’d been duped.  He told Esau his blessing had already been given to Jacob.  When Esau began weeping, Isaac blessed him with this:  

“Behold, your dwelling shall be of the fatness of the earth, and of the dew of heaven from above.

40 By your sword you shall live, and you shall serve your brother; and it shall come to pass, when you become restless, that you shall break his yoke from your neck.”

The deceitful plan and Jacob getting the BEST blessing had become a yoke around Esau’s neck.  Isaac used “yoke” as an analogy for slavery.  Esau would be a slave to Jacob.  Now Esau was never literally a slave of Jacob’s…but because of the pain of this situation, Esau was an emotional slave to Jacob.  He spent the better part of the next twenty years yoked to Jacob in his anger.  

Are you yoked to someone because of an injustice, abuse, mistreatment, dominion, painful words, or any other foul treatment?   There’s good news for you in this story!

Isaac told Esau he could break free from this yoke.  The Hebrew definition says “you can break free when you trample about, become restless, become lord (master), ruler, have dominion.”  How do you break that yoke?   You trample about until you have dominion over it.  That may look like you examining what happened in your life from every angle. It may involve counseling. It will definitely take time wrestling with this issue in your life.  You’re not trampling it just to wallow in it—you want to rule over it.  You want to break away from it!   You want SPIRITUAL FREEDOM!!!

Esau found that freedom.  I believe he had that freedom when he went to meet his brother as Jacob was coming home.  God tells us that Jacob bowed before his brother seven times—the number of completion. It was over.  Esau was no longer a slave to his brother.  The yoke was broken.  

You can be free, too. Break that yoke!!