Makes You Think (ADVENT-URE 5: The Rod of Moses)

Throughout the pages of the Scriptures, God spoke to His people about the Redeemer Who would come.  We know Him as our Lord Jesus.  Now, through the Scriptures, Jesus will speak to us about His presence and His principles.  In John 10, we read:
27 My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.
28 And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand.

We are called to be children of God through our relationship with Jesus.  And, He does not leave us in this world to fend for ourselves - He stands with us and we stand in Him by His mighty presence.  We serve a faithful and loving God Who draws us into that relationship and who speaks to us in a host of ways - primarily through the Scriptures, activated by His Spirit, but there are other reminders of His presence that He will make known to us.

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This week, we continue our series of Advent devotionals - I call the series: 25, an Advent-ure. This year, I am walking through various symbols or items that point to the coming of Christ.  Last Friday, I covered Day 2, Noah's Ark, symbolizing for us security in obedience.  And, I covered Day 3, the Lamb - sent as a sacrifice for Abraham as he prepared to place his son, Isaac, on the altar - this reminds us of Jesus, the Lamb of God, provided for us.

Yesterday was the 4th day of December, and another symbol is that of Jacob's Ladder, as it's called. Jacob had gone to the family of his mother to find a wife, and he encountered God in a profound way. In Genesis 28, we read:
12 Then he dreamed, and behold, a ladder was set up on the earth, and its top reached to heaven; and there the angels of God were ascending and descending on it.
13 And behold, the Lord stood above it and said: "I am the Lord God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie I will give to you and your descendants.

God laid out a grand plan for Jacob and his descendants and promised He would be with him.  God had a grand plan for a man named Moses, as well, and that brings us to Day 5...we find in Exodus 4:
1 Then Moses answered and said, "But suppose they will not believe me or listen to my voice; suppose they say, 'The Lord has not appeared to you.' "
2 So the Lord said to him, "What is that in your hand?" He said, "A rod."
3 And He said, "Cast it on the ground." So he cast it on the ground, and it became a serpent; and Moses fled from it.
4 Then the Lord said to Moses, "Reach out your hand and take it by the tail" (and he reached out his hand and caught it, and it became a rod in his hand),
5 "that they may believe that the Lord God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has appeared to you."

Moses' reluctancy was also addressed when his hand was made leprous, and then healed.  God had already appeared to Moses in a burning bush.  It might kind of make you wonder why Moses didn't get the message; but even when we have visible, or tangible, reminders of the presence of God, we might not "get it" as well.  Thankfully, these signs, and so many others, remind us of God's faithfulness to His people, culminating with the coming of Christ as our Savior.

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God uses a variety of ways to get His message across.  He used a dream in the life of Jacob - and his angels spoke in dreams to Mary and Joseph.  He gave Moses the signs of the rod and the leprosy.  To a man named Isaac, I believe that the Word of God made an impression...that would be Isaac McCord, who serves as an HR training coordinator at Dollywood, the theme park that was under siege recently in Pigeon Forge, TN, in the midst of wildfire.  According to a story on the Religion News Service website, Isaac was cleaning at the park near a bench and saw a torn piece of paper lying in a puddle of water.  It was a page from a charred Bible.  He called his co-worker, Misty Carver, over for a look.

According to the article, "It perfectly reflected, McCord said, the tragic natural disaster that had thrust Gatlinburg and Sevier County into the national spotlight the night before." The page said, according to a picture posted on McCord’s Facebook: “O Lord, to thee will I cry: For the fire hath devoured the pastures of the wilderness, and the flame hath burned all the trees of the field..." The reference of Joel 1:15 was posted.

The article quotes McCord: “We were like, ‘This is unreal, this is unbelievable...'” adding, “When we had both fully read it, we looked at each other — and I will never forget this moment — we both burst into tears. I was ghost white, and we just prayed. There was nothing else to do. Still to this moment, almost four hours after the fact, I don’t have words for it.”

And, the discovery may have a lasting impact, according to the RNS story:

McCord wasn’t a highly religious man prior to his discovery — he didn’t go to church every Sunday or read the Bible often — but he said he has a relationship with God that shapes his morals and how he treats other people. He was impacted by the discovery because he said he knows several co-workers who lost their homes in the chaotic blaze. He intends to frame the Bible page, and now, he said he may re-examine the role religion plays in his life.

He also is quoted as saying: "I wanted to share this message because I think that faith and hope is very powerful in a situation like this. There are hundreds of people that are displaced and that have lost their homes. Most of these people will cling to faith."

By the way, according to the Your Smokies Twitter feed: "As of this morning 14 fatalities, 134 injuries and 1,684 structures have either been damaged or destroyed by the fire."

Isaac McCord received what he believes to be a divine message, and it could be something God will use to draw Him into a deeper relationship with Himself.  I do believe that God is speaking to His people on a consistent basis.  The question for each of us is: are we listening?  Are we tuned in? Have we developed spiritual sensitivity and discernment to know God's voice?

Not only can we learn to hear from the Lord, but we can also look for Him to show up in our lives; we can develop a sense of expectancy.  We are in relationship with Him through Jesus Christ, and we can know He walks with us.

But, while there are those who would acknowledge God or some vague concept of divine presence, we have to make sure that the ultimate goal of our lives is to be obedient to Jesus Christ. Some will make "God" statements, but as Christians, we make statements about God by the way we live a surrendered life.  Jacob was obedient as he beheld the presence of God, signified by a ladder in a dream; Moses was obedient as he encountered the Lord through a burning bush, a rod turning into a snake, and leprosy made whole.  We have testified to the power of the cross, and God expects us to allow that cross and the principles it represents to govern our lives.