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David Crowder Everything Glorious 

Scripture
The men of Gibeon quickly sent messengers to Joshua at his camp in Gilgal. “Don’t abandon your servants now!” they pleaded. “Come at once! Save us! Help us! For all the Amorite kings who live in the hill country have joined forces to attack us.”

Is this event not recorded in The Book of Jashar? The sun stayed in the middle of the sky, and it did not set as on a normal day. There has never been a day like this one before or since, when the Lord answered such a prayer. Surely the Lord fought for Israel that day! Joshua 10:6-8; 12-13

Observation
Have you ever blundered so badly that you have felt that God could not use you again? Joshua must have had those feelings. He had been hoodwinked by the Gibeonites and was dumb enough to sign a contract with his enemies without consulting God. His treaty was binding not just for him but for centuries of leaders.

But Joshua discovered what many other Bible characters found: God is determined to be glorified, even if that means using our failures to do so. David failed with Bathsheba, but from their relationship came Solomon, Israel’s greatest king. There is something that allures God when he finds failure served up on the platter of a humble heart.

Salvation is not God erasing away our failure so that we will not make mistakes again. Instead, salvation is God taking our failure and making it part of his glory story.

Look again at Joshua. Before the ink was dry he was called upon to defend people he should have destroyed. He would have thought to himself, “How stupid could I have been!” But we can never underestimate God’s determination to be glorified. The Lord reached into the mess and worked a miracle. Joshua had the courage to pray a dramatic prayer in the midst of his shame. He asked for nothing short of the sun standing still; what is more, God brought planet Earth to a halt to answer his prayer.

A great miracle came because a leader did not allow himself to be crippled by his failure. He offered his blunder to the Lord and saw God’s glory come.

Application
Have I given my failures to the Lord for him to use? Do I have faith to believe that God can be glorified through them?  There are times that my prayer of repentance and regret can interfere with God’s determination to glorify himself through the broken parts of my life.

Prayer
Father, if Thomas Edison could make a light from a charred piece of cotton thread, then take my life and energize your glory through me. Take what is left of us after the fire and pour your glory through us so that your light will be seen by all. Let even our failures give you opportunity to glorify your name. Make all of the glory that you can out of my imperfect life. Amen.

Scripture
But Moses pleaded with the Lord, “O Lord, I’m not very good with words. I never have been, and I’m not now, even though you have spoken to me. I get tongue-tied, and my words get tangled.”

Then the Lord asked Moses, “Who makes a person’s mouth? Who decides whether people speak or do not speak, hear or do not hear, see or do not see? Is it not I, the Lord? now go! I will be with you as you speak, and I will instruct you in what to say.” Exodus 4:10-12

Observation
When God calls a man he does not put a finger on his strengths but digs up all of his inadequacies.

Asking Moses to speak to Pharaoh was a traumatic request. First of all, Pharaoh was only the most important man on earth. Anyone might feel blood pressure increase, breathing shallow out and the voice fade in his presence. But for Moses there was more. He had childhood memories of stuttering to step over. That may seem small to some, but to a stutterer it is a huge tank trap. There were memories of being a chronic stutterer in a king’s court where verbal agility is everything. Moses would not move beyond that.

We know how the story pans out. Moses answers, “Here am I Lord, send Aaron.” The rest of the story would have been easier if Moses had not worked through a press secretary to represent him.

But there could have been another outcome. Moses was being asked to face up to his most primordial fear. What looked like cruelty was in fact an act of help from the Lord. If Moses would face it he could move beyond it.

Moses did not confront his fear of stage fright. Why? Because he expected the fear to dissolve before he spoke. But the Lord proimsed no such thing. He only guaranteed that when Moses started to speak that he would sense God with him. “I will be with you as you speak” the Lord said. The key word there is “as” Reassurance does not come until we step out.

Application
I cannot expect that the Lord will soothe my feelings until first I have obeyed him. We want the feelings to come first. But the Lord will not work that way. Instead we must obey without the feelings. Six years ago this week I went on a trip to Australia to lay the groundwork to plant a new church in Brisbane, New Hope Brisbane. It was just me and a rental car. What later became the church was not yet gathered together. I visited a conference facility and a restaurant function room on top of a hill. I remember feeling so conspicuous looking for a building without people to put in it. But within one year I saw both of those facilities packed with people. First I had to step out and then the confidence came.

Prayer
Father you sure do lead us to still waters but you do hide the fact in the middle of the Psalm that the way there comes through the valley of the shadow of death. Help me to continue to do more than my feelings allow. I want to be in the place where you are, which is always on the other side of my fears. Amen.

Scripture
My help comes from the Lord…
He will not let you stumble
The Lord himself watches over you!
The Lord keeps you from all harm. Psalm 121 Selected

Observation
In the flat center of the red Australian continent rises not a mountain but a solitary rock. It’s known as Uluru or Ayers Rock and it’s the world’s largest monolith. Tourists like me were scrambling up the side, grasping the heavy chain hand rail to pull themselves up to the top. The sides are steep and the guide warned us about the tourists that tumbled to their death by letting go of the chain. While we were snaking our way up the rock, other tourists were coming down on the other side of the handrail. A lady descending had been scaling the rock face in stiletto high heels! Just when I was marveling at her naiveté, she stumbled and tumbled in front of me. I and another tourist reached out and grabbed her by the hand and pulled her back to safety.

God does that with me as well. I’ve done things as mountain climbing in stilettos. I’ve taken wrong roads, brought too much stuff and left the right stuff at home and have been helplessly lost. But just when I stumble a hand reaches out to brace me.

I did some research into the phrase, “He will not let you stumble.” The words literally translate, “He will not let your foot wobble.” God is watching my footwork and knows just when to step in.

How?

Because he is watching over me and keeping me from all harm. There are times we can’t see where we are going but God knows right where we are.

Application
“You are being watched” is not normally a good thing, but this time it is. I’m under God’s surveillance and that is a great comfort. The question is, am I looking up to the Lord from whom my help comes from?

Prayer
Father, this psalm is written not to ask us to do anything but to remind us of what you are doing for us. You are watching me. There are times I feel that I’ve marched off of the map. I wonder if I’ve checked in often enough for directions. Have I digressed too far? Yet, in the end I find that I was being led by hands I could not see. Even when it feels sometimes that I’m making things up I discover that you are working things out. So I trust the hand I cannot see and follow the voice I cannot hear and know that you have everything under control. Amen.