Moses, Peter & Setbacks

         Lately this semester, my small group and I have been on a study through the book of Exodus and looking closely at Moses’ story and his relationship with God. We looked into how he came to be someone whom God decided to use to present His glory to the world. It was quite interesting as to the kinds of questions we've had so far.

         For instance, we were looking at how Moses has been initially struggling with his faith in God and how He’ll rescue His people from the hands of the Egyptians. We had an application question that was asked: what’s holding you back? I find that this question gets asked a lot, but it still gets to the heart of the matter. What IS holding me back from living out what God intends for me to do?
         I guess what’s holding me back is having this sense of doubt, especially when different circumstances arise. It’s so much easier to do what God wants from us when things are going good in our direction, but I still find it hard to go through the hard times every now and then. What I can learn from Moses’ story is the same as with the apostle Peter. By learning to put my faith in Jesus and yielding to His Spirit in prayer, I can overcome whatever troubles me.
         There are other things that I could mention about specific lessons I have learned from Moses’ story, but this appeared to be an over-arching theme that kept popping up. The other great theme for me is to know that I’m not alone. I find that many of us are struggling to be accepted and loved when we don’t know that we were already loved and accepted by a God who chose to die in our place in order to conquer death and offer eternal life. If you are in a situation like this, the same applies to you; you don’t have to be lonely because there already is a place where you belonged before you could even realize such a place; you are loved when you have struggled to find “the One,” or have been told that nobody loves or wants you.

But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. –Romans 5: 8

         I found that verse to be comforting. For me, it meant that God loved me so much to sacrifice himself so I could be free from my sins. It meant that I mattered, and that there is a reason for my existence. My hope is that this verse will also bring comfort into someone else’s life, like it has for countless others like me.