A New Decade Begins

I enjoy going to the beach, but at heart, I’m not a sand and sea type of person. I’d much rather be nestled in a mountain top cabin with a mug of hot chocolate warming my hands while awaiting impending snow flurries. Despite my preference for mountain bliss, my now husband took me to float the Guadalupe River one summer day not too long after we began dating. Much inner trepidation ravaged my mind, but I smiled as we got our tubes and prepared to embark on this five hour journey. I felt a ping of concern as kayakers zoomed by donning helmets. Was there danger ahead? I didn’t know for sure, but I knew it was too late to turn back. The bus that dropped us off at the starting point was slowly pulling out of the lot leaving nothing but a twirling plume of dust in its wake. We were committed. And so it began. 

Within five minutes, we hit the first rapid. Something happened to my tube. In a blink I was flipped out and sucked under into the current. I’m not a strong swimmer. I was caught in the undertow and thrashed against the rocks at the bottom of the river. I fought my way up and put my hand out of the water for help. No one grabbed it. Again I was sucked back under and thrashed against the rocks until I felt a window of release in the current and could push myself to the surface of the water. 

My now husband’s hand grabbed me like a rag doll and drug me to the safety of the river bank. Blood slowly angled down a cut in my temple from the aftermath. I sat just focusing on breathing for a moment. We were less than a quarter mile downstream from the start of this five mile trek. And I’m supposed to get back in this rubberized death trap and finish the course? How? Why? With what strength? 

Moses. Left in a basket on the banks of the Nile and entrusted into the hand of God to guide him to safety. Where did His hand lead? Straight to Pharaoh’s daughter. The same river that brought heartache and pain in the upholding of Pharaoh’s decree to throw every Hebrew baby boy into the Nile to be killed brought a glimmer of hope through Moses. 

Exodus 3:10-11 So now, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt.”But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?”

Those three words clamber through our own thoughts when faced with challenge. Who am I? Who am I to lead a bible study? Who am I to serve in that capacity? Who am I with my past failures to lend advice? 
Who are we? We are His chosen people. Dearly beloved amidst the mire of our humanity. And who was Moses? His life started as a slow float down the Nile in a basket and climaxed in his parting of the Red Sea. His words prior to this miraculous act?

Exodus 14:14 The Lord will fight for you; you need only be still.

Still? How could I be still in the frenzied panic on the banks of the shore with miles left to the finish line. Still? How could Moses be still with Egyptians hot on his heels and a sea standing between freedom and certain death. 

We can be still because He is the I Am. His almighty hand is Sovereign even when we are being beaten against the rocks of life’s trials and woes. He uses those moments to fine tune our features a little more in His likeness. A wrinkle here. A stress line there. That becomes a part of our story. A story that is all our own, but a story that can be beared to others to drive us all to His feet. 

In the stillness of the moment, we find rest. We find His valiant army suited up for us. We find that even in the midst of the darkest of circumstances, we are victorious. 

Moses’s obedience was not a one time answer. It was, “Yes, God.” in the midst of self doubt, tyrannical leadership, fear, plagues, worry, and hardship. God used Moses to free a nation. Moses made his share of mistakes. God chose Him. And he chooses us. 

As we unfold a new decade, may the questions or excuses that hinder us from being sold out to God fall flat. 

We can finish the journey. Whatever it is. It may be hard. But we can walk into this decade with the certainty of a risen Savior at our side. The One who is The I Am.