Only one does the knocking..and it ain't you

There's a beautiful story in the modern church which goes like this: God is a gentleman. He'll never force you to do something you don't want. They preface this with that picture of Jesus knocking on the door and stressing the point that the lock is on the inside; so you have to open it to let him in.

Bollocks.

There was a man who lived in the village of Midian. In the first forty years of his life, he had been a prominent person in Egypt. It was a luxurious life..but he had to move. No matter, for the next forty, he married, had kids and a comfortable life tending sheep. Great life, eh? Just about ready to retire and then...

God appears to him

Note that he didn't pray for an 'word' or enter into a nice conversation with God. Heck, he probably wasn't praying at all - and he got the 'WORD' himself. That is one scary thought. I think of all those people shouting and praying "God! show me more of you!" or "Let me see your face!" in church. And all I can think of is: "Uh-uh. Nope. I don't want to see God face to face. If I did - I'd soil my pants pretty darn quick".

Look, I would get nervous enough seeing Cate Blanchett face to face (Hot tamale!)...let alone the King of Heaven.

So anyway, he gets into this weird conversation with God. And it involves all sorts of weird stuff happening. He obviously doesn't want the job but at about the point where God turns his hand leprous; he kinda thinks that maybe it would be better to zip his lip for a while as some other appendage might turn leprous.

Point Number two: Saying 'No' to God really isn't an option (Hi, Jonah!)

His whole life turns upside down from that point. His son gets circumcised by his wife Zipporah to save him from getting fried by God. All I know is, that a Freudian psychiatrist would have a field day with this scene..

He then has to contend with the might of the Egyptian army, plagues, complaining ungrateful hordes of his people, going up mountains, making decisions...and all this at a time when he should have been retired or dead. His only wish is to see the promised land. Just one small desire - not to much to ask when he's done all this, right?

Nope. One moment of indiscretion puts him out.

Haven't we all been there? If only I never said that to her, if only I never walked into that place, if only i had studied harder..if only, if only.

And all he can do is watch through his feeble eyes, the others entering into the land of Milk and Honey, while he waits to die. In a land where he has spent the last forty years wandering; only to be so close yet so far. This is the story of Moses

I cringe when I see those self proclaimed 'prophets' in large churches. You want to be a prophet, really? Consider Ezekiel. God tells him that his wife may die...and get this: he is not to mourn for her. Now, this was no nasty wife that he was glad to be rid of. This was the 'delight of his eyes' (Ezekiel 24:16). And he was not even allowed to cry for her. "..yet you shall not mourn or weep. nor shall your tears run down"

You still want to be a prophet now?

What did the verse I use in my first post for the year say? Everything belongs to God. Even you. Even your wife. Your little kids are his. Don't ever say Jesus sold you a false story about the cost of discipleship in the gospels. He was brutally honest about saying that you have to carry a cross.

I honestly have to say that if I knew how much of a cross this was, I seriously may not have opted to carry it. You can call this heresy or blasphemy if you wish. It doesn't matter. You can 'willingly' accept it - if you think it's your will doing it. Or you can walk away. Like Jonah, and see how far you go

"For the earth is the Lord's, and the fullness thereof" - 1 Corinthians 10:26

" Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for honoured use and another for dishonourable use?" - Romans 9:21 -