I read Exodus 3 this morning and find myself contemplating something God said to Moses that surprised me. So it's when God was telling Moses to be his advocate to help deliver the people out of slavery to Pharaoh. God says "But I know that the king of Egypt will not let you go unless compelled by a mighty hand. So I will stretch out my hand and strike Egypt with all the wonders that I will do in it; after that he will let you go." (Exodus 3:19-20 ESV) So in my mind, God all- powerful could have sent Moses in and the people could have walked out with him and God could have protected them, but instead he says the king will need compelling. And I thought "But you are GOD! You can make anything happen instantly. Why would you need to compel Pharaoh to let Your people go?"
So you have Pharaoh "the oppressor" needing to be compelled to be open to change. He is used to being in charge and having God's people do his hard labour, and you have God's people "the victims" that need to become open to change, because they have become accustomed to being oppressed and it's their new "normal". Moses also needs to develop an openness to change to take on the role as leader rather than the fugitive that he envisions himself to be. Change is hard! Openness to even just the possibility of change is sometimes hard. We become accustomed to the situation we have allowed ourselves to be in and maybe as a defence mechanism we convince ourselves that we are where we are supposed to be, that we don't deserve better, that we are not worthy of better, that we deserve to be in that place in our lives. But I can tell you it's not! God has a better plan, and like He did in Exodus 3, he tries to compel us to believe differently, to trust that He has our best interests at heart and that change can be good. Often fear causes us to remain where we are in an effort to protect our hearts from shattering, and are instead left in a diminished life rather than opening up to the possibility of truly being able to live freely. "The only way we can evolve is when our sense of what we know and trust is destroyed." Karen Kimsey-House, MFA, CPCC, MCC, Co-Founder and CEO of CTI in the Huffington Post Blog "Disrupt Your Life in a Good Way., Part 1: Don't Fear Heartbreak... It's Growth" She tells a story of a leadership cohort who experienced the switch from a closed life to openness and I love what she said... "I didn't even know I was dead until I was alive." Well said! That's why the switch is so difficult!
What's not directly said in these verses is that Moses needed to be compelled to be a leader, and God's people needed to be compelled to believe they would actually be rescued (and remember Pharaoh needed to compelled to change his mind). So Moses and God's people see themselves as victims and find the situation hopeless, and like all situations where we feel we are being hopelessly oppressed and the victim, we have to arouse within ourselves the capacity to be redeemed and the capacity to be used by God and the capacity to be loved. That switch is so hard, and one I struggle with but like Proverbs 13:12 says "When hope is crushed, the heart is crushed, but a wish come true fills you with joy." So I will keep striving to be open to change, hope, trust, opportunity, success, love and joy! For if I am not open to receiving it, how will I be able to reciprocate...to give back or pass it on to others?
