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The Door to Your Future
— Stumbling Forward Does Not Make It Happen —
— Stumbling Forward Does Not Make It Happen —
Two situations are described for us in Holy Scripture which were catalytic in opening the door to a totally unexpected and awesome future.
They are given to us to teach us God's ways, so it is wise that we take note of this if we think God knows best!
They are given to us to teach us God's ways, so it is wise that we take note of this if we think God knows best!
| "When she had finished giving him a drink, she said, 'I will draw water for your camels also, until they have finished drinking.' So she quickly emptied her jar into the trough and ran again to the well to draw water, and she drew for all his camels." |
This is when Abraham had sent his most trusted servant to find a wife for his covenant son Isaac. The servant had arrived at the city well outside Nahor in Mesopotamia, and at a time when it was customary for the local women to collect water at the well for their homes. He had prayed that God would show him who should be the chosen one by her selfless compassionate response (Genesis 24:14).
consequence, this young girl became part of God's plan for the future of all humanity at a time when it was completely beyond any human comprehension in His awesome wisdom.
| Having left Egypt, exhausted, Moses "sat down by a well [in the Sinai desert]. Now the priest of Midian had seven daughters, and they came and drew water and filled the troughs to water their father's flock. The shepherds came and drove them away, but Moses stood up and saved them, and watered their flock." |
Moses had put himself into voluntary exile from Egypt (where his family and nation lived), rather than take sides against his people in the ill-treatment they suffered from the Egyptian authorities. Although some preachers ignorantly see this as Moses 'running away' from Pharaoh/danger, the Bible presents it as the exact opposite. His self-imposed exile, from the royal house of a civilized Egypt into the nothingness of a desert, is shown as an act of faith in God (Hebrews 11:27).
sitting there at the well, tired and having lost all that he ever thought he had, he sees the bullying of of the female shepherds by their male counterparts for the access of their flocks to the scarce water resource.
He had nothing to gain in getting involved (as he thought) in other people's problems, but he stood up for the victims in that situation.
As a consequence, Moses becomes part of something bigger than he could ever have anticipated!
ways with us follow the same spiritual principles, for it is only when our attitude aligns with His, in caring for those around us, that we can begin to be trusted with a future for which we were designed,
even though it is utterly beyond our comprehension at the time.
As a little toddler, firmly holding its father's hand, does not need to evaluate traffic flow, but simply 'keep in step with Daddy', so each of us need only a secure personal intimacy with the One who loves us beyond measure, to enter into that – for which we were born.
Walking on water... does not need a pathway!
caring-principle is why, when the Lord Jesus illustrated the basic responsibility of every human as being to –
"love your neighbour AS yourself",
and this was then queried by a religious Jew, so, as a godly example to all – after two religious Jews (priest and Levite) had completely ignored his plight (as the public tend to do).
