Sponsoring the Bench Warmer

I feel like we get confused sometimes.

"Do not come near; take your sandals off your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground." - Exodus 3:5

So, dirt, right? Dirt is not holy. Dirt is dirt. It's dirty. Anyone who gets around it also gets dirty. My point? The dirt did not earn its own right to be made holy.

Take Moses, too. For crying out loud, he knew that he wasn't the man for the colossal job God had planned. Don't believe me? Moses himself said, "Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?" - Exodus 3:11

In other words: "Uh-uh. I know you ain't talkin' to me." And if you were him, you probably would have said the same thing, considering the stutter and murderous past and all.

But, no. God told him specifically, "I will be with you."

Look at the even bigger picture: God wanted Moses to go up to the Pharaoh and tell him, "The LORD, the God of the Hebrews, has met with us; and now, please let us go a three days’ journey into the wilderness, that we may sacrifice to the LORD our God."

First of all, keep in mind that Moses is telling the king of one of the most powerful empires in history that the God of the universe is advocating a nation of slaves. Essentially, that's like Google sponsoring a high school, junior varsity, bench-warming basketball player.

Well for those of you who haven't seen what I've been getting at, I'll shoot straight from the hip:

We tend to think that it's all about how good we are.

Now, I've written about this in the past, but I wanted to get at something I missed about what happens when we believe our strength comes from our own will-power: when we fail, we have no where to go.

Any failure or sin will always lead to us believing that we need to just try harder. And when we figure out, after failing countless times, that we can't try hard enough, we are left with nothing no hope.

In all of the examples given, God was working with the bench-warmers, high school drop-outs, and all-around sinners. Why? To make the world understand that the miracles produced at the hands of such people were the result of God's great power, not the strength of the people He recruited.

So have faith that "He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ," and that He will give you the strength to do the things that He planned out for you.

I'll leave you with Proverbs 3:5-8:

"Trust in the LORD with all your heart,
   and do not lean on your own understanding.
In all your ways acknowledge him,
   and he will make straight your paths.
Be not wise in your own eyes;
   fear the LORD, and turn away from evil.
It will be healing to your flesh
   and refreshment to your bones."

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