To The Untamed Heart.

How come every time our faith feels like a lifeless uphill climb we want to run into hiding? Maybe it’s that same eye-opening, tender recognition that Adam and Eve experienced in the garden, when they knew he would see their lack of preparedness if he found them as they were- ashamed and paying attention to the wrong things because of who they spent their time listening to.

Today the seriousness of casual faith feels even more weighty. Maybe the battle is not so much casual as it is foggy numbness. Maybe it’s the fact your faith has looked less holy and more common. All I know is ever since 2020, those end of times conversations have become increasing and nearly unavoidable. Everything is pointing us to Biblical prophesies being fulfilled that the Lord pointed out in His checklist. I mean, the moon is rusting, guys. Without oxygen and water present. Scientists are baffled. Because though it shouldn’t be happening it is. And the type of rust, haematite, is derived from the greek word for ‘blood’. Even without the greek derivative, I want you to imagine what the moon looks like when it is covered in rust, and then consider the fact the Lord spoke through Joel clear back in the Old Testament, prophesying that the moon would turn to blood in the day of the Lord (Joel 2:31). Things are moving, and that isn’t something scary, that is something beautiful, exciting, and even exhilarating. Why? Because Jesus is coming to restore all things.

So here we are, adding to those 200-400 prophesies we know were already fulfilled in Jesus when He came and walked the earth, seeing our God continue to walk with us and stand by His word in a world that is farther than ever from it, still checking all the boxes that He set in those early days. Right now, more than ever before feels like a time necessary to live a life worthy of the calling, worthy of Jesus our King choosing death over calling down some angels to rescue Him, so we could know the Father like He does. Have you ever sat down and considered what kind of Christian it takes in the days we’re living in? Think about it with me for a second. Half-hearted isn’t going to cut it. Numb isn’t going to change the world. Fighting amongst ourselves isn’t bearing the fruit He says the world will know us by. And yet, how hard is it to not run and hide when we are hard pressed on every side by a world that rejects us?

So the question I guess I want to ask you is are you hiding? Are you in the bunker or are you in the front lines? Are you pressing in with everything you have, waiting for that breakthrough, or are you seated, living your life, waiting for the Lord to pull you out of it?

Moses, perhaps the greatest earth-side deliverer the Bible ever talks about aside from Jesus himself was in Midian. He knew the calling the Lord had placed over his life from the time he was young. He knew the Lord had sent him and created him with the purpose of leading the captive Israelites and saving them. But after trying to take matters into his own hands early on, the Israelites rejected his help, leaving Moses fleeing to Midian. He ran away and hid, found himself a wife, had himself a baby (whom we’ll get back to in a sec), and became a shepherd. There he stood tending his father-in-laws sheep while the Israelites were meanwhile in Egypt, crying out to the Lord for a rescuer.

He hid when he was rejected and got himself as far away as he could to drown out the noise and separate himself from that calling. Like we often think when we do things outside the order or age limits we think the Lord has set for the plans of success He has for our lives, Moses probably thought he muddled the plans enough that God would find someone else. Someone without a family. Or maybe someone closer to the scene. But God came to him in that burning bush and called him out. Just like He is calling you.

He is calling you to be a vessel of His restoration. He is calling you to go rescue His people. And every excuse of comfort you can probably consider He was right there with you.

Moses felt like an outcast and a misfit. He didn’t feel like he belonged. He was raised by people that weren’t biologically related to him, people who were actually hurting his own people. He tries to stand up for his people, the Israelites, and in other words they basically tell him he is not one of them. He runs away and lives in a land full of people and maybe even customs that are not his own. And he names his own son Gershom, which translates to “stranger” or “exile”, because he said he felt like a stranger in a foreign land.

Moses was afraid. For starters, he ran in fear when he dropped his staff and the Lord turned it into a snake (not saying I wouldn’t do the same).We can probably assume him to be an introvert or at the very least a man of few words, because when the Lord calls him he is quick to point out that he has a stutter. It was outside of his comfort zone. He was already rejected once by these same people when he tried to stand up for them. After every excuse failed him, he begged God to send someone else. Why would he do that other than fear at the root?

Friend, God is calling you back to His plans over your life. You are part of the break through. You’re part of the church that He says will be burning brighter in the darkness of the last days. You are vital. It’s time to wake up. When Moses asked God who he should tell the people was sending him, he said I AM. We have often taken that as the great I AM we know Him to be- everything we need. All things in all circumstances. All of our strength. But I want you to imagine the part of that where it had to be delivered out of Moses mouth. Moses had to respond when the people asked who sent him with “I AM”. He had to take ownership of the call God put on his life. He had to do his part. When the staff turned into a snake and he ran in fear, God didn’t just shut it off without his participation. Moses had to grab it by the tail. He had to reach out and touch it. He had to face his fear.

Moses stood on the mountain, sandals kicked off beside him, staring at the fiery bush that wasn’t so much as charred. He stood on this mountain where he was living in hiding, and the Lord promised to bring him back to this same spot with the redeemed. You are standing in hiding, but you’ll return delivered.

Praying this over you.