A Prayer When It Feels Like God Might Have Forgotten Us

 We’ll think today a bit about Moses.  I was reading his story in the Bible a little bit earlier.

Moses descended from the family of Jacob.  Remember Joseph who went to Egypt and then how he brought all of Jacob’s family down when there was a time of famine.

They all made the right choices and did the right thing at the right time.  And yet here we are 400 years later and there are tough times.  There’s suffering and hardship and injustice because the current king has forgotten about Joseph and is scared of these people that are the descendents of Jacob.  He just wants to get rid of them.

In the middle of that injustice, God in His kindness raised up a deliverer. 

No one knew anything about Moses in the beginning.  He was just one more baby boy that the king wanted to kill but his mother hid him. He was chosen by a princess from a basket in the bulrushes.  He was brought up in palace of the king.

Even though he was trained in the education of the local people, there was still something of God’s heart and God’s character in Moses from his early upbringing when his mother was his nursemaid until he was ready to go to the princess.

We see that in Moses.  The other unfortunate bit though is that Moses acted, as so many of us do, in a moment of challenge with his own understanding about right and wrong.  He didn’t consult God and what a mess he made of things.

So he had to leave the palace. It looked like God’s plan was botched and deliverance for the people wasn’t going to be able to come.

And yet God was still with Moses.  His character was still in him.  In the desert place called Midian where Moses went the kindness and compassion of God was expressed by Moses in a situation with some women at a well.  So God was able to provide family for Moses and then he just lived his life. He had a couple of sons, tended sheep.  It was lovely for Moses but you begin to wonder what God was doing about His people who were still suffering.

Had God forgotten about them?  Not a chance.  In God’s way and time God brought out a plan to deliver an entire nation from slavery and hardship.

Well, it made me think about our circumstances – the hardship across the globe from the pandemic.  Has God given up on us?  Has He abandoned us?  Also, not a chance.

God will do whatever it takes to get our attention and put His plan of action into play at just the right time.

Loving God, our lives are in your hands. During days and weeks and months of turmoil and stress this truth is what we hang onto and what settles our hearts.

We pray today to be faithful whether Your will for us is a place of faithful service in an obscure place or a time to be courageous, take a bold step, trusting Your guidance and power to make Your plans come alive.

Forgive us for the times we’ve gotten it wrong like Moses did when he took justice into his own hands and tried to force through a plan in the wrong way at the wrong time.

We take heart today in Your ability and willingness to meet us where we are today and reveal Your heart to us. We are open to receiving that revelation from You in Your way and time.

Give us grace to be faithful and compassionate today and alert to Your signals. Amen

Let’s have a wonderful day today trusting that God is firmly in control of all that’s going on in our lives and the world.  Let’s keep our eyes in God, watching for His direction to stay in place today or move forward with a bold plan.

And in the middle of it all, have a wonderful day.