Do You Expect to Encounter God
In Exodus 6:9 it says, "Moses reported this to the Israelites but they did not listen to him because of their discouragement and harsh labor.” (NIV) My Bible study it says the word "discouragement" could be translated "shortness of spirit". They suggested that most of us go through life not expecting to encounter God. Stay with me I'm about to jump all over the place.
If what they suggested is true, then we are not looking to encounter God in our life. Imagine what could happen if we could encounter God like Moses at the bush. Remember in Exodus 3 as Moses approached, God stopped him and told him to take his sandals off because the ground, he was about to walk on was holy. Today we would call that a “threshold” Moses was about to cross from regular ground to holy ground. The ground itself was just dirt but because God occupied that space the ground became holy.
What if when we crossed the threshold of our job, church, chapel, school, class, or home we went in expecting to encounter God. Waiting for God to reveal Himself to us. It might be like entering a dark room filled with the most precious things we could ever see about God, then someone flips the light on for a second and quickly turns it off. Are we waiting, watching, and anticipating the light coming on so that we can take in as much as possible? The world could change if each of us would live expecting God to reveal something of Himself to us.
I know at a Christian school the temptation is to attend a class to retain enough knowledge to pass the exam. What if we went to class expecting to encounter God? Looking for God to reveal Himself to us through the teacher, other students, or the material? The light flicks on for just a second!
What if when we go to church, we expect God to be there. When we cross the threshold, we realize we are on holy ground. God occupies that space, so it becomes holy. Our actions would change instead of looking at the words of the song that are being projected on the screen we would see ourselves before God’s throne and sing from our hearts. For the time that we are there on holy ground we opened our hearts / minds to the light that flicks on for a second revealing God.
What if instead of attending chapel because it is required, we went expecting an encounter with God. Waiting for God to flick the light on and reveal whatever we can take in.
What if when we enter our home, we realize God is there? Our ministry is to our family. We should be helping them encounter God wherever they are. Deuteronomy 6:4-9 says we should “Impress” God’s commands on our children. It says we should talk about them when you Sit at Home, when you Walk along the Road, when you Lie Down, and when you Get Up. Every facet of life Sit, Walk, Lie Down, and Get Up. If at every facet of life we expected to encounter God how would life change?
We can’t continue to suffer from “shortness of spirit” or discouragement. We should encourage those around us to watch and wait, expectant that the light will flick on and we will encounter God right where we are.
