Ten Minute Bible Talks Devotional Bible Study - God's Plan Takes Work | Torah | Exodus 17:8-16

Episode Date: June 9, 2022

Should Christians "let go and let God"? What role do you have in God's plan? Are you trying to avoid hard work? In today's episode, Jensen talks through Exodus 17:8-16 to explain how living out God's plan requires work and action. Your support makes TMBT possible. Ten Minute Bible Talks is a crowd-funded project. Join the TMBTeam to reach more people with the Bible. Give now. Like this content? Make sure to leave us a rating and share it with others, so others can find it too. Use #asktmbt to connect with us, ask questions, and suggest topics. We'd love to hear from you! To learn more, visit our website and follow us on Facebook, and Twitter @TenMinuteBibleTalks. Don't forget to subscribe to the TMBT Newsletter here. Your support makes TMBT possible. Ten Minute Bible Talks is a crowd-funded project. Join the TMBTeam to reach more people with the Bible. Give now. Passages: Exodus 17:8-16 Your support makes TMBT possible. Ten Minute Bible Talks is a crowd-funded project. Join the TMBTeam to reach more people with the Bible. Give now.

Welcome to 10-minute Bible Talks, where we connect the Bible to your life and the time it takes to get to work. I'm Jensen Holt McNair, and right now we're going through Exodus. My husband and I just got back from a week of vacation, and we went without our eight-month-old son. Jude got to spend plenty of time with his grandparents, and we got to spend a week eating good food, reading books, and laying on a beach. It was incredibly relaxing and peaceful. No nap schedules, no crying, no scrambling to find puffs, to feed the baby, just rest and the sound of waves on the sand. It makes sense why when people often imagine luxury and peace and comfort, they envision themselves sitting on a beach.

In many of the TV shows and movies I grew up watching, oftentimes if a character was sick and dying, they would find themselves on a beach in a dreamlike state that was supposed to represent their life in heaven, their life at peace. But as my husband and I were on our vacation, by the last day we missed home. We missed having something to do. We missed the naps and the crying and the chores

because with all of those things comes the joy of being with Jude. There was a flaw in our plan and a reason why vacation only lasts a few days. If our goal in life is to live comfortably and peacefully, then we would miss out on things like a joyful marriage and having a child and excelling in a career. All of those things, they take effort and work.

and in turn they require responsibility and discomfort at times. It's why the vision of heaven as a beach and a margarita always rubbed me the wrong way. And why popular Christian phrases like, let go and let God never quite sat right. At first look, we may be fooled by this phrase. It sounds right. We need to trust the all-powerful God and creator that we follow. We need to stop trying to control our situation around us and let God handle everything. We need to let go of striving and let God do the work.

If we just find peace and trust God enough, he will handle the situation we're facing. But in the end, that theology just doesn't stand up to the truth of Scripture. Now, of course, we need to trust God. Of course, we need to know that he is in control and that we can't manipulate our lives to be exactly what we want. but the goal of the Christian life is not to find a peaceful spiritual Zen state where we have to let go of all of our worry and responsibility and leave it up to God to handle. See, the goal of the Christian life is not to have a church full of peaceful people

on a beach happily trusting God to set the world right. It's just not the picture that we get. And in Exodus 17, there's this crazy story. See, the Israelites, they're in the wilderness. They're traveling to the promised land, and out of nowhere we learn that the Amalekites have come out to attack the Israelites. And Moses tells Joshua to go out and choose men who will fight for Israel. And Moses' plan is to stand at the top of the hill, overlooking the battle, and hold the staff of God in his hands. And so, as Joshua and the men he chooses are fighting, as long as Moses held up his hands with the staff, the Israelites would be winning the vast.

battle. If his hands fell, the Amalekites would overpower them. Eventually, Moses gets tired, and so he has to have a stone brought out for him to sit on, and Aaron and a man named her have to hold his arms up so that his hands would remain steady. Concluding the battle, verse 13 reads, so Joshua overcame the Amalekite army with the sword. In the actions of Moses, there is no doubt that the only reason the Israelites were able to overpower their enemy was because of the work of God. It was not by their might that they won, but by a supernatural power of God at work in the midst of a human battle. See, God was in control. God was at work. And because of this, the Israelites won. But the battle begins by Moses telling Joshua to go.

go out and find men to fight. And it concludes telling us that Joshua overcame his enemies with the sword. And in the midst of the battle, while it's easy to focus on Moses and his arms, we have to remember that a real battle is being fought. When the Amalekites are winning the battle, Israelite lives are being lost, widows being created and men being wounded and worn down. Yes, God is at work and in complete control. Yes, God's power is the power that enables the Israelites to overcome their enemies supernaturally. But in the midst of God's sovereignty, his people are still called to action. We shouldn't be shocked that the faithful follower of Jesus looks less like a peaceful Zen yoga guru and more like a loyal soldier.

When describing the Christian life in 2nd Timothy 2, Paul compares the faithful follower of Christ to a soldier, an athlete, and a farmer, a soldier who aims to please the one who enlists him, an athlete who competes according to the roles set before him, and a farmer who works hard to produce a healthy and bountiful crop. It is God who gives the soldier's strength, the athlete skill, and the farmer the rain,

unnecessary to produce life. And it is God who uses the loyalty of the soldier, the obedience of the athlete, and the determination of the farmer to produce a common goal. See, we can neither be prideful nor lethargic. We must humbly trust that ultimately God is all powerful. God is in control, not us, while at the same time giving our allegiance to partner in building God's kingdom here on earth. We know that God will ultimately bring victory. His kingdom will reign, but we cannot just sit back and do nothing. The Israelites knew that God had brought them out of Egypt and would deliver them into the promised land, but they still had to gather together and fight their enemies. See, the goal of the Christian life isn't to end up on a beach, but to get our hands dirty and our back sweaty as we labor alongside

God died Jesus to build his kingdom. Letting go and letting God leaves us disconnected from the reality of the Christian life. It might feel blissful and peaceful for a time, but eventually vacation runs its course, and we miss the things in life that take work. The people of God must fight for justice. We must uphold truth. We have to care for the sick and for the poor among us. We have to fight the temptations of our flesh. We have to call out racism and sexual abuse. We have to stand with the oppressed among us. We have to fight against violence. We have to open our homes to those who look different than us. We are called to be the hands and feet of Jesus to continue the work that he did on earth, healing the broken and chasing after the lost. We can not just sit back

and watch our enemies run rampant in the world, trusting that God will one day make it all right. Of course he will, but his plan has always been to use his faithful followers to begin that work today. Don't live your life and look back and realize you missed out on the things that bring real meaning to life because you were chasing a life of comfort. Don't sit idly by and waste the time and strength and wisdom the Lord has given you for his purposes. Take action. Fight against the darkness of this world alongside King Jesus as he ushers in his kingdom of love, justice, and mercy. Before you forget, sign up for the 10-minute Bible Talks newsletter.

Hit the link in the show notes and you'll get an email every Wednesday that will help encourage you in the middle of the work week and bring you deeper in your walk with Jesus. Thanks for listening.