Don’t Be Moses’ Cousin

The last few months, it seems like I’ve been having so many conversations about faith. It seems as though faith is truly the theme of my life and even more so in this current season. I even had to teach a class on “Faith That Pleases God” as I was anticipating the transition that I am currently living out. Only God could’ve worked that into my schedule of “must do”s for this season.

And yet, what I know is that no matter how much I talk about it (several conversations even in the last couple of days) or however many songs are sung about it, it doesn’t seem to come home with us Christians. So many Christians talk about signs and wonders. So many of us are looking for God to send us confirmation before we move and do whatever it is that he said do or before we follow the tugging in our heart (a.k.a. the Holy Spirit) pulling on us to move one way or another out of stagnation. I once heard a woman preach that we look for God to go even beyond what he did with the fleeces in the Bible (Judges 6) and provide ‘confirmations of his confirmations for his confirmations with additional confirmations’.

But these days, I’ve been sincerely aware that the Biblical definition of faith is so real—“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen...” (Hebrews 11:1). Not confirmations. This Christian walk (on water or anywhere else) is about faith and not signs. Whatever you are looking for God to do in your life, know that it is His desire to meet you in your place of faith. You may not understand it. You may not even feel like doing the next thing. It may scare the beejeezes out of you as it has me.

These days, I certainly can’t see it. Can you? The road before me is not clear. I don’t know all the details of how the bills will get paid. I can’t answer all the questions how the ministry/business will develop. I don’t even fully know how I can live out this strong desire in my heart to be a wife and mother. All I can see is what God promised. And so today the thought came to mind that I don’t want to be like Moses’ cousins. You see, Moses was set to take God’s people into the Promised Land, but after dealing with his “cousins” (a whole generation of the Children of Israel), both he and they were denied entry into the promise. They stepped out and then messed it up with doubt and misgivings and grumbling. They stepped out and then tried to bring some of their old madness back into their lives. So I have said to God in this season that I’m willing to let it ALL go for the Promise. Are you? It doesn’t make sense to me. It doesn’t match what I want or what I thought the promise looked like, but what does matter is that God does not give up on me because I grumble through the wilderness. I do not want to be one of Moses’ cousins. You shouldn’t want to either.