Category Archives: Exodus

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The God Who Is—And Will

While delivering Israel from Egypt, Moses hit “the wall” — a proverbial place that his current idea of God disallowed. Sooner or later, you, too, will hit “the wall.” But like Moses, here are two faith essentials you’ll discover at “the wall”: 1) God is the “I am.” He is the self-existent Sovereign of the universe. And he makes no mistakes! When he calls you, he will care for you; where he guides you, he will provide for you. If you’re stuck at “the wall,” don’t focus on the “I can’t,” lean into the “I Am” who knows what he’s doing, even when you don’t. 2) God says “I will.” He’s not God of the past, he’s Ruler of the present. He’s not a laid-back noun; he’s in action, always, working even now. You can’t see it, but you can trust it: God is using “the wall” to perfect his will in and through you. If you are at “the wall,” open your heart to the “I Am” who says, “I Will.” God is with you, he will bring you through it, and on the other side of it, he is already there, waiting with victory in his hand.

Going Deep // Focus: Exodus 6:6-8

Therefore, say to the Israelites: “I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians. I will free you from being slaves to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with mighty acts of judgment. I will take you as my own people, and I will be your God. Then you will know that I am the Lord your God, who brought you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians. And I will bring you to the land I swore with uplifted hand to give to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob. I will give it to you as a possession. I am the Lord.”

After 40 years of desert training, God finally gets Moses back on track with a divine assignment—and what an assignment it is! He is to go, as God’s voice, and demand that Pharaoh, the world’s most powerful leader, let the tribes of Israel leave Egypt. And not just for a field trip, mind you—to permanently leave in order to establish their own nation elsewhere. That would mean over two million unpaid laborers leaving Egypt’s workforce. From a human perspective, this is a non-starter; God is sending Moses into a mission that will be dead on arrival.

Further complicating the matter, Moses was painfully insecure about himself—from his past failures, his personal limitations, and from his brutal sense of reality—he knew the ways of Egypt, having been a one-time prince there, and he knew that this was definitely a very bad plan. Not only that, Moses’ previous attempt to submit a leave request for Israel had resulted in Pharaoh increasing their workload while decreasing the raw material need for their project. This was a case where God’s will had made things worse before it would get better. The Israelites were in the “things are worse” phase and couldn’t see the “things will get better” phase, and they were none too happy with Moses and not too thrilled with God. At this point, they were not listening to either.

So at this point in the Exodus story, Moses has hit the wall. Doing the will of God did not bring immediate success. On the contrary, it brought more difficulty—more failure and more insecurity, a real reality-check for the reluctant deliverer. When you listen to his arguments with God over the past three chapters, you get the sense that Moses felt abandoned by God, hung out to dry and given an impossible task. Now he was the cause of even greater hardship for his people, which left him with a deep sense that he had missed the will of God by miles.

Side Bar: Obviously, you have felt that way in your walk with God, too. I’ve certainly been there. That is just part and parcel of what it means to walk in faith and obedience with God. How often does the journey take us through a place that is darker than what our definition of faith allows before we come into the sunshine of divine favor. And it is in those dark places that we doubt ourselves, our calling and our God.

But in response to Moses’ pleadings, we see two eternal truths about God that should help us in those times when doing the will of God seems to bring us up against the wall:

First, we see that five times, God says, “I am…” That is who God is: the Great I Am. He is the Eternal One, the self-existent Sovereign of the Universe. And he makes no mistakes—ever! When he calls you, he will care for you in the journey. Where he guides you, he will provide for you. Don’t focus on the I can’t—lean into the Great I Am. He knows what he is doing, even if you don’t.

Second, we see that times God says “I will…” God is not the God of the past, he is the Ruler of the present. He is not a laid-back noun; God is in action. He is always at work—even right at this very moment. You can’t see it, but you can trust it: God is working to perfect his will through what he has tasked you to do. In the Christian walk, in reality, there is no such thing as “a wall”; there is only an “I Will!”

The Lord is with you and ahead of you. When God calls you to a step of faith, in reality, he has already gone before you and is waiting where the step of faith will take you. Yes, he goes before you (“the Lord is going before you, and the God of Israel is your rear guard.” Isaiah 52:12), he prepares the way for you (“I am going to send an angel before you to protect you on the way and bring you to the place I have prepared.” Exodus 23:20), he gives you safety and protection on the journey (“For the Lord your God walks throughout your camp to protect you and deliver your enemies to you.” Deuteronomy 23:14), he guarantees your success (“if you are careful to obey each of his laws, then you will be successful in everything you do.” Joshua 1:7) and he ensures the journey of faith will leave you with an outstanding testimony (“If you do, he will make you greater than any other nation, allowing you to receive praise, honor, and renown.” Deuteronomy 26:19). So wherever God calls, step out, even if it means stepping through the wall.

Your God is the God who is—and will!

Going Deeper With God: Read James 1:2-8 and you will see how your difficulties and God’s will go together. You will discover how God employs temporal hardship to build eternal character in your life. Now, if your faith has led you into a difficult spot, quit focusing on “the wall” and start looking for the “I Will” from the God who is “I Am”.

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When You Are About To Break—Don’t

God will never lose track of you, even if you are in the thick fog of threatening circumstances. And if you will simply review God’s track record of wisely, faithfully and impeccably bringing about deliverance for his people, often at the eleventh hour, you will a “see” a more powerful testimony of his power for your life and greater glory to himself is around the corner. So if you’re about to break, don’t. The fact that your conditions are worsening only signals that you are inches away from an amazing breakthrough!

The Journey// Focus: Exodus 5:22-23, 6:5

Moses returned to the LORD and said, “O Lord, why have you brought trouble upon this people? Is this why you sent me? Ever since I went to Pharaoh to speak in your name, he has brought trouble upon this people, and you have not rescued your people at all.” … Then the Lord said to Moses, “I am well aware of my covenant with my people.

Who knows how many spiritual victories and miraculous interventions God’s people forfeited because they retreated from God’s work in the face of increased adversity; they pulled up just before the finish line. Such was the case of Florence Chadwick, a world famous swimmer who famously gave up just a half mile shy of the California coastline on her record swim from the Catalina Islands.

Previously, Florence became the first woman ever to cross the English Channel twice both ways. But on the fourth of July 1952, the thirty-four year old swimmer was set on being the first woman to swim the twenty-six miles between Catalina Island and the shores of the Golden State. After fifteen hours of swimming, a thick, heavy fog set in. Florence began to doubt her ability, and she told her mother, who was in one of the boats, that she didn’t think she could make it.

Her mother and her trainer encouraged her to not to give up, to press on because the coast had to be close. But all Florence could see was the fog—and she gave up, in reality, so close, yet in her mind, so far.

Neither could Moses see what God saw. Moses saw only the reality of rejection and increasing hostility as Pharaoh threw him out of his presence. God had instructed Moses to declare before this great world ruler that it was time to let Israel go. But this time, Moses’ message fell on Pharaoh’s deaf ears. Yet it was not deaf ears, it was a hard heart—hardened by God for a forthcoming purpose that would be glorious beyond belief. Moses could only see the fog of defeat in front of him. Above the fog, God was bringing the victory for his people closer and closer.

As someone has said, it is always darkest before the dawn. Sometimes God’s best activity is directly preceded by the last throes of Satanic struggle—one last surge to discourage the child of God into retreat and surrender. What we should never forget is that at the darkest, most difficult moments of our conflicts, God is well aware of his covenant with his people—a covenant that guarantees victory, not defeat.

God will never lose track of us, even if we are in the thick fog of threatening circumstances. And if we will simply review God’s track record of wisely, faithfully and impeccably bringing about deliverance for his people, often at the eleventh hour, we will a “see” a more powerful testimony of his power for our lives and greater glory to himself is just around the corner.

If “worsening conditions” describes you, and you feel like you are about to break, don’t. The fact that your conditions are worsening only signals that you are inches away from an amazing breakthrough!

As Frederick Douglas said, “Without a struggle, there can be no progress.”

Going Deeper: If you are in a really hard place right now, wondering where God is, and ready to pull back from taking steps of faith, let me suggest a prayer for you to offer to God: “Dear God, I am struggling with the difficult and discouraging times in my life. Just at the time where I have hoped and prayed for a breakthrough, it seems as though I am about to break. But I will seize upon your promise to Moses: I am well aware of my covenant with my people. Lord, you remember us…you remember me. Now I pray, strengthen me to remain faithful and not to retreat in the face of adversity; let me not forfeit the victory that you have in store for me. Show me your unfailing love and great favor—and may it begin anew today!

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Who? Me?

The Weaker the Vessel, the Greater the Glory

Moses sits permanently in our history books as the greatest leader of all time. But when he got the job, he was the most diffident deliverer ever – a pretty insecure guy. Yet his life teaches a vital lesson: the weaker the vessel, the greater the glory to the One who pours his presence and power into and out through that vessel. The bigger the inadequacies and the bigger the challenge, the bigger the set-up for an enduring testimony to the power of God displayed in the life of one human being who was surrendered, if not reluctantly, to the Almighty’s purposes.

The Journey// Focus: Exodus 4:10-13

Then Moses said to the LORD, “O my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither before nor since You have spoken to Your servant; but I am slow of speech and slow of tongue.” So the LORD said to him, “Who has made man’s mouth? Or who makes the mute, the deaf, the seeing, or the blind? Have not I, the LORD? Now therefore, go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall say.” But Moses again pleaded, “Lord, please! Send anyone else.”

Like most people, even great leaders, Moses was a pretty insecure guy. He had lost a great job, and while landing a minimum wage gig just to make ends meet, he had nevertheless wandered in obscurity for forty years before the Lord appeared to him in a burning bush with a new assignment. And while that new assignment would thrust Moses into the history books as the greatest leader of all time, at this point in his life, he was the most diffident deliverer ever!

Now keep in mind that it was a burning bush from which God spoke! You typically wouldn’t backtalk God if he spoke to you from a burning bush, yet Moses offered one excuse after another as to why God had come to the wrong guy. You would think if the Almighty showed up in such dramatic fashion Moses might have been convinced that he indeed must be the right man. A God who is powerful enough to speak through a burning bush that doesn’t consume itself, and in fact, calls out your name from the bush, doesn’t tend to show up at the wrong address.

Moses’ problem was that he was more focused on his own inadequacies than on God’s adequacies. Moses was not the one who would have to do all the heavy lifting—God would. Yet God always works through human beings—men and women, by the way, who end up getting a lot of credit when God works through them. And, you know the rest of the story. That is exactly what happened: Moses got more than his fair share of recognition for the mighty acts that God wrought through him.

The truth is, the weaker the vessel, the greater the glory to the One who pours his presence and power into and out through that vessel. The more obvious the inadequacies, the bigger the challenge and the greater the unlikelihood, the larger the set-up for a testimony that will be passed down through generations of the power of God displayed in the life of one human being who was surrendered, if not reluctantly, to purposes of the Almighty.

You may not be called to call down plagues or part the Red Sea, but I’ve got a feeling that you are exactly the kind of person God is looking for. If he is calling you to step out for him, surrender, for he makes no mistakes. And since he has selected you, apparently he plans to do some incredible stuff through your obedience.

Going Deeper: Try offering this prayer of the reluctant: Dear God, I understand Moses’ reluctance. Sometimes I wonder why in the world I am someone you would want to use. Yet you are the One who made me just as I am, placed me where you want me to be, and called me to represent your name. And if you called, you will provide all the resources needed to secure victory, bring greater glory and honor to your name, and leave a legacy of what God can do through simple people submitted to your purposes. Lord, help me to place greater confidence in you than I’ve ever done before. And through my life may your name be exalted in all the land. May my life be a testimony to future generations of the power of God, that a people not yet born will gain great confidence in you and do mighty things in your name, all to your praise and glory.

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So You Want A Burning Bush, Do You?

A Divine Visitation Always Brings a God-Sized Assignment

Desiring a burning bush experience is a great thing; we just need to be aware of the great demands such a desire might place upon us. The reward of being visited by God will always be tempered by the demands of being used by God. Burning bushes always end with pressing assignments. As Frederick Buechner said, “The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet.” You want a burning bush? Good—get ready to be God’s chosen instrument in solving the problem that produced the visitation in the first place.

The Journey// Focus: Exodus 3:4-5

When the LORD saw that Moses had gone over to look, God called to him from within the burning bush, “Moses! Moses!” And Moses said, “Here I am.” God said, “Do not come any closer. Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.”

When you read this amazing story about Moses and the flaming tumbleweed from which God spoke, if you are like me, you’re probably thinking, “Man, I’d like a burning bush experience, too!” Whenever we come to places in Scripture where God or one of his holy agents literally, physically interacts with man—Jacob wrestling with God, Daniel visiting with the archangel, Peter on the mount of transfiguration, John receiving the Revelation—there is just something inside us that longs to encounter the real, living presence of Almighty God, too.

That is not a bad thing. It simply reminds us that in Adam, we were originally created to walk hand-in-hand with our Creator, enjoying an uninterrupted, unfiltered and intimate face-to-face relationship with him. We were designed for that and will continue to desire that until the day God takes us home and our faith once again becomes sight. In the meantime, perhaps, you or I may be one of those fortunate ones along the way to whom God grants a personal visitation.

But there is another side to those burning bush experiences that we need to keep in mind. You can see it here in this text—and you will find it in any of those other face-to-face encounters peppered throughout Scripture as well. First, you will notice that these revelations are preceded by great need. In this case, the people of God, Israel, were being severely abused as slaves in Egypt. They were crying out to God, and he was fixing to recruit a deliverer to deliver them. The fact of the matter is, more often than not, daunting challenges precede these Divine visitations. So you want a burning bush, you say! Can you handle the bad times that go with them?

Second, you will notice that the Divine visitation required the personal purification of the visited. God required Moses to take off his shoes—representing the soiled places literally and spiritually where Moses had trod. Special visitations of the Divine Visitor are never just so he can chat—he has arranged for that to be accomplished through everyday prayer. When he shows up, it is to reveal his special purpose—and the prerequisite for the revelation of his purpose is always clean hands and a pure heart on our part. So you want a burning bush, do you? Then get ready for the intense heat of purification.

Third, a burning bush always ends with a pressing assignment. God told Moses that he had seen and heard the misery of Israel’s slavery, which he would now do something about. (Exodus 3:7-9) And the kicker to this announcement was that Moses was going to be at the tip of the Divine spear when God dealt with Israel’s cruel Egyptian taskmasters. So you want a burning bush, too! Good—get ready to be God’s chosen instrument in solving the problem that produced the visitation in the first place.

When God appears, it is to reveal his kingdom plans, not just to make us feel good or give us a warm, fuzzy spiritual high. No, when God shows up, the encounter will fuel us for the grand kingdom assignment to which we have been assigned.

Still want a burning bush? Yeah—that’s what I thought: You still do! So do I.

Going Deeper: Desiring a burning bush experience is a great thing; we just need to be aware of the great demands such a desire might place upon us. The reward of being visited by God will always be tempered by the demands of being used by God. As Frederick Buechner said, “The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet.” So go ahead, ask God for an uncommon encounter. He may just grant your request.

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Learning The Hard Way

The Only Way to a Life of Impact

God is watching over you. What you can’t always see is that he is always at work. What may look like a mistake, a deal breaker, and major disaster, God is managing for his purposes in your life. God is leveraging you—your circumstances, your mistakes, your life—to fulfill his plan for the ages. You will have to learn some lessons the hard way, but keep your heart right with God, and you will graduate your school of hardship to the life of influence and impact that God has destined you for.

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The Journey// Focus: Exodus 2:12,-14-16

After looking in all directions to make sure no one was watching, Moses killed the Egyptian and hid the body in the sand. …Then Moses was afraid, thinking, “Everyone knows what I did.” And sure enough, Pharaoh heard what had happened, and he tried to kill Moses. But Moses fled from Pharaoh and went to live in the land of Midian.

Arguably, Moses was the greatest leader the world has ever known. Think of the accomplishments of his term of service as deliverer, visionary, lawgiver and guide over Israel during their forty-year exodus from Egypt to their unprecedented resettlement in Canaan. His résumé included unmatched feats such as:

  • Facing down the world’s most powerful leader, Pharaoh, and convincing him to let a two million strong labor force of Israelites leave the land—and leave Egypt’s economy in shambles
  • Leading two million plus unorganized, strong-willed, grumbling Hebrews for forty years through the Sinai desert
  • Parting the Red Sea so that Israel could escape from Egypt, then un-parting that same Red Sea to wipe out the world’s most advanced fighting force when they gave chase
  • Calling forth water from the rock in the desert, then feeding the hungry masses every day for four decades
  • Organizing the Hebrews into a nation that endures still to this day
  • Rallying the people around the law of God and instituting their system of worship
  • And among other things, speaking face-to-face with Almighty God on behalf of the people

Some great leaders may think of themselves as God’s special gift to the world—a few of the swollen egos that have occupied our White House very likely would make that argument of themselves—but no one has ever come close to pulling off what Moses did. Yet Moses didn’t walk into his success without some leadership bruises along the way. He had to learn how to lead the hard way—starting with the catastrophe of killing an Egyptian overlord.

The fact that Moses was a prince of Egypt didn’t give him the authority to, on a whim, slay the abusive foreman. The fact that he first looked this way, then that way, suggests that Moses’ conscience was at work, telling him not to do it. But perhaps his anger, or his privileged upbringing, overruled his knowledge of right from wrong, and he murdered the man. Then, realizing that his dirty deed was known, and sensing that even those he did it for were not too appreciative of his help, as he expected, Moses came to grips with the fact that he had made a fatal error—one that would land him in prison or send him to the gallows—so he fled.

Moses learned the hard way. Through failure, then being a fugitive, and finally by living as a foreigner for the next forty years, God taught Moses how to manage his instincts—instincts that without an internal governor, led to disaster, but brought under control, would lead him to unparalleled accomplishment. What Moses didn’t know at the time was that God had given him enough rope to hang himself, but by that same rope God would throw him a line for a second chance. God was training Moses in the curriculum of hardship; Moses was being forced to learn, albeit the hard way!

So far, throughout the story of how God was developing a people for himself through Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph and now Moses, we have seen how time and again God has overruled human error in order to bring about his eternal plan. These human mistakes had dire consequences; they sidetracked God’s plans for a season—Moses’ mistakes cost him forty years of remedial education; Israel’s rebellion in the desert cost them forty years of wilderness wandering—yet God was always at work, sovereignly, managing his people and moving his plan along the timeline of divine purpose.

The point being, God does that with you, too. He is watching over you. What you can’t always see is that he is always at work. What may look like a mistake, a deal breaker, and major disaster, God is managing for his purposes in your life. God is leveraging you—your circumstances, your mistakes, your life—to fulfill his plan for the ages.

You will have to learn some lessons the hard way, but keep your heart right with God, and you will graduate your school of hardship to the life of influence and impact that God has destined you for.

Going Deeper: Whenever you find yourself, like Moses, looking this way and that, stop. Look to God. Don’t move until you hear from him. Then do what he tells you to do. Do that, and it will save you a ton of pain, and you will learn a lesson the easy way.

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The Tools of God’s Trade

He Works In Mysterious Ways

God works in mysterious ways. Sometimes the blessings he gives bring about the discomforts we try to avoid; sometimes those very discomforts are his blessings, albeit in disguise. That being true, establish in your heart as settled law that God uses everything—pleasant or unpleasant—for his glory and your blessing, and never let it be challenged when your circumstances take an unexpected and undesired turn. And when they do, keep your eyes fixed on the sovereign Lord, for though the wrong seems oft so strong, God is the ruler yet.

The Journey// Focus: Exodus 1:6-9

Now Joseph and all his brothers and all that generation died, but the Israelites were fruitful and multiplied greatly and became exceedingly numerous, so that the land was filled with them. Then a new king, who did not know about Joseph, came to power in Egypt. “Look,” he said to his people, “the Israelites have become much too numerous for us.”

The purpose of Exodus 1 is to set up the story told in the rest of Exodus clear through the book of Deuteronomy—the delivery and birth of the nation of Israel. Specifically, this first chapter sets the stage for Israel’s misery under Pharaoh and the rise of their leader, Moses.

Now the greatness and power of God demonstrated through the deliverance of Israel from Egypt along with the incredible leadership skills that were developed in Moses through the life-changing encounters he had with God would not have been possible without chapter one of Exodus: The descent of Israel into Egyptian bondage.

Of course, that reminds us of an undeniable and sometimes uncomfortable truth about God: He works in mysterious ways. Sometimes the blessings he gives us bring about the discomforts we try to avoid; sometimes those very discomforts are the blessings, albeit in disguise. We saw this powerfully illustrated in Genesis, where God sovereignly preserved Jacob’s family from famine in Egypt only by first sovereignly allowing Joseph to be sold into slavery in Egypt years earlier.

We find in Exodus 1:1-14 that God has blessed Jacobs’ family in such an extraordinary way that they literally become a great nation. Yet those very blessings—their explosive growth and economic prosperity—are the things that threaten Israel’s host nation, Egypt, who ultimately responds by forcing the Israelites into slavery and bondage.

God’s blessings end up causing Israel great discomfort and hardship—but in all of this God is setting the stage for a deliverer, Moses, whose story we will read in Exodus 2.

So what is the greater point to all of this? God’s blessings sometimes bring discomfort. However, discomfort is often the seedbed from which God’s greater blessing grows.

We must come to understand, in spite of unwanted and uncomfortable circumstances, that God is faithful—always. We need to establish that truth in our hearts and minds ahead of time, never permitting that settled law to be challenged when our circumstances take an unexpected and undesired turn. We need to learn to keep our eyes fixed on the faithfulness of God during those times of difficulty. I love how the hymn-writer, Maltbie Babcock, so eloquently put it in his hymn, This Is My Father’s World,”

This is my Father’s world, O let me ne’er forget; that though the wrong seems oft so strong, God is the Ruler yet.

And not only is God faithful, he is also watchful. Even when the storms of life prevent you from seeing God, he sees you.

Furthermore, not only is God faithful and watchful, never forget that he is always at work. Even in Israel’s years of bondage and slavery, God is preparing to reveal his glory and his greatness at a future time in ways unmatched even to this day. So even when it seems like God is not in our circumstances, we can be assured that he is at work, setting the stage for a greater purpose that could only be revealed as a result of what we are experiencing in the present. As Henry Ward Beecher said, “Troubles are often the tools by which God fashions us for better things.”

Got any troubles at the moment? Just remember, they are God’s tool! And when he is through crafting you, you are going to make quite a fashion statement.

Going Deeper: Here is a prayer you might want to offer to God today: Lord, develop in me the faith to always see through my circumstances, no matter how difficult they may be, to see your hand at work, setting the stage to reveal your glory. Help me to obey, even when to obey would allow those circumstances to threaten my health or happiness. And Lord, open my eyes to see and receive your blessing when it would seem impossible that blessings could happen.

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God’s Open Letter To America

God Stands Ready to Judge Us, or Help Us, Depending on Our Heart Response

Choose your issue: social justice, the refugee crises, identity politics, the death of truth and the rise of moral relativism, protests in the streets, lawlessness, national anger, cultural decline, neighbor hating neighbor over politics—no matter what belief system you side with, no matter what life philosophy you choose to live by, most of us are worried about our nation. With heavy hearts, many of us believe we are watching the self-immolation of America. We are at a point where God stands ready to judge us—or help us—depending on the heart response that we offer him. If the worsening conditions of our country lead us to repent and return to him, then he is prepared to meet us with his provision of peace for our land.

Enduring Truth // Focus: Exodus 23:1-9

Do not spread false reports. Do not help a guilty person by being a malicious witness. Do not follow the crowd in doing wrong. When you give testimony in a lawsuit, do not pervert justice by siding with the crowd, and do not show favoritism to a poor person in a lawsuit. If you come across your enemy’s ox or donkey wandering off, be sure to return it. If you see the donkey of someone who hates you fallen down under its load, do not leave it there; be sure you help them with it. Do not deny justice to your poor people in their lawsuits. Have nothing to do with a false charge and do not put an innocent or honest person to death, for I will not acquit the guilty. Do not accept a bribe, for a bribe blinds those who see and twists the words of the innocent. Do not oppress a foreigner; you yourselves know how it feels to be foreigners, because you were foreigners in Egypt.

America is living in an incredibly divisive, mean-spirited political environment, with no signs of letting up. Racial disharmony, hatred, name-calling, government gridlock, lawsuits, violent protests, destroyed friendships over political positions, national anxiety and general nastiness continue to pound our nation, and many of us are seriously worried about our stability and longevity as the last best hope of earth, as Abraham Lincoln put it. We are in trouble, and only we can fix it, with God’s help. We must create a grassroots, organic, internal movement that will call a stop to our national cannibalism and return us to the common ground that has made us the envy of the world, imperfect as we have been, for hundreds of years.

The blame for our mess is not to be laid at any one person’s feet—not at President Trump, or Obama, or Bush or Clinton. The blame is not one political party or another—it is not the Republicans or the Democrats. It is not the media’s fault. Secularists or academicians are not to blame. Nor is it right wing nut jobs, shrill Christians or blue hairs from the Tea Party. The problem isn’t leftists, socialists, open borderists or anarchists.

The fault is ours. We have met the enemy—and he is us. Let me be clear: you and I are to blame.

If you don’t believe me, read Exodus 23. God gets up in our grill in this chapter and shows us issue after issue where we have not just gone off the rails; we have annihilated his holy law and have deeply offended his righteous character. In very unmistakable language, he turns into an equal opportunity offender and goes after us on issue after issue:

  • Dishonesty, dissembling, fake news, and flat out lying: “Do not spread false reports. Do not help a guilty person by being a malicious witness.” (Exodus 23:1)
  • Pandering for popular appeal, blind loyalty to a political leader, media bias and pushing a false narrative for political power: “Do not follow the crowd in doing wrong. When you give testimony in a lawsuit, do not pervert justice by siding with the crowd, and do not show favoritism to a poor person in a lawsuit.” (Exodus 23:2-3)
  • Nastiness, the politics of personal destruction, name calling, and argumentum ad hominem: “If you come across your enemy’s ox or donkey wandering off, be sure to return it. If you see the donkey of someone who hates you fallen down under its load, do not leave it there; be sure you help them with it.” (Exodus 23:4-5)
  • Social justice, inequality, racism, profiling, judicial activism and a legal system that is biased in favor of the wealthy: “Do not deny justice to your poor people in their lawsuits. Have nothing to do with a false charge and do not put an innocent or honest person to death, for I will not acquit the guilty. Do not accept a bribe, for a bribe blinds those who see and twists the words of the innocent.” (Exodus 23:6-8)
  • Immigration reform, open borders, religious discrimination and the mounting refugee crisis: “Do not oppress a foreigner; you yourselves know how it feels to be foreigners, because you were foreigners in Egypt.” (Exodus 23:9)

Did God leave anything out? I don’t think so. There is no cultural issue currently dividing us that God’s Word hasn’t already addressed. And when you look at what he has declared with an open mind and a tender heart, you realize that we are all guilty before a holy God who sees through our sophisticated philosophies and convoluted arguments with utter moral clarity. And he stands ready to judge us, or help us, depending on the heart response that we offer him.

Choose your issue: social justice, the refugee crises, identity politics, the death of truth in favor or moral relativism, protests in the streets, lawlessness, national anger, cultural decline, neighbor hating neighbor over politics—no matter what political system you side with, no matter what life philosophy you choose to live by, most of us are worried about our nation. And with good cause, many of us believe we are watching the self-immolation of America. No matter who you are or what you believe, with an open mind and tender heart, take to heart what God has said as you read Exodus 23. As you do, give God the right to convict you of your guilt as a lawbreaker—his immutable, universal moral law.

And make no mistake: you are a lawbreaker. So am I. If not the letter of the law, we have murdered the spirit of the law in our hearts and minds. And may your acknowledgement of guilt lead you to repentance.

What can we do to save America? It might sound simplistic, but I believe it starts with personal confession and repentance. Then comes obedience to God’s law, not man’s opinion or political preferences or cultural philosophies. And when we follow God’s way, he makes some wonderful promises of what life will be like as he leads us into a time of peace and prosperity—which you can read about in Exodus 23:20-33. Among other blessings, our repentance and obedience will be met with his provision of peace: “See, I am sending an angel ahead of you to guard you along the way and to bring you to the place I have prepared.” (Exodus 23:20)

If enough of us do that—repent and obey—we can save America. We really can!

Thrive: Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand!