Scripture: Exodus 18:1-2
Now
Jethro, the priest of Midian, Moses' father-in-law, heard of all that God had
done for Moses and for Israel His people, how the LORD had brought Israel out
of Egypt. Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, took Moses' wife Zipporah,
after he had sent her away,
Insights: We
are going to unpack this eighteenth chapter of Exodus over the next four
weeks. The reason for this adventure is
to help prepare us at Little River Baptist Church for our upcoming Vision
Workshop. This chapter holds four
important elements for a church, an individual, a corporation, or even a nation
to move from where they presently are to where the Lord God would have them to
be. This week’s theme is A Time of Reflection. We reflect not for the purpose of living in
the past, but for the express purpose of encouraging us to move into the
future. God has intentionally worked in
our past and proven Himself time and again, because we have such confidence we
can march into the unknown of the future with certainty of God’s presence. The first area in our lives in which we need
to reflect is our family. These two
verses today are a picture of a family reunion between Moses and his wife,
father-in-law and two sons. I remember
going to family reunions as a child and the parents having us kids hand crank
the home-made ice cream churner in order to keep us occupied while they reminisced
about the past, got brought up to speed on the present, and heard the
prospective hopes of the future. We also
need to reflect on our families. Some of
us have rich godly histories with parents and grandparents that were truly sold
out to the Lord Jesus and wanted their children and grandchildren to know His
love. Others of us are first generation
Christ-followers and did not have that rich heritage. Either way, there are some very positive
things we learned from our family. At
the same time, both sets of parents also had negative aspects that we would
like to avoid in our lives. When we
reflect it gives us a perspective by which we can help navigate our
future. We model the good we saw and
purge the bad we desire to change.
Questions:
- What are the negative characteristics that you would
like to change in yourselves that you have observed from your family as
you have reflected on them?
- What are the postive characteristics that you would
like to change in yourselves that you have observed from your family as
you have reflected on them?
Prayer: Father, thank
You for my family. You perfectly
orchestrated events in history to have me born at such a time as this with the
family I have. They are not always what
I want, but I am grateful for them when I reflect on the life I have as a
result of them. Bless my family this
day, O Lord. Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment