Thursday, April 3, 2014
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One thing I was never tempted to be was the neighborhood bully. First of all, you have to be big to be him! I never got there. Then, in the Chicago neighborhood where I grew up, there was a guy big enough to bully all of us. His name, (Oh, you're not going to believe this.) It was Boomer. If his Mother named him that, it's her fault he was a bully. It was predestined.
Well, all I know is that he was the first terrorist I ever knew, and I was one of his terrorees...whatever. He threatened all of us little kids, he would hurt us, and he would take our stuff. You know what? One day I had enough of Boomer's terrorism, so I marched down the street to his apartment building. I went where no one ever went. I went to his back porch. I went to Boomer's door. And sure enough Boomer came to the door looking as "Boomerish" as ever. But I insisted he'd give back the stuff he had taken! You say, "What a brave little guy you were. I really underestimated you." Yeah, well sort of. See, I did leave out one small detail. When I went to stand up to the bully, my Father went with me.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Dwarfing the Bully."
Now, it's amazing how my Dad changed the power equation that day. Very simple: Boomer was bigger than I was, but my Father was bigger than Boomer was. That made all the difference.
Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Exodus 3:11-12. The Lord has just announced to Moses that He is sending Moses to confront the most powerful man in the world - Pharaoh, the ruler of Egypt, and to tell Pharaoh to release the Jews from slavery. The Jews - the heart of his nation's labor force. Not likely!
Also, Moses is God's choice to lead this entire nation out of slavery, through the wilderness and into the barbarian controlled land that God had promised His people. Here's the conversation: Moses said to God, "Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?"
See, the challenge before Moses was totally intimidating and he felt totally inadequate. Like me facing Boomer. Like you facing the challenges in front of you right now. It may be one of those times when you feel like this is a total mismatch between what you have and what it's going to take.
Well, listen to the five-word answer from God that totally reverses the power equation. "And God said, 'I will be with you.'" End of discussion; no more you need to know. I cannot tell you how many times those words are God's total and final answer to our protest, to our fear, to our inadequacy, "I will be with you." That's it! He said it before Moses went to Pharaoh. It was His answer when Moses feared leaving Mount Sinai later on. He said, "My presence will go with you." And when Jesus ascended into heaven, leaving the weight of a lost world on 11 disciples, what were His parting words? "I will be with you always."
In chapter 4, Moses is still looking at the size of the bully. "Moses said to the Lord, 'I have never been eloquent and I am slow of speech and tongue.' The Lord said to him, 'Who gave man his mouth? Is it not I, the Lord? Now go and I will help you speak and will teach you what to say." So the conversation between you and God might go much like the one between Moses and God. You're saying, "Who am I, Lord?" And the Lord answers, "Wrong question. Who am I?" You see, that's all that matters.
Because no matter how big your Boomer is, your Father is bigger than Boomer.