Re: The Slough of Despond, and Moses

I need to share this, because many of you may be going through that very 20/30-something slump of "how'd i get here" or "meh" or just plain feel like you're in a dry, unsatisfactory wilderness of discouragement. There may be a personal reason for the "meh times," as I may refer to them, or the sole reason might just be to bring glory to the Creator of 1)your minutiae and 2)the furthest, largest galaxies.

This is from October 13 of Chambers' My Utmost, and is taken from this website.

Individual Discouragement and Personal Growth

. . . when Moses was grown . . . he went out to his brethren and looked at their burdens —Exodus 2:11

Moses saw the oppression of his people and felt certain that he was the one to deliver them, and in the righteous indignation of his own spirit he started to right their wrongs. After he launched his first strike for God and for what was right, God allowed Moses to be driven into empty discouragement, sending him into the desert to feed sheep for forty years. At the end of that time, God appeared to Moses and said to him, " ’. . . bring My people . . . out of Egypt.’ But Moses said to God, ’Who am I that I should go . . . ?’ " ( Exodus 3:10-11 ). In the beginning Moses had realized that he was the one to deliver the people, but he had to be trained and disciplined by God first. He was right in his individual perspective, but he was not the person for the work until he had learned true fellowship and oneness with God.

We may have the vision of God and a very clear understanding of what God wants, and yet when we start to do it, there comes to us something equivalent to Moses’ forty years in the wilderness. It’s as if God had ignored the entire thing, and when we are thoroughly discouraged, God comes back and revives His call to us. And then we begin to tremble and say, "Who am I that I should go . . . ?" We must learn that God’s great stride is summed up in these words— "I AM WHO I AM . . . has sent me to you" ( Exodus 3:14 ). We must also learn that our individual effort for God shows nothing but disrespect for Him— our individuality is to be rendered radiant through a personal relationship with God, so that He may be "well pleased" ( Matthew 3:17 ). We are focused on the right individual perspective of things; we have the vision and can say, "I know this is what God wants me to do." But we have not yet learned to get into God’s stride. If you are going through a time of discouragement, there is a time of great personal growth ahead.

walking (on the path of) the gospel

Getting into God’s Stride: from My Utmost (October 12th) for His Highest, Updated Edition

“Enoch walked with God …” (Genesis 5:24).

The true test of a person’s spiritual life and character is not what he does in the extraordinary moments of life, but what he does during the ordinary times when there is nothing tremendous or exciting happening. A person’s worth is revealed in his attitude toward the ordinary things of life when he is not under the spotlight (see John 1:35–37 and 3:30). It is painful work to get in step with God and to keep pace with Him—it means getting your second wind spiritually. In learning to walk with God, there is always the difficulty of getting into His stride, but once we have done so, the only characteristic that exhibits itself is the very life of God Himself. The individual person is merged into a personal oneness with God, and God’s stride and His power alone are exhibited.

It is difficult to get into stride with God, because as soon as we start walking with Him we find that His pace has surpassed us before we have even taken three steps. He has different ways of doing things, and we have to be trained and disciplined in His ways. It was said of Jesus—“He will not fail nor be discouraged …” (Isaiah 42:4) because He never worked from His own individual standpoint, but always worked from the standpoint of His Father. And we must learn to do the same. Spiritual truth is learned through the atmosphere that surrounds us, not through intellectual reasoning. It is God’s Spirit that changes the atmosphere of our way of looking at things, and then things begin to be possible which before were impossible. Getting into God’s stride means nothing less than oneness with Him. It takes a long time to get there, but keep at it. Don’t give up because the pain is intense right now—get on with it, and before long you will find that you have a new vision and a new purpose."

Of course, as a human, we tend to forget. . .

But God knew this, and gave us some neat verses to remind us: Among which is my favorite (though convicting) passagette in Hebrews:

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily hinders our progress. And let us run with endurance the race that God has set before us. ²We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, on whom our faith depends from start to finish. He was willing to die a shameful death on the cross because of the joy he knew would be his afterward. Now he is seated in the place of highest honor beside God’s throne in heaven. ³Think about all he endured when sinful people did such terrible things to him, so that you don’t become weary and give up. ⁴After all, you have not yet given your lives in your struggle against sin.

⁵And have you entirely forgotten the encouraging words God spoke to you, his children? He said,

“My child, don’t ignore it when the Lord disciplines you,

and don’t be discouraged when he corrects you.

⁶ For the Lord disciplines those he loves,

and he punishes those he accepts as his children.”

⁷As you endure this divine discipline, remember that God is treating you as his own children. Whoever heard of a child who was never disciplined? ⁸If God doesn’t discipline you as he does all of his children, it means that you are illegitimate and are not really his children after all. ⁹Since we respect our earthly fathers who disciplined us, should we not all the more cheerfully submit to the discipline of our heavenly Father and live forever?

¹⁰For our earthly fathers disciplined us for a few years, doing the best they knew how. But God’s discipline is always right and good for us because it means we will share in his holiness. ¹¹No discipline is enjoyable while it is happening—it is painful! But afterward there will be a quiet harvest of right living for those who are trained in this way.

¹²So take a new grip with your tired hands and stand firm on your shaky legs. ¹³Mark out a straight path for your feet. Then those who follow you, though they are weak and lame, will not stumble and fall but will become strong. - Hebrews 12:1-12 New Living Translation (I know, new wording! But sometimes it's good to see/hear/read the Old Words in a new voice....
In other words, tonight was good. Very good. A smaller group of people gathered at Rob and Connie's for the Therefore Bible Study, and overall it was very encouraging. The topic? Circumcision and confusing people, to start. Wherever His chosen gather, though, there is just ... something. What a gift, this fellowship: true fellowship is only able to happen when two or more people let God "in" on their conversation (in the Olde English "conversation" = way of life; and in the modern-day useage of "conversation" = discussion, talkin, et cetera.)

And the last little bit - though not so Little - of Galatians 2 is a great reminder that it's not Us who has to worry, who has to be good all the time, who has to do the Living.

If one can say, "I through the law am dead to the law, that I might live unto God. . . I am crucified with Christ,
Nevertheless I live (apparently a kindergärtner can spell this word because it is a compound word made from (at least) three (3) words!) ... it is Christ who lives in me, then

yet not I, BUT Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh i live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, & gave Himself for me...

And we worry. ...

God forbid that we should so easily cast Him aside from our meditations and ponderings.
Make our hearts clean, Abba, so we can carry Your Word in our souls more effectively.