greymoose

I think fear is often misrepresented in Christian circles. Charisbarak got it right when he said: "We need to see the fear as our reaction to the situation instead of how God can deal with the situation." (My italics.) Fear is a natural result of our fallen nature. 90% or more of the fear we feel in life has nothing at all to do with Satan. Sure, he'll pump it up with a niggle here and there but the actual fear starts in us. We like to be able to blame bad things on someone else (it's only human after all). Rather than accept that we need to make a decision to allow God to change how we view the world, we point the finger at Satan. We should look to God for strength in specific situations where we are fearful but maybe we could take that a step further. Maybe we should be thankful for our fear. It forces us to trust God if we want to be who He wants us to be. Courage cannot exist without fear. Because to be human is to fear and to face down fear is to have courage, all disciples need courage. Regardless of their position in the body of Christ. That is, assuming they want to grow in their relationship with God.

There are two causes of fearing to obey God that I can think of. Firstly, the cost to us of obedience. What will people say? Will we be able to afford to buy groceries? Will my friends still talk to me? Secondly, false humility. Something like: I am not good enough to be trusted with that task. If we understand how God works that is no problem. Of course we're not good enough! That is the whole point of Calvary! But God uses us anyway.

I think Moses was just being downright selfish when he came up with those excuses. He had a good life, a wife, kids and a steady job. Why give up all that to risk his life in Egypt? I can't fault him for that. Unbelief was a minimal issue. When God told him to pick up a snake by its tail shortly after this he did it - he trusted God to quite a degree. Sure, fear would have been there, but his earlier behaviour suggests that he could overcome fear so unless 40 years in Midian had turned him into a wimp (I can't see it myself) that was no problem. Disobedience was the problem. Unfortunately, if we disobey, others miss out. We were consecrating a music team in prayer a couple of nights ago and I refused to pray what I should have over the worship leader. God has made it clear to me that if I don't correct that then not only will the worship leader miss out on something but the whole town will miss out on some of what He plans to do through the guy. The only way that I know how to appease God (and in fact my conscience) is to do what Moses did - just do it.

I think the answer is probably all of the above and then some. As others have pointed out, Moses' last attempt to help the slaves was a disaster and ended up with him receiving a death sentence. He must have felt like he was useless - low self esteem. I guess he may have buried those feelings over the course of 40 years but his discussion with God would likely have brought it to the surface again. Depending on how you define true humility I think there may have been some of that in there too. 40 years prior Moses had learned that he couldn't do what he wanted which is a humbling experience for anyone. He had then been taken into the household which, compared to his upbringing, must have seemed austere at best. Being dependent on others takes no small dose of true humility. The odds are that Yahweh was a distant memory by the time Moses stumbled across the burning bush. His early adult life was spent as an Egyptian with a number of gods to worship; the second half of his life to date was spent with Midianites who, as far as I can learn, had a few idols of their own and his father-in-law was a priest. By the time he was 80 the theological teaching of his natural parents as a child may have been buried under a whole lot of others. So, lack of faith? Probably, he hadn't seen God step in for the slaves so far. Lack of understanding? Maybe a bit of that too.

Nice one, Queen Esther. I've been trying to work out how to describe Moses' actions and sneaky is the word. True, he stuck up for the Hebrew slave but I wonder why. All of us have a sense of right and wrong in our hearts. Paul himself acknowledges that about Gentiles. Moses was 40 when he killed the Egyptian. Why wait so long if he was identifying with the Hebrews' suffering? My guess is that he had been struggling with a dual heritage for years and seeing this particular slave beaten, on this particular day was the last straw. (An ancient mid-life crisis?) His action in killing the slave master was not entirely rash, he took the time to be sure that no one was looking. I would imagine that as a member of the ruling class he was accustomed to responding to situations based on what he wanted (as long as it didn't annoy the Pharaoh). In politics it is best to be sure no one is looking if you are doing something dodgy. Royal families everywhere (bar God's of course) seem to live and breath politics. Moses would probably always be thinking of the consequences of his actions - a useful trait for leaders. I know God was getting him prepared for his role in removing the Hebrews from Egypt but I find it hard to ascribe more than a fledgling sense of justice to Moses' actions. He was, at this time a diamond in the rough - and there was a lot of rough. Good on him for letting God chip it away.

Hi all, I'm Phil from New Zealand. I work as a graphic designer/sub-editor as well as designing websites from home. At the moment I'm in the process of experiencing God turn a very painful/messy departure from church a few years ago into a fulfilled life of service. I'm involved with running one of the music teams at our church. When I saw this study I thought that doing it may give me an insight into how to lead in a Biblical way. I've got to admit that sometimes I am reluctant to do what God tells me to. it's nice to know that I'm in good company! I look forward to getting to know you and learning from you through this study.

The implications of Yahweh's rule are similar for nations and individuals. God designed creation to work well when it is in a healthy relationship with Him. That is when He is recognised as God in all of His qualities - including as the the King of kings and Lord of lords. So, if a government recognises His authority and chooses to honour Him in what they do things will (mostly) go well for thier nation. I say mostly because we are still in a sin riddled world. Even the most Godly government will probably have subjects/citizens who defy God and the natural outcome of sin is to be cursed. On the other hand, a government who chooses to ignore Yahweh's authority as King of kings and Lord of lords opens itself and its citizens to those same curses. I'm not sure that God needs to do much for the consequences of sin to hit home as they are a natural result of living in a sin-infested world. For instance in New Zealand, where I live, successive governments have been steadily working away at wearing down the place of the family (especially marriage) in society. As a result we have large portions of whole generations that are violent (no self-control), bored (no motivation), reckless (no consideratin of consequences) and completely ignorant of God. There was no need for Yaweh to do anything to cause this to happen - it was a natural result of a lack of input into youngster's lives! Of course God does dish out specific punishment in extreme cases - see Sodom & co. So a nation that honours God as King by respecting Him and his design for life will have mostly happy/fulfilled citizens and grow stronger as time goes by. A nation that doesn't will disintegrate from within. Not much choice really.

Elisha was applying 1 John 4:4 to his physical situation. His servant was overwhelmed with the physical reality but Elisha saw what was behind the physical. I don't know if Elisha actually saw the armies of God in the same way his servant did. He may have but what was really important was that he knew without a doubt that his God was greater than what his physical eyes saw. Spiritual warfare is not only doing battle in prayer, although that is very important. It involves acting as if you believe God has already won despite your circumstances. By applying the same knowledge Elisha did (a deep conviction of the truth, not just an academic understanding) we can persevere through situations that would cause others to wilt.

A king has authority over and responsibility for his subjects, A father has authority over (hopefully) and is the source of the child. God is the source of all things "heavy, weighty, that is: of substance, worthy of respect." Not only that, He is in authority over all of it and is responsible for its existence. Philippians 4:8 says: For the rest, brothers, whatever is true, whatever honorable, whatever is right, whatever pure, whatever lovely, whatever of good report, if of any virtue, and if of any praise, think on these things.. If God is the source of and responsible for all of these things surely we must be thinking about Him if we follow this instruction. He must be a part of our thoughts. Our thoughts impact our beliefs, which in turn lead to how we live and worship. I think Paul's description of how God's glory comes to fill jour lives in 2 Corinthians 3:18 means that as we see Him in the scripture we reflect Him in ourselves. The Bible is the revealed Word of God. Jesus is the Word of God, therefore the Bible is Jesus revealed to us. The more time we spend with Him (in prayer and study of the Bible) the more we reflect his glory.

As several people have already said Most High is a description of God's place in relation to everything else in existence. Incorporating that understanding into my worship takes two forms: Firstly, I worship God by living in obedience to Him. By acknowledging that His expectations and desires take precedence over my own (and those of people I relate with) I am acknowledgeing that He is the Most High. If I worship Him in words but not in obedience it is hollow worship. Secondly, whenever I come to God in prayer or corporate worship I begin by acknowledgeing His authority and greatness. It is my first act of recognition of who He is and clears the way (in my expectations) for Him to respond as He wishes. He can of course respond any way He wants but this acknowledgement clears the self-centerdness from my expectations as well as being an act of worship.

Both Abram & Melchizedek acknowledge God as the Most High God. For Him to be most high there must be other gods acknowledged. As has been mentioned on this forum different people have different gods. They may or may not be spiritual forces but Abram & Melchizedek demonstrate respect to other people by acknowledging the impact of these other gods on their lives. They don't pull their punches though, El Elyon is above all other Gods. I think that HisSong's observation describes exactly how far above other gods He is: I don't know the original word either but Green's Literal Translation also uses 'Posessor'. For God to be Posessor of Heaven and Earth means that not only is He more powerful than other Gods, He owns them and is in control of them.