Personal Connection in God’s Grace
Exodus 33:17 “The LORD said to Moses, ‘I will do this thing of which you have spoken, for you have found favor in My sight and I have known you by name.”
God’s promise to Moses is actually quite personal to me. I was the young wife of Dan who was just beginning his pediatric practice in Abilene, Texas, and full-time mother of Greg, Alyson, and Peter Benjamin. While Dan was in his medical training, I had participated for not-quite-a-whole year in Bible Study Fellowship in the first class in Houston.
After army service in Killeen, Dan accepted an invitation to join a truly exceptional pediatric practice in Abilene. I mothered our children and looked for a Bible teacher who would start BSF in Abilene so that I could learn God’s word more deeply. As I searched for interested women, God brought together a small group who had been in BSF in other cities and who shared my desire to see a class started in Abilene. BSF’s representative, Lana, met with us and said the next step would be for one of us to agree to teach the class. Someone said, “Jane could do it.” I am an introvert, quiet, not particularly courageous, and definitely not a leader. How could I teach a class that was only a dream?
We continued praying and as I prayed, I walked with Moses through God’s call to him to lead the children of Israel out of Egypt. One by one, I lived with Moses as he listed excuses to God for why he definitely could not lead the children of Israel. And I applied those excuses to my own situation— “I can’t talk!” “I am an introvert!” “What if no one comes?” Moses continued those excuses until God got angry at the excuses. THAT frightened me. And so my very specific prayer became Moses’ prayer: “If your presence does not go with us do not lead us up from here. For how then can it be known that I have found favor in Your sight, I and Your people? Is it not by Your going with us, so that we, I and Your people, may be distinguished from all the other people who are upon the face of the earth?” (Exodus 33:15-16)
God’s answer to my heart as to Moses was in verse 17. And so I breathed deeply and trusted Him and helped establish and then taught the brand-new BSF class in Abilene for 19 years and in Nairobi for 5 years. God’s presence was clear, overcoming all my excuses, clearly demonstrating that He indeed is our personal, living, very real God. All praise goes only to Him.
After army service in Killeen, Dan accepted an invitation to join a truly exceptional pediatric practice in Abilene. I mothered our children and looked for a Bible teacher who would start BSF in Abilene so that I could learn God’s word more deeply. As I searched for interested women, God brought together a small group who had been in BSF in other cities and who shared my desire to see a class started in Abilene. BSF’s representative, Lana, met with us and said the next step would be for one of us to agree to teach the class. Someone said, “Jane could do it.” I am an introvert, quiet, not particularly courageous, and definitely not a leader. How could I teach a class that was only a dream?
We continued praying and as I prayed, I walked with Moses through God’s call to him to lead the children of Israel out of Egypt. One by one, I lived with Moses as he listed excuses to God for why he definitely could not lead the children of Israel. And I applied those excuses to my own situation— “I can’t talk!” “I am an introvert!” “What if no one comes?” Moses continued those excuses until God got angry at the excuses. THAT frightened me. And so my very specific prayer became Moses’ prayer: “If your presence does not go with us do not lead us up from here. For how then can it be known that I have found favor in Your sight, I and Your people? Is it not by Your going with us, so that we, I and Your people, may be distinguished from all the other people who are upon the face of the earth?” (Exodus 33:15-16)
God’s answer to my heart as to Moses was in verse 17. And so I breathed deeply and trusted Him and helped establish and then taught the brand-new BSF class in Abilene for 19 years and in Nairobi for 5 years. God’s presence was clear, overcoming all my excuses, clearly demonstrating that He indeed is our personal, living, very real God. All praise goes only to Him.
Reflection Questions:
- What is God asking of you right now that you’ve been avoiding because it feels too big or scary?
- How would your decision-making approach change if your primary question was “Will God’s presence be with me in this?” rather than “Will this be successful or comfortable?”
- If God truly knows you by name — your fears, dreams, strengths, and struggles — how does this change the way you view yourself and your potential to serve Him?
Posted in Free- by the Grace of God
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