following

Moses 6 today. There's some meaningful stuff in here for me.

"and they have denied me, and have sought their own counsels in the dark". This phrase, like so many, contains layers of meaning. I was in a church meeting the other day where people talked about having questions about this or that. Just before the meeting ended, someone got up and said they were a member of some society, and that this society had all those answers. He asked those with questions to just believe that those answers were out there - he asked for their trust that the answers were to be had. I had great discomfort with such a response.

I got up after him and happened to finish the meeting. I stated that I had recently learned that Christ should be my foundation. Not my wife, not my friends, not someone I thought I trusted. Not my own brain. These are all quite fallible; very much subject to being wrong sometimes or often. The only thing that is perfect and perfectly reliable is God the Father and His son.

I had realized this from a conversation with a good friend, who made me realize that when Julie left, I felt like my world was crumbling. That's because she was my foundation. While that may sound romantic, it's wrong. She is not my foundation - she is my partner. Christ, once again, is my foundation. Then my foundation never crumbles - but back to the story.

So if your foundation is Christ, you're not leaning on your intellectual group for stability in Christ. They can go wrong and you're still solid. This is what it means to not seek your own counsel in the dark. The term "in the dark" is also interesting - it could mean lots of things. I am not going to go into them here.

So moving down a bit, the  Enoch is called of the Lord to become a prophet. He objects, saying "I am slow of speech; wherefore am I thy servant?"

Here is a man who has not yet learned from the Lord that he must set the Lord as his foundation - not any gift of speech or lack thereof. The Lord will save his people - Enoch's tongue is not a factor. It may even be that someone who has no speech gifts may have an advantage over someone who does - a person's pride in their own skill set (their tongue in this case) may yield to pride, and a reliance on the tongue and delivery rather than a reliance on the Lord.

Verse 32: "And the Lord said unto Enoch: Go forth and do as I have commanded thee." I love the simplicity here. The Lord didn't say "trust me, your tongue will do me just fine - here are all the things I can do with you, and here's my plan for you". He could have reduced Enoch's fear this way perhaps, but that wasn't the Lord's way. He didn't lay out the entire plan for Enoch, he just gave him the next step: "Go forth and do what I have commanded thee". He didn't even say that he would lift or help Enoch and his slow tongue. He just said basically "Go do what I said". This is a lesson to all of us - we get a calling and think we can't do it because we're not enough. The reality is that we're right - we're not enough - none of us - and we can't do it alone. And we shouldn't try to do it alone. Attempting to do it alone will only result in failure for all of us regardless of our gift set. We must recognize our inadequacy, and in our humility call on the Lord. Then he can help us succeed.

The rest of the chapter is interesting as well - terms like "my Spirit is upon you" and "walk with me" and "testifying against their works; and all men were offended because of him" and "the Lord spake with me, and gave me commandment; wherefore for this cause, to keep the commandment, I speak forth these words", and "why counsel ye yourselves, and deny the God of heaven" are deep and meaningful. But I can't go there - I feel the need to keep this and all posts short-ish.

If there is to be denying, let us deny our own perceived strengths and weaknesses. Both can be an impediment if they become a part of our personal foundation. In relying on those, or excusing ourselves for them, we deny God and His power. Instead of that, let us deny our excuses and rely on God. He is the only pathway to our own greatness.