¹² Moses said to the Lord, “You have been telling me, ‘Lead these people,’ but you have not let me know whom you will send with me. You have said, ‘I know you by name and you have found favor with me.’ ¹³ If you are pleased with me, teach me your ways so I may know you and continue to find favor with you. Remember that this nation is your people.”

¹⁴ The Lord replied, “My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.”

¹⁵ Then Moses said to him, “If your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here.¹⁶ How will anyone know that you are pleased with me and with your people unless you go with us? What else will distinguish me and your people from all the other people on the face of the earth?”

– Exodus 33

Firstly i am aware of the irony that it is that i am blogging about strategy yet i am tackling this scripture in such an unstructured manner. This is mostly due to the fact that I am currently overwhelmed. I can confidently say that at this point in my life i have bitten off more than i can chew. The combination of uncertainty in the ministry, the growth of our company, the purchasing of our new home, the wedding and the realisation of husbandhood has proven to be somewhat well beyond my handling abilities.

Have you ever just had that feeling that you are overwhelmed? Tonight i feel just that, like i just need a touch from my King and Best friend. Faithful as always is despite my lack of strength and faith i am led back to my scripture for 2013.

Exodus 33.

I never noticed this… The beginning of this conversation is actually a question. Moses enquires… god why have you called me to lead these people yet i don’t know who you’ll send with me… In other words. God you’ve called me to lead (to perform a task) but i don’t know every detail… How will this even work?

The tension of faith and following God is one of complete trust in our father. To obey not to understand. To obey because of who we know God is, that he all powerful and he loves us. To obey because of who he is not because of what he tells us to do. There is a difference, the former is relational the latter transactional. The former is a response to love, the latter a response motivated by logic.

Our God although much wiser then us, calls us to follow him because of relationship (1 John 4:19), not because his way gives us the best life (although his way will give us what is for our good and his glory).

Ultimately Moses encouragement for his uncertainty did not come from an answer to his question… but rather a revelation of his relationship with his heavenly father. A revelation that despite the unknown he loves and follows a God who “knows him by name” whose relationship has bought Moses this far through his “favour”, whose relationship has meant a presence that has inspired, empowered and equipped Moses from a murderer to a leader of 1 million people. A revelation that it’s not what you do, or even who you are but who you know.

It’s in and amongst this unknown that we leaders, we christians can get stuck. God you’ve told me to do this or that but how does that even make any sense. You haven’t told me who you will send with me (the finer details).

But it’s in this frustrating place (where I am now in so many areas of my life) that you realise  my comfort is in the relationship that i would trade nothing else for, my peace comes from the realisation that I am not my own, the realisation that the outcomes i yearn for are irrelevant and beyond my control. The realisation that no matter what happens it’s for my good and for His glory, the realisation that my first and only job is to remain madly in love with the one who loved me first and died for me.

It’s in this realisation that you can truly thank God for the unknown, because what results is one of two outcomes. You give up on God due to frustration and start trying to take control on your own. Or if you let it the outcome might be truly the definition of “faith” – a complete and utterly helpless trust on the mighty omniscient control of God. The former leads down the road toward more frustration, the latter leads down the road of vulnerability and humility.

It is in and amongst this that I surrender control to Jesus. I say Jesus my friend and king – I am in over my head, i don’t know the details BUT “teach my your ways that I may continue to find favour with you… I need your presence, that if your presence does not go with me then do not send me up from here because what will distinguish me from the other people of the earth if not by your presence?”

It is here in the unknown where we will find favour, rest and ultimately accomplish our purpose for our Good and his Glory.

 

¹² Moses said to the Lord, “You have been telling me, ‘Lead these people,’ but you have not let me know whom you will send with me. You have said, ‘I know you by name and you have found favor with me.’ ¹³ If you are pleased with me, teach me your ways so I may know you and continue to find favor with you. Remember that this nation is your people.”

¹⁴ The Lord replied, “My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.”

¹⁵ Then Moses said to him, “If your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here

 – Exodus 33

Have you ever just been talking to someone about a topic or asking a question when in your own talking the answer popped into your head? The other day i approached our COO of our company to ask her a question, my mind was scattered and i rambled for about 5 minutes before realising that i knew the answer to my own question. I then answered my own question. Puzzled she looked at me as if to say “did you just have a conversation with yourself?” – instead she just giggled and shook her head.

I feel as if this was exactly what Moses was dealing with speaking to God. In talking about the challenge that it is to lead a few million people through the desert, he realises that God knows him by name.

What does this mean?

God – who is great – and all powerful

Knows you by name – this is perhaps different then just being known by any person. But this knowledge is not just the knowing of someone – this is to know someone intimately, to love them and be in relationship with them.

I remember walking into one of my earlier business negotiations for a potential third clinic. I was talking to the real estate agent and after some time i realised he was having me on. Being a young person in business this can often happen. I weaved the conversation toward a friend who had been helping me in real estate, he immediately asked “how do i know this person” – why did ask this? Because just to know of someone doesn’t mean anything, but to know someone by name gives can change a situation.

Moses realised that God creator of the universe knows him by name intimately and personally. This means any problem he will ever face, any short coming he might have, God who created the universe and knows him by name changes any situation.

You’ve heard the term it’s now what you know but who you know. This is as true of life as it is with God. Any trial, challenge or tribulation you can face the response… It’s not what you know but who you know. I find it interesting that many people find security in theology and what they know about God… but knowing things about God does not mean you know God.

For the Christian leader today who dreams of changing the world, yes your dreams are too big, yes you aren’t perfect and yes you are incapable of achieving your dream BUT it’s not what you know but who you know. We know God BUT even more powerful God knows us by name.

This is how we change the world – by knowing God and by realising that God knows us and has called us individually by name.

 The Lord replied, “My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.”

¹⁵ Then Moses said to him, “If your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here.¹⁶ How will anyone know that you are pleased with me and with your people unless you go with us? What else will distinguish me and your people from all the other people on the face of the earth?” – Exodus 33

Sitting atop the 48th floor of the marina bay sand overlooking the bustling metropolis that is Singapore, this is 2013. Two weeks before my wedding, 2 months before the fourth Life Ready Clinic opens, and this year has been already the most exciting and the most challenging year of my life up to this point.

I’ve always loved being high up, not sure why but i find there is something somewhat surreal about heights. You look into an expanse that is so large it feels like a myriad of endless cars and people, gargantuan man made buildings as far as the eye can see, apartments, offices and it strikes a chord. This is life. Up close these are people, who when up close can seem so large, their problems so important, but from a distance it seems to feel smaller, drowned out by the millions of other people.

This thought is humbling as you realise that from a different perspective your problems might not be as big as you think they are. This thought is freeing as you realise the world’s problems are too big for one man, any man or groups of men, but this job must be reserved for a God. This thought is inspiring because we as Christians are every day given one on one access to God, who holds the world in his hand.

I was once told that Jesus died for me… not me because i happened to be included in a group (humans), but me on an intimate level, a personal level, not as some generic human race, but as an individual person.

You realise when you sit atop the world, that the world is big, and God made it and maintains it and sustains it. At the same time finding his way into my hotel room to hear me pray. His omniscience and omnipotence is far beyond  our comprehension.

What does this mean for me? How will this change me? Daily i can be humbled because i am one of 6 billion people, my problems aren’t as bad as I think they are.

I can be free to take risks and be an entrepreneur – because I can’t change the world, I just need to partner with him as he changes the world, my job is simply to say Yes to him, the burden is on Jesus and not me.

I can be inspired because the creator, and CEO of the Church movement across the world  is by my side daily, with me, instructing me, empowering me and equipping me everyday to play my role in this mission.

This is how we change the world, realise it is he he made the world and can change the world. He can and he does do anything.