By Faith He Refused

For my little sister. Thank you.

By faith Moses refused…choosing rather to suffer.

Hebrews 11:24, 25

I am tucked away in a beautiful place as I write today. Gracious homes with wrap-around porches, along streets lined with palm trees, face the inlet where seagrass blows in the gentle spring breeze. The sun sets right in front of my sister’s beautiful house.

The rhythms of family life thrum around me each day as children go to school and return, parents walk fussy babies along gravel paths by the water, and toddlers squeal at the sight of ducks bathing in the storm drain.

My family and I are in the space in between. The place between refusing the comforts of our old life and embracing the joy of our future service to the Lord.

The place in between is spanned by a bridge we like to call Promise Space. It is the path we take from Back There to Up Ahead.

Moses understood Promise Space. He refused to be called Pharaoh’s son. He was raised in privilege and honor and his status was secure. Yet he said no to it all, choosing rather to suffer with his people.

By #faith Moses refused... choosing instead to suffer. It was precisely because of God’s promise to Moses that he could leave so much behind. Click To Tweet

Moses opted instead to trek across that long bridge between the honor of people and the honor of God. 

He was privy to the secrets of God. God confides the unseen to those who will believe His promises. And Moses did. One day, he would lead God’s people out of slavery. He believed God’s words to him and stepped out. By faith he refused the comfortable, embracing instead the shame of a people in bondage, a people enslaved yet sealed with a promise of coming freedom.

There are many still enslaved today. People in bondage, walking in shame, carrying back-breaking burdens. Jesus shed His blood that they too, might be sealed with the Promise of freedom. Who will go tell them? Who will lay down her life alongside the enslaved, place his back under their burden, take their hand and lead them to liberty? Who will refuse all that is comfortable and privileged… choosing rather to suffer?

I will.

Will you?

What might God be asking us to refuse today?

Lord, open my eyes to the unseen and show me what You are inviting me to leave behind. Amen.

@audreycfrank