Episode Transcript
CONSECRATE
Wake up, sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.
Jesus, I belong to you.
I lift up my heart to you.
I set my mind on you.
I fix my eyes on you.
I offer my body to you as a living sacrifice.
Jesus, we belong to you.
Praying in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, amen.
HEAR
Numbers 14:44–45 (NIV)
Nevertheless, in their presumption they went up toward the highest point in the hill country, though neither Moses nor the ark of the LORD’s covenant moved from the camp. Then the Amalekites and the Canaanites who lived in that hill country came down and attacked them and beat them down all the way to Hormah.
CONSIDER
The three most devastating words in today’s text: “in their presumption.”
The Hebrew term there is pronounced “aw-fal.” It means literally “to swell.” It denotes a kind of willfulness born of pride, self-confidence, and determination to go one’s own way. The word stubborn comes to mind. On an earlier occasion, God used the term stiff-necked to describe these people. It comes from the image of an ox that will not respond to commands or goading but bears down and goes its own direction anyway. For all its strength, it is useless. Clearly, I am describing someone you know. They are perhaps living in your home right now.
Strong-willed, controlling people can get a lot done and often accomplish much, but they tend to be an impediment to the Lord. The will of God must be done in the way of God, or it will not be done at all. Today’s text is a powerful example. God made his will known to the people that his promise was for them to inhabit the land. They rebelled against his promise. He responded with new guidance. They went against his guidance. They met with failure. One simply cannot do the will of God while disregarding the Word of God, for only the Word of God brings us to understand the ways of God.
I will instruct you and teach you in the way you
should go;
I will counsel you with my loving eye
on you.
Do not be like the horse or the mule,
which have no understanding
but must be controlled by bit and bridle
or they will not come to you. (Ps. 32:8–9)
What kind of heart would the Lord fashion in us? The word is meekness. “Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth,” Jesus teaches (Matt. 5:7). The Bible describes Moses as follows: “Now the man Moses was very meek, more than all people who were on the face of the earth” (Num. 12:3 ESV). A meek person is not a weak person but one who has come to the deep conviction that all of their strength is as weakness to the Lord. They have come to understand that the Lord has no need of their strength, only their surrender. The world trains us to focus on our strengths. Jesus wants us to learn to glory in our weakness. Unbroken strength is an impediment to the work of God. Meekness is broken strength in humbly surrendered reserve. Think of a horse that has been broken so that it might be ridden. An unbroken, unridable horse is the opposite of meekness. The broken horse still has all the incredible strength, but it is now power in reserve; strength in submission to the guidance and direction of the rider. This is what meekness means. Think also of Jesus, the Son of God, the second person of the Trinity hidden in the humble frame of a Galilean peasant.
Be encouraged, Jesus is our Great Shepherd. He delights in leading us at every turn and in every step, if we would only learn to walk with him. Hear his voice today, saying: “I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my loving eye on you” (Ps. 32:8).
Cast off your willful, stubborn, self-reliant, independent spirit. That’s not who you really are. It is how you (or someone else) thought you needed to be to make it this far. Bless your old self for the gifts and goods it has given and gently lay it aside. You are being made new. What got you here cannot take you to where Jesus is leading.
Jesus took the only hill that matters—Calvary. He will keep taking it through our lives as we are willing to find ourselves yoked to him, bearing the cross in the Valley of Vision.
PRAY
Father, we renounce presumption. We want to run away from any semblance of it. We now run with the abandonment of a trusting child into your grace, goodness, and glory. Jesus, we belong to you. Jesus, we follow you. Expose our controlling nature as a failure to trust in you. Expose our willful disposition as a failure to walk in your ways. Come, Holy Spirit, and train us in the ways of meekness. Show us why we resist. Melt us. Mold us. Fill us. Use us. We pray in Jesus’s name, amen.
JOURNAL
Are you aware of the voices of discouragement berating you through all manner of media these days? Regardless of their particular slant, hey all have one thing in common—fear. Do you realize the toxic effect it is having on your faith? If you aren’t willing to silence it, will you consider giving Jesus twice as much time as you give these voices every day?
SING
Today, we will sing "Have Thine Own Way, Lord" (hymn 343) from our Seedbed hymnal, Our Great Redeemer's Praise.
In the earliest days of writing the Wake-Up Call, (then called the Seedbed Daily Text), I wrote a post inspired by a Mary Karr poem that moved me. The poem and the post were entitled, "Who the Meek Are Not" linked here.
AND The Daily Reminders (because I've been forgetting)
If you want to help move this mission of encouragement into new fields PLEASE JOIN THE WAKE-UP CALL FIELD TEAM. I'll be in touch.
Learn about the fall series—The Gospels—order the journal, grab the short videos to share and more HERE.
If you are a pastor or serving vocationally in ministry I'd love to be in touch. Let me know here.
And in case you missed the Sower's Creed . . . here's another chance.
For the Awakening,
J. D. Walt
