Tuesday, June 08, 2010

Who Are You Tuning Out?

In the Biblical book of Exodus we read the story of how the young Israelite nation has been enslaved by the Egyptian Pharaoh, in whose land they were temporarily living. YHWH God raises up a man, Moses, whose job it is to lead them out of Egyptian slavery back into their promised homeland. Because Moses had a speech problem, YHWH appointed his older brother, Aaron, as his mouthpiece.

YHWH tells Moses:
HCSB Exodus 7:1 See, I have made you like God to Pharaoh, and Aaron your brother will be your prophet. 2 You must say whatever I command you; then Aaron your brother must declare it to Pharaoh so that he will let the Israelites go from his land. 3 But ... Pharaoh will not listen to you....
This parallel strikes me:

God --> prophet --> hearers
Moses --> prophet --> hearers

What struck me about this is God's use of a human to communicate; God did not speak directly to Pharaoh; nor did He use his prophet to speak to Pharaoh; rather, He used his prophet's prophet to speak to Pharaoh.

As far as Pharaoh was concerned, he was hearing a human's mind, and Pharaoh's response was to reject what he heard.

This raises a question in my mind: When I reject another human's words to me, am I rejecting a message God intended for me?

I'm not saying that God is going around telling Bob to tell Mary X & Y. I'm just asking if perhaps Mary is tuning out God's message when she tunes out Bob.

Who are you tuning out? Or perhaps the only question I can really ask is, Who am I tuning out?

1 comment:

Sheri said...

I think God uses us all the time to get His message to each other. How many times did I ignore good advice to my detriment? Right now I am holding on to the words of a woman regarding how to deal with my 20 year old son. I hadn't seen her son for a while, and when I finally did see him again, the punk I dreaded dealing with had turned into quite the young man. I asked his mother what happened & what did she do. She said she just waited for him to mature, being available but not being pushy. She's very glad she did. I'm hoping it works for me and my son also. I feel like God is speaking to me through her. I hadn't seen her in a while either--not until after I prayed for God's guidance in dealing with my son.