For almost two weeks, the above verse has been floating in and out of my mind…
Five little words, pretty easy to memorize.
Extremely difficult to fulfill.
We “serve” the Lord, working for Him, Scripture tells us, anytime we serve someone else.
The Apostle Paul reminds us, that, in fact, all our work should be “as unto the Lord.”
I prefer to pick and choose my areas of service…like when I’m rested, on my own timing, in my own way, with the right kind of audience, and when I feel good about it.
Yet, if I waited til the “conditions” of serving seemed perfect in my own mind, it would never happen.
And, sometimes, it seems, serving opportunities just fall into my lap at simply the worst possible moments.
In times like this, I certainly don’t welcome my serving with gladness…
That word…at its core, it hints festivity, as with exceeding mirth and joy.
Seriously?
Ugh.
Do I have to?
(I think I see a nod from heavenly places.)
The truth is that in God’s School of Humility, there is no learning this Christ-like quality without it.
This was, in fact, Moses’ first class in God’s School (remember Numbers 12:3 – Now the man Moses was very meek, more than all people who were on the face of the earth).
After Moses fled for his life from Pharaoh, running all the way to the land of Midian (approximately 360 miles as the crow flies), he sat down by a well to rest.
While he sat, the seven daughters of the priest of Midian (Jethro) came to water their father’s sheep.
Other shepherds attempted to drive them away, but Moses stood up, rescued the girls, and watered their flock.
For the next 40 years, he continued to serve, care for, and lead the man’s sheep……..in the wilderness…….in obscurity……..where nobody really saw and nobody really cared (except Jethro, obviously).
Do you get the humor?
1. The once “Prince of Egypt,” raised and educated to sit on Pharaoh’s throne, purposed to one day govern and lead a nation – the man who knew the finery of palace-living – now hid himself away on the backside of a desert governing and leading sheep.
2. Egyptians despised shepherds. Shepherds didn’t quite make the bottom rung on the social ladder. Now Moses had become everything he was taught to abhor.
Yet, here, Moses found contentment (Exodus 2:21).
His new life fit him.
He became friends with all that had befallen him.
From prince to pauper – he was OK!
From somebody to nobody – he was GOOD!
From highly educated to mindless mundane work – he was more than WILLING!
From being served to serving – he was GLAD!
But, most of all….from ostentatious pride to quiet humbleness – LESSON LEARNED!
It took 40 years to drive Egypt out of Moses, to prepare him to be exactly what the Lord needed to lead His flock of sheep to the Promised Land…
BUT…
In learning to serve the Lord with gladness at all times, whenever God put the opportunity in front of him, Moses’ developed a heart that beat with God’s heart for God’s people…
Only a true humble shepherd could do what God asked of Moses.
So, Assignment #2 in our humility-education:
Let’s each look for a way to serve this week, just for serving’s sake…
Anonymously.
Behind the scenes.
Willingly.
With heart-felt-gladness.
P.S. I have the perfect example of this kind of humility to share with you next week…