Reigning in Dignity

Imagine that you have been given a job to do in which you have never done before. You have no role model, mentor, or advisor. There is no map or guide to follow except you are given instructions. You are hoping the instructions are detailed but they are not. It is vague and you are called upon to fill in the missing blanks. I suspect we can all relate to being in this situation at some point in our lives. We perhaps are going through this situation currently. Being faced with this dilemma is not an inescapable one. Yet we have all, at some point, grumbled, complained, or even tried to run away from those situations. I put it to you, if you have found yourself in such as position then it means you are in the right place. Life is about learning, growing, and developing. If you have a father such as Abba Father,  He is most interested in our possibilities and potential.

From the biblical literature, no one has escaped being in unfamiliar places or territories. If we start from the beginning, we can look to Genesis 2:2-20. The Lord God commanded Adam to do all that he was told to do except to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.  The Lord God formed Adam and brought to him, every beast of the field and every fowl of the air to see what he would call them. Adam was given the mandate by the Lord God to name every beast of the field and every fowl of the air.  Let’s look at this objectively. Adam did all this before he was even given his helpmate Eve. Adam was born as an adult; he did not have his childhood years to refer to. He had no friends. He had no neighbors. He had no teachers. He was born of God from the ground and was given the mandate to lead, cultivate, and develop in his environment.

 As we read through Exodus 2:1-25, Moses was given the mandate to lead God’s people from the tyrannical grip of the pharaoh in Egypt. The Lord God had heard the cries of His enslaved people, and He sent them a deliverer.  Moses' job was to lead the children of Israel into the promised land, where they could eat from the good of the land, raise their families, and worship God in peace, Exodus 6:1-8. It took Moses roughly 40 years; give or take, to lead the people through the desert en route to the promised land. During those years, the people grumbled, complained, and even desired to return to their place of bondage. This is even though the Lord provided for them and protected them in their journey. The one thing they were required to do was to follow the Lord God's commandments.

Moses did his best to lead God’s people into the promised land. He gave them God’s laws i.e. the 10 commandments. He further resided over them as judge and arbiter to help resolve their differences with each other.  Moses made his mistakes such as over-hitting the rock in anger over the people’s unfaithfulness, but he did not quit on the people either, see Deuteronomy 33:1-29. Also,  even though the people rebelled against God, He did not give up on them. God blessed the younger generation such as Joshua who would eventually be charged with the mandate to lead the next generation into the promised land.  Ultimately,  the Lord God was faithful to Moses, and even in God’s anger towards him, the Lord allowed him to see the promised land from the hills of Pisgah, Deuteronomy 3:26-27. The Lord God dignified his leader Moses and caused him to rest with his forefathers in peace. According to the Oxford Language Dictionary, dignity means the state or quality of being worthy of honor or respect.   Moses received a fitting tribute from the people. They burst into songs of tribute in honour of the man they knew who led them away from bondage. The people saw the faithfulness of God through the life of Moses.

Our gifts may not seem enough to qualify us for the call of being a teacher, student, parent, spouse, entrepreneur, manager, employee, pastor, or for any other duty we may have. It is not our gifts that make us worthy to fulfill our tasks. What makes us worthy to fulfill those tasks is the call of God upon our lives. He made us with potential and possibilities. He places us in environments and situations to bring forth what is already on our inside. The storms and the uncertainties are designed for us to subdue and bring under control so that there is peace and proper alignment in our lives.  Yes, we may have made our mistakes, but that is not the end. The comeback is to seek to change and do better.  Don’t quit your call, job, or duty. There is help If we call on the name of the Lord.  He will cause us to reign in our area of influence with dignity. Revelation 5:10 reveals the twenty-four elders and the four living creatures bowing down before the Lamb who sits on the throne singing:  Jesus is the one worthy to open the seals, for where we have been slain, we have been redeemed by the blood of the Lamb.  It is Jesus who has made us kings and priests unto Himself, and we are called to reign on the earth. Once we submit to the reign, supremacy, and authority of Jesus Christ in our lives, we will be dignified in His presence. Shalom.