Grab Your Partner, Dosey Doe

I was recently reading through Exodus preparing for a Bible class. I read of how God used Moses and Aaron to deliver the people out of slavery in Egypt , and I couldn’t help but wonder one thing:

Why didn’t God take care of this himself?

I realize God was working through Moses, so, in a sense, he did take care of this himself. My question is this: why didn’t God step down and directly speak to Pharaoh? Why didn’t he just go to him directly himself and say, “You will release these people.” I found this strange, but as I began to think about many stories in the Bible, except of course for the cross, God did not come himself to be seen and directly carry out the mission. He used people like Paul and Peter; he used Mark and Luke. The list of names can go on and on. Still today he is using people to carry out his mission, but why?

There is truly something special about living this life. God wants a relationship, and he’s wanted it since the very beginning. God placed Adam in the Garden “to work it and take care of it” (Gen. 2:15). God could have tended the garden and kept things in perfect working order without any help, but that’s not what he wanted. He did not want to do this alone. He wanted a relationship, a partnership with his creation.

Even today God wants a relationship, and he’s working toward fulfilling this perfect relationship once again. He wants us to partner with him. In what is known as the Great Commission in Matthew 28, Jesus charges his disciples with the great task of making other disciples, baptizing them, and teaching them to obey. And then he says, “And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” Jesus gives them the job to continue the mission he has already begun. If he would’ve stopped with this command and disappeared, it would seem as though we were alone in this life. It would be as if your boss brings you multiple stacks of papers to file and says, “I did the first one as your example. Finish what I started. Good luck!” But Jesus gives this command and then promises to be right here working with us daily to carry out this mission. Surely Christ is just as much present in the world today as he has ever been before!

What are we going to do this week to partner with God to continue this great restoration movement? He could do it alone, but he has chosen to work with you. He believes in you and knows your gifts and abilities which only come into fullness when they are used in partnership with him. There is truly something special about living this life.

-Matt