1.15.26 – Excuses Answered

Did you turn to see your "burning bush"? Many of us do not turn to see as the bush burns with a never-ending flame. We do not want to get disturbed. We have appointments to catch, emails to answer, bills to pay, goals and New Year's resolutions to complete. Facebook posts to check. Twitter tweets to post. Who has time and energy for a bush which refuses to stop burning? Besides, if it is burning all the time, I can come back to it anytime I want. Can't I?

We are tempted to look away, run away, to pretend we never saw what we saw. We do not like entertaining ideas that might severely shake up the status quo. I mean, once you have seen it, you have seen it.

When you stop to look, it taps into all five layers of the soul (nefesh, ruach, neshamah, chayah, and yechidah—which in practical English are the biological, emotional, intellectual, transcendental, and undefined quintessence of the soul). That is quite a gaze! There is more going on when you turn to look than you can shake a stick at!

And when you do turn your head, when you do tune in to the moment, you will be able to hear the Angel of the Lord (Yeshua) call. Your inner Divine consciousness, your inner soul, will summon you: "Alan, Alan" (or your name), and you respond, "Here am I" (hineni).

But, if you are like me, the problem is not about having that V-8 moment... it is convincing myself to take action once the task is revealed. And according to the pattern of Moses, he was not easy to convince. He began arguing with God:

"Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh? Who am I to take the Hebrews out of Egypt?"
(Ex. 3:11)

And when God would not back down (Ex. 3:12), Moses tried a different approach:

"But the people, they won't believe me; they will ask me, 'Who is this God in whose name you speak!'"
(Ex. 3:13)

But God insisted. Moses then spoke of the fact that he was not a man of words; his communication skills were compromised (Ex. 4:10):

"And Moses said unto the LORD, O my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither heretofore, nor since thou hast spoken unto thy servant: but I am slow of speech, and of a slow tongue."
(Ex. 4:10)

Finally, Moses begged, "Please, God, send in the hand of the right person" (Ex. 4:13). God got upset at Moses and yet promised him that He would be with him throughout the mission (Ex. 4:14–18). Only then did Moses finally accept his calling. Once he accepted it, he never looked back again (Luke 9:62). The march toward redemption began.

There are three major handicaps that prevent people from finding themselves and living their lives to the fullest; three rationalizations for why we shrink from our greatest responsibilities; three forms of paralysis.

Before we examine those, think about your own excuses. What do you say to God that hinders you from taking action on your burning bush experience? Tomorrow, we will dissect his three excuses to help us identify our own.

Shalom!
Alan

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