God calms our fears, is with us in our distress, and provides us with all we need to get through difficult times

Get the FREE worksheet for this program here.

The most important message I picked up from today’s readings overall is God calms our fears, is with us in our distress, and provides us with all we need to get through difficult times.

My primary takeaway from each of the passages was this:

• Exodus 17-18  – No one is an island in the kingdom of God. The body of Christ is a community. Leaders must delegate and respond to feedback from the community, and the community must contribute and share the load.
• Mark 6 – When we are on “stormy seas” and are feeling afraid, God sees our distress and not only calms the seas but gets right in the boat with us to comfort us and calm our fears. He also provides us with all that we need to get through difficult times.
• Psalms 34– “Though hardships without number beset the upright, Yahweh brings rescue from them all. Yahweh takes care of all their bones, not one of them will be broken.” v. 19-20
• Proverbs 3 – Trust God and acknowledge all of the ways that he assists us and he will make our paths smooth and free of obstacles.

The best leaders are the ones who do not do everything by themselves. They recognized the intelligence in the community around them, choose the most capable of those, invite them to share the responsibilities of leadership, and all on the leadership team then do the same with those portions of the community that they lead. However, there are many people who think, “If you want a something done well you have to do it yourself.” Moses was apparently one of those people.

My favorite part of these passages in Exodus is the part where Moses is being taught how to lead by his father-in-law. Moses has been struggling with how to lead, feels burdened with how to do it effectively, and is stressed by all the complaints and concerns of the people in his care. Even though he has just accomplished what seemed impossible by facing down Pharoah, getting the Israelites released from bondage, and then leading them out of Egypt, he finds the burden of leadership to be a great one. Then his father-in-law comes for a visit, sees what is going on, and gives Moses some advice. The best part of this story is that Moses demonstrates to us that he is teachable.

So many people in leadership are not teachable. They arrive at the top of the mountain and they think they have learned all there is to know about everything and they don’t need advice from others. They are the worst kind of leaders, and they don’t last very long. If they do last, they burn through people really fast and find themselves alone on that mountaintop. Mountaintops are generally devoid of life and sustenance, and eventually the people who find themselves reveling in that position are driven back down to the valley to do some learning.

None of us are islands and all of us have so much to learn. In my own case, I have learned as I’ve progressed in my journey that the more I learn, the more I know that I don’t know. I believe that is what was plaguing Moses. He had met face to face with the great I AM and was confronted with the fact that he didn’t have all the answers.

That is what it is to walk in faith. We are confronted by God. We realize that in the big scheme of things we know very little. But we have to keep moving forward on a path that God only builds in front of us a few steps in advance. When we take our eyes off of God and focus on the unbuilt roadway beyond where we’re standing, that can cause deep anxiety and stress. The key is to remember that God is in control, not us. We just keep putting one foot in front of the other. We also rely on our fellow travelers.

In today’s reading in Mark we once again find Jesus calming the seas. This time he does it by walking on the water and getting right in the boat with the disciples who are terrified that they are going to sink and drown in the great storm that this is swirling around them. This is very likely how Moses felt in today’s chapters in Exodus. In both chapters the message is clear: with God in the center of our lives, stormy seas are inconsequential because God calms the storm. Stay calm and keep God close.

Today’s Psalm underscores that message. Not only will God calm the storms but he will protect us from harm.

And in today’s Proverb we are given the method of God’s assistance in storms and for protection: trust God and acknowledge all of the ways that he assists us and he will make our paths smooth and free of obstacles.

That’s what I got out of it. What did you get out of the readings today?

You can join us in our private Facebook group that I set up specifically for sharing what we take-away from the readings each day.

If you haven’t gotten the FREE “Read the Bible in a Year” worksheet yet, you can Get the FREE worksheet for this program here. It is not necessary for you to start on January 1st–you can start from the beginning on whatever date you get the worksheet. Join us!

Learn more about why I read the Bible all the way through every year, and feel free to share with anyone you think could benefit.

This post is part of the series, “Read the Bible in a Year.”

To see other posts in this series, go to the Chronological Index of Read the Bible in a Year Posts.

Please follow and like us: