Life In The Penalty Box Part 2

Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith.

If life were a bed of roses, we'd never appreciate how good roses smell. For forty years of Moses' life, herding sheep was his lot, a time during which God prepared him for leadership beyond his wildest dreams. From the Moody Church in Chicago, this is Running to Win with Dr. Erwin Lutzer, whose clear teaching helps us make it across the finish line. Pastor Lutzer, I imagine many of us have the same kind of self-image issues Moses had. You know, Dave, it's very difficult for us to see God when we're in the desert, but the good news that Moses experienced is that it is not necessary to see God in the desert, to know that he can show up in the desert and he is with us even in the desert. Now there in the desert, Moses was going through some very great emotional turmoil. He obviously had an anger issue. He had revealed himself unto his people and in effect said, I can help you and they turned against him.

We know that story. And so it is there in the desert that God is preparing him for something great, even as you mentioned just a moment ago, Dave. So as we listen to this message, let us be encouraged. And before we go to the pulpit of Moody Church, let me remind you that I've written a book entitled Getting Closer to God, Lessons from the Life of Moses. Now the reason that I want you to have this book is so that messages just like this are yours in permanent, readable form. Here's what you can do. Go to RTWOffer.com.

That's RTWOffer.com or call us at 1-888-218-9337. Now I'm going to be giving you that contact info at the end of this message. For now, I want you to listen carefully because many of you may be experiencing a desert, but there's good news even in the midst of endless sunshine and hot sand. I believe that God allows every one of us to go through a desert experience.

If you've never been through a desert experience, there probably is one in your future. Israel was in the desert for 40 years. And what was God doing during those 40 years that Israel was in the desert?

We find that the Lord says this. He found him, that is Jacob or the children of Jacob, in a desert land and in the howling waste of a wilderness. He encircled them. He cared for them. He kept them as the apple of his eye, like an eagle that stirs up its nest that flutters over its young, spreading out its wings, catching them, bearing them on its pinions. You know what eagles do? Eagles build nice nests and make them very comfy.

First of all, they put in sharp rocks and pieces of twig and even sharp objects that they might be able to find if they can pick up a piece of glass or something. They put it there and then they fill out the nest and make it very, very comfortable with all kinds of feathers and everything. And those little eaglets absolutely love it. The problem is the little eaglets won't go out of the nest to test their wings. And so what mom eaglet does is she begins to take away the feathers, begins to pull out the down and these little little things find themselves on a sharp edge of rock and they say, you know, things are so bad we'd better learn to fly.

And then if anything, the mother eagle will come and push them out of the nest and then swoop under them and catch them when they're in flight. God says, that's what I was doing for you when you were there in the desert. They were in the desert because of their own disobedience and the disobedience of those before them. But God says, I'm with you there in the desert.

I am working there in the desert with you. You know, it's easy to trust God when the bush is burning, when the waters are parting, when that mountain is shaking and when the money is flowing and when the board is glowing. It's easy to trust God. But it's hard to trust God when you're in transition, when you've been unfairly fired from a job. It's hard to trust God when your optimistic dreams and hopes in a relationship suddenly end in bitterness and in disaster. It's difficult to see God there, but blessed is the person who knows that God is not with us only in our ups, but also in our downs. Not only when we are there in the palace, but also when we're there in unending monotonous desert, day after day, week after week, month after month. It says it came to pass after these many days that God intervened.

How many days? Multiply 40 times 365. Thank God for pocket calculators. As some of you have heard me say, when it comes to math, I've always said as long as I'm right, 90% of the time.

I mean, who cares about the other 5%? 14,600 days of monotony, of boredom, of hopelessness. Moses had to learn to trust. There's a third lesson and that is the lesson of obedience. We're going to go into this in detail next week when I give you the five excuses that Moses had as to why he didn't want to go. We would think that God would be saying to Moses, go back to Egypt.

And Moses would say, well, of course, where have you been? But Moses is still hurting. Moses still remembers the pain of rejection.

He still has in his heart now this and probably a root of bitterness over all that has happened. And so he objects to God and God says, go. Moses says no. And God says, Moses, what are your excuses?

We'll look at them next week. But notice in chapter 4, verse 1, Moses says, behold, they will not believe me or listen to my voice. They will say the Lord didn't appear to you.

He's saying, I've been through this before. I was rejected by them. I don't want to go. I don't want to be hurt again. And furthermore, they have no reason to believe me after having been away for 40 years as a shepherd.

Why should anybody believe me? God says, Moses, what's in your hand? He said, a staff.

That is a branch of a tree, maybe three or four inches in diameter. Lord says, throw it on the ground. He threw it on the ground and it became a serpent. The Lord said, these are the kinds of things I'm going to enable you to do to prove that I've sent you.

But let me ask you this. Where did Moses get the staff? Where did he get it from? Where did he get this rod or staff as it is sometimes called? He got it when he was in the desert, right in the palace.

He picked it up when he was serving time in the penalty box. God says, this rod is now going to be a rod with great significance. Wherever Moses goes, he takes it. He's about to go over the Red Sea. And the Bible says that Moses put his rod or a staff over the sea in the Red Sea parts.

Later on, he's supposed to hit the rock and he does hit the rock and water comes out. The next time he's to speak to it and he hits the rock again in disobedience. But the point is, wherever you see Moses from now on, you see that rod. Because the rod of Moses now becomes the rod of God. God did something to him there in the desert. You see, God tests our loyalty in the desert. God tests the depth of our commitment in the desert. God sees what we are really like in the desert.

And in the desert, he gives us the equipment and the ability to learn things that we could never learn anywhere else so that we could be more useful to him in the future than we are now. Perhaps I could change the metaphor. You all know what the penalty box is. Maybe it isn't so much a penalty box as it is a bullpen. Everybody who's ever lived in Chicago more than a year knows what a bullpen is.

The Cubs and the Sox, they have their bullpen. What they're there for is to help them to get ready to get back into the game. Let me ask you a question. Are you alive today?

You say, yeah, yeah. Actually, it is one of the few requirements we have to attend Moody Church. If you're alive today, God is not finished with you yet. No matter how hot the desert, no matter how long the desert, God is there for you. So what have you picked up in your desert? Patience, love, the ability to pray, brokenness, which you didn't have before your desert experience, the ability to forgive so that you can become God-like and so God allows you to have hurts and injustices to teach you to be more like him. And so God continues to work for you and with you in the desert experience.

Some of you, if we could see you actually, if we could see your feet, there'd be some sand in your sandals. You're in the desert. God says, I'm here in the desert with you. That I think is probably one of two important lessons we learn about Moses in the desert. First of all, that God is with us.

God is with us. It says in the scriptures that God was with Joseph when he became a ruler in Egypt, when he became next to Potiphar and Potiphar had the responsibility of the secret service detail of the pharaoh, the king, and Joseph was exalted in Egypt, the scripture says. And it says the Lord was with Joseph and exalted him. Later on, Joseph, because of his faithfulness to God has a lie told about him. He is slandered. Potiphar's wife says he tried to force me to go to bed with him. And you know that the opposite was true. But you know, and so Joseph is cast into the pit, into the dungeon, another dungeon.

Talk about somebody who spent quite a bit of time in the pits. Would be Joseph. He's cast into the prison. His reputation is ruined because Potiphar believes the story that his wife gave him.

Everybody is speaking scandalous lies about him. And what does it say in the text? Same chapter, Genesis chapter 39. And the Lord was with Joseph in prison. He's with us when we're sick. He's with us when we're well. He's with us when we're rich. He's with us when we're poor. He's with us when our friends encourage us. He's with us when our friends reject us. The Lord is with his people. And now I come to a statement I never want you to forget.

On your deathbed, somebody should be able to ask you. Now, do you remember that statement that Pastor Luther said at Moody Church when he was preaching on Moses? And you said, oh yeah, yeah, absolutely. Should be able to quote it. Are you ready for it?

Want to make sure everybody's ready for it. Never interpret the silence of God as the indifference of God. Don't ever interpret the silence of God as the indifference of God.

Forty long years of slavery of the Hebrews in Egypt. Forty years of wilderness wandering, believing that every day for the rest of his life was going to be like the last one. He didn't foresee the burning bush. He didn't foresee the shaking mountain. He didn't foresee the parting of the sea. All that he saw was day after day monotony in the desert. God was silent. But God was working, directing, leading, orchestrating to an appointed end. Don't ever misinterpret the silence of God as the indifference of God.

Last lesson. You develop deep roots in the desert. Because in order to survive in a desert, you have to go somewhere and those roots have to have to reach down really, really deep. And you have to find an oasis somewhere and you have to be like that tree planted beside the water or you will be no more. You don't have to develop deep roots when everything is going well. It's when everything falls apart.

It's when your nest is stirred up. It's when you're in distress that you develop those roots. And I like to refer to the redwoods in California, which I saw at one time that grow right into the heavens. These redwoods have basically shallow roots, but they are interconnected, I'm told. Underneath, you find that this redwood is connected to this redwood is connected to this one. And if this one gets some water, they all benefit.

Which is a wonderful example of the body of Christ. Because sometimes in the depth of our despair, when we are there in the desert, we can't go it alone. And God uses the desert experience to have other believers become our friends to help us.

Because sometimes you may be in that desert and you may not even be able to get your own water, but there's somebody there who can get water for you. And together we develop deep roots in the desert. You've heard me say that someone asked a sculptor, apparently a true story, how do you make an elephant? And the sculptor said, actually, he said it's very easy. He said you simply take a block of marble and you chip away everything that isn't elephant. I'll tell you what God is doing in the desert. He's chipping away everything that isn't Jesus. And only the desert can do that.

The palace can't. And it is in the desert that we learn the lesson of servanthood, the lesson of trust and the lesson of obedience. And it's in the desert that God tests the depth of our yieldedness and our desire to please him.

And after the desert has done its work, he invites us back into the game to play like we've never played before. Would you join me as we pray? Our Father, surely those 40 years must have seemed long to Moses, unending. And yet you were there working, hearing, listening, remembering.

And there are some of your children, some of whom you have adopted into your family who've lived years with injustice, with poverty, with heartbreak from people, from illness perhaps. Would you at this moment stir up their souls and let them know that you are doing a deeper work in their lives than could ever be done if they had only success, only mountains and no valleys? Grant us the ability that during our desert experience we may learn from you. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen and amen.

Amen. Well, dear friends, as you know, God takes everyone into the desert. Israel had its desert experience. Moses did.

Of course, also Jesus was in the desert. And I speak to those of you who are in the desert today. I hope that you've been encouraged as a result of this message. And if you've been encouraged, it's because other people have invested in this ministry. Would you help us here at the Ministry of Running to Win?

We're in more than 20 different countries in three different languages because we have so many people who stand with us who believe that these messages are transforming for all who hear them. And I want to thank you in advance. But if you'd like to become an endurance partner, that is someone who stands with us regularly with their prayers and their gifts, we would deeply appreciate your help and your partnership. Now, here's what you do. Go to RTWOffer.com. That's all one word, RTWOffer.com. And when you're there, click on the endurance partner button.

That'll give you all the info you need. Or if you prefer, you can call us at 1-888-218-9337. Now, I'll be giving you that phone number again. But before I do, I want to just share my heart. And thank you so much for those of you who continue to support this ministry, who join our team.

I like to think of it as joining the Running to Win family and helping us getting the gospel of Jesus Christ to so many different parts of the world. Here's what you do if you'd like to become an endurance partner. Go to RTWOffer.com.

Click on the endurance partner button. Or if you prefer, call us at 1-888-218-9337. Thank you again for joining us. God bless you. Time now for another chance for you to ask Pastor Lutzer a question about the Bible or the Christian life.

What to do when it seems we've been on the wrong path for a very long time. Here's the story from one anonymous listener. When I was 18, I gave my heart to the Lord. I truly felt His presence and His call.

As sometimes happens, the seed was choked and there was not much growth. I married, wandered, and committed atrocious sins against my Lord, lying, adultery, and so on. At 50 years old, I allowed the Holy Spirit to change my heart. I hate my sin. I confessed it to the Lord, and I know He forgives me. I don't know how to forgive myself. I know He can, but will God use me again for His kingdom? Well, my friend, thank you so much for connecting with us and letting us know what is on your heart.

A couple of comments. First of all, how can you forgive yourself? Well, let me ask this. If God has forgiven you, why can't you forgive yourself? There's no use wallowing in the past. What you need to do is to give that to God.

The whole mess has to be transferred to His shoulders. And I'm glad that at least at the age of 50, you realize that it's time for your life to go on track correctly by yielding to the Lord and letting the Holy Spirit of God change your heart. So at least there's something left in your life that is very much redeemable, and that is your future. So should you forgive yourself?

Absolutely. God has, and you must do it too. Now you ask another question, can God use you?

The answer is yes. In your question, I noticed that you spoke about the call of God. I don't know what that meant.

Call to what? You don't define it. God may not be able to use you in the way that He would have been able to use you if you had followed through with your decision at the age of 18. But can God use you? Of course, in other ways. He can use you by creating within you the fruit of the Spirit, blessing those around you.

Who knows? You might have opportunity to serve in the church, and God sometimes surprises us with unexpected grace. And I hope that happens in your life as well.

You are alive, obviously, and that means that God still has a purpose and plan for your life. Follow it fully from here on out. From wise counsel, as always, from Dr. Erwin Lutzer. Thank you, Dr. Lutzer. If you'd like to hear your question answered, go to our website at rtwoffer.com and click on Ask Pastor Lutzer or call us at 1-888-218-9337.

That's 1-888-218-9337. You can write to us at Running to Win, 1635 North LaSalle Boulevard, Chicago, Illinois, 60614. Today, Erwin Lutzer concluded Life in the Penalty Box, the first in a series of 12 messages about Moses, a man getting closer to God. Next time, God calls Moses to a task, but finds only excuses excuses. Make plans to join us. For Dr. Erwin Lutzer, this is Dave McAllister. Running to Win is sponsored by the Moody Church.