Redefining Your Experience

Redefining Your Experience

Moses protested to God, “Who am I to appear before Pharaoh? Who am I to lead the people of Israel out of Egypt?” God answered, “I will be with you.”

Exodus 3:11-12

A friend of mine is a physical therapist. With her no-nonsense personality, she never hesitates to challenge her patients to go beyond what they think they can do in order to achieve greater strength and healing. Whenever her clients object to a particular exercise, she encourages them by saying, “That’s not pain, it’s stretch!” This simple phrase enables her patients to reframe their experience, helping them realize that what they thought would hurt them will instead benefit them.

It’s the same in our relationship with the Lord. Sometimes he allows us to experience difficult circumstances because he knows it’s the only way for us to achieve the purpose for which he made us. But often our first instinct is to protect ourselves. If we can begin to realize that many of our challenges will stretch us but not harm us, we will be able to face them with greater trust and confidence.

Let me offer an example from the life of an Old Testament hero. Moses has just spotted a bush engulfed in flames. Then he hears a voice calling, “Moses! Moses!”

God’s voice speaks to him out of the bush, telling him he has been chosen to lead his people out of slavery in Egypt.

Shaking with fear, Moses wails, “Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt? And why should the elders listen to me? Besides, I have never been good at speaking. O LORD, please send someone else to do it.”

But God doesn’t allow Moses’ fear to disrupt his plan. And in the end Moses allows himself to be stretched, doing exactly what God asks. Because of that, he is able to stand at the edge of the Red Sea after watching the waves crash over his enemies and raise this victory shout: “The LORD is my strength and my song; he has given me victory. This is my God, and I will praise him—my father’s God, and I will exalt him!” (Exodus 15:2).

Lord, I don’t want to shrink back from the challenges you place in my path. Give me the courage to move forward, experiencing peace as I trust you to use every difficulty to achieve your purpose for my life.