[COVID Crisis Series 7 of 25] God Says “I Will Be With You”

The following is a full transcript of a Facebook Live, where Susie is speaking  extemporaneously – she is unscripted and unedited. 

(00:00):

Hi Brett. Ooh, hi friends. It is Friday and I have decided that on Fridays I am going to start doing a little kind of faith filled Friday conversation with you because we all need a lot of help in these tough times. And so as I was reading, I’m in my quiet time this morning. I was going to do something about peace and then as I was reading in my quiet time, I get up early and spend some time with Jesus. It keeps me saying, I’m telling you people and helps me grow deep in my walk with God. I read about Moses and so I want to talk about Moses with you today and about what it means to build a better relationship with God while we’re well every day of the year, any year, but especially during these really difficult challenging times.

(00:47):

And so one of the things I want to do is help you all create better relationships with God, yourself and others. And we’ve talked a lot about self this week. We talked about others this week with communication and dealing with all your people. But I want to take a few minutes and talk about how to build a better relationship with God, especially in these challenging times. And I am again not saying I have all the answers, but I am saying that I have walked with you, walked with him for a lot of years, gosh, 40 some years and have learned a few things in my time and in my studies and in my actually pastors degree. So I’m going to say hi to a few folks who are joining us. Hi Karen. Glad you’re here. And then I’m going to do, I’m teaching and then I’m going to check in with you at the end because it, it’s just I get it all interrupted when I do all of the high, high, high through.

(01:32):

So I’ll just wave to you, but I’m so glad you’re here today to talk about this. And the story I want to talk about comes from Exodus. And in Exodus three I’m going to look down here, make sure I have the right verse. So X, this is a story of Moses and I’m going to give you a little history, not assuming that you all know all this. If it’s a repeat for you, feel free to add any of your favorite Moses tips in the comments. But basically Moses was a Prince of Egypt and Egypt was the main power at that time. And they had taken the FA, the nation of Israel, God’s people, Abraham’s descendants into slavery. And so these special chosen people of God were in slavery in Egypt, building the Pharaoh’s pyramids and palaces and all this kind of stuff. And at one point in time, Farrah who had heard there was going to be kind of a savior or somebody who was worried about the slaves becoming too numerous, decided at one point in time, this is terrible to kill off all of the Hebrew babies that were born just to kind of keep the population down, prevent any kind of Messiah figure from coming out of the slaves to help them rise up.

(02:40):

And in that time, you know, that wasn’t an unusual thing to do. That wasn’t the honor on life that we have today. But Moses mother did not want her son to be killed. And so she put him in a basket and he floated down the river and the Pharaoh sister found him and ended up bringing him into her life, into the palace and raising her as a as a Royal, raising him as a Royal, as her son, a Royal Prince of Egypt. So, so Moses, for the first 40 years of his life, grows up as this Prince of Egypt. You know, if you’ve ever seen the movie, the 10 commandments, you’ve seen Charlton Heston play Moses. It’s a great movie as a favorite son. But what happens is in this story is Moses has a heart of justice and he has a heart for people.

(03:21):

When he watches this slave owner, Egyptian policemen, we’ll call them that, then a gypsum policemen beating one of the slaves and he sticks up for the slaves and ends up killing this adoption policemen. And some people see him and he flees into the wilderness. This is what the Bible tells us, the story of Moses. And he flees into the wilderness to pray. You know, he knows he’s done the wrong thing. And why he doesn’t go back to Pharaoh, I don’t know. But for whatever reason, he flees into the wilderness and he goes and he’s there for 40 years and he built a life there. He has a wife, he becomes a shepherd, he has a family. This is what we know of him. And it is this great story where he’s walking through the fields and, or the shepherd time with his sheep and he sees this burning Bush up on the Hill up on the mountain, and he goes up to the burning Bush.

(04:09):

And the burning Bush is a symbol of God’s presence there. And in this time, God says to Moses, okay, Moses, I have a job for you. I want you to go back to Egypt and I want you to free my people. Okay. and Moses is like, Oh my gosh, who am I got to go back to Egypt and free your people. Like I killed a slave. I, I know you know, he finds out he really is a Hebrew. He’s one of the slaves even though he’s been raised as Pharaoh and he feels totally ill-equipped for the job and God’s answer to him is, I will go with you and the reason I want to talk about this today is because you may be in a place where you feel like you are facing an insurmountable task and insurmountable mission, which I think in this Corona virus or Corona crisis or coven 19 whatever you call it, I saw yesterday Corona popup.

(05:00):

I can say it, hold on Corona, apocalypse, Corona Gavin, but we now are in a place where we know we’re looking at being together, being isolated, being at home, being maybe even away from our businesses. Some of us have lost income, some of us have lost jobs, so it was if I cut salary, some of us are home with our kiddos and I her saw crisis schooling for the first time, not homeschooling. Some of us are dealing with family that we can’t be in the air because they are far away and we’re worried about them. Some of us are dealing with spouses or teenage or adult children who totally disagree with how we think all this should be handled. All of us are dealing with a real threat. All of us are dealing with information that we’re not sure what’s true. All of us, if we’re really honest and I really do believe all of us are feeling overwhelmed with the task at hand.

(05:51):

Oh my gosh, there’s emotion coming here. Overwhelmed at the task at hand. There is a lot going on folks. And I am a positive, you know optimistic kind of person and there’s been a couple of days this week when I’ve been like, I don’t know how we’re going to get through this or I don’t know if I can, you know, do X, Y, Z. So fill in whatever your XYZ is. I don’t know if I can and pop it in the comments if you’re courageous enough to do that for me. I don’t know if I can live in this small RV house we have now. My doctor has asked me not to go outside at all because the allergies are really high and that could mess with my chest and breathing. You might hear them a little wheezy today and I was like, I don’t know if I can do this.

(06:29):

You know? I don’t know if I can be patient, be kind, be loving, be generous, you know, and I don’t know God, if I can do what you’re asking me to do, if you feel that way, give me a thumbs up in the comments because we, I mean everybody I’ve talked to, even, you know, like I said, positive, faith-filled, I don’t know. I don’t know if I can financially survive. Someone said, I don’t know if I can deal with my kids. Someone messaged me. I don’t know if I can live with my husband and not fight every day. I don’t know if I can trust God to provide for me and my family in the midst of this. Those are the things I’m hearing from you guys and you know what folks? I don’t know all the answers, but I do know that God says to Moses in this massive moment of I need you to do and go and be with me and do this task for me or being my servant, which I think God asks all of us to do and be, and Moses says, I don’t know if I can, who am I to do this?

(07:22):

And when Moses asked, who am I to do this? God doesn’t pop them up with, well, you know you’re strong and you’re able and you’re capable and you, you know you’ve walked with me for this long. God looks at Moses and says, I will go with you. He also sends Aaron, which is helpful so we can have a whole conversation about going with others. But the line here I want you to hear is God says, I will go with you and any time or multiple times in the scriptures, in fact, I read today that that more often than not God, reassurance to his people, to his beloved children, to you and me is I will go with you. I will be with you. I will go before you. I will go behind you. I will surround you with me, my love, my provision, and my going with you will make all the difference.

(08:07):

And what’s interesting is I started to do a little bit of study on that. Fear not, you know, when God tells us not to be afraid very often, don’t be afraid. Comes right with I will be with you. Don’t be afraid cause I am with you. Don’t be afraid because I will go before you to fight the army and the battle. Don’t be afraid. Jesus says to his disciples when he’s going to have an I will leave with you, a comforter, the Holy spirit, I will be with you always. And so whatever, whatever you are going through today, whatever task is before you, whatever worry, whatever fear, and I talked about this last night, what am I going to wait? My I talked about this the other night that we are facing a real fear, a real threat. We’re facing a real threat and there is a reason to have fear and worry and God doesn’t leave us alone in that he tells us not to be afraid because he will go with us to take our worries to him because he is in this with us.

(09:06):

And so while Moses did go back not knowing what he was going to do, not knowing how I was going to do this, but knowing that he would obey God and trust the guy was with him, he went back to Israel or to Egypt and freed the slaves. And we have the whole story of the rest of the scriptures. How God’s people, you know, came into the land and became the people that God had called them to be. And so as I was reading this morning and praying this morning and thinking this morning about who God wants me to be, and I would ask you who God wants you to be in this place, I think when he most wants from us is to be people who lean into the promise. I will be with you. I will go with you. I am with you.

(09:45):

In the midst of all of this. And I don’t know if that, that doesn’t give all the answers. I know for me it just made me write even more. Well, what about this guy? What about that God, what about this God? And again, God says, bring it to me and I will be with you in the midst of this. I will take care of you. I will provide for you. I will be with you in the midst of whatever it is that you’re going through. And that folks has given me comfort and given me rest in the, in the stuff we’re facing with our family being far away, you know, a, a real fear. That comes from being high risk financial things that have hit our family as I’m sure they’ve hit everybody in this time. And then the incredible uncertainty of what to do and how long.

(10:25):

Oh my gosh. Sorry. I’m just so filled with emotion here today. The uncertainty of how long, Lord, how long Lord. And often more often than not, God’s answer is I will be with you. But I kind of want to say them. That wasn’t my question. My question was how long or how to or what about and God’s profound presence. Profound answer is I am with you. I will walk with you through this day. I will be with you step by step. I will comfort you. I will care for you, I will provide for you and so I hope as you lean into that today and over the weekend that you will have a bit more of a faith filled Friday. I’m a faith filled heart and notice I didn’t say faithful cause sometimes faithful is like one little step at a time, but to be filled with faith that says, I don’t know, I don’t understand, but I do know the God who goes with me, who goes before me, behind me and is in this every step of every day with me.

(11:21):

I hope that helps you and encourages you today. If you have questions or thoughts on the journey of faith and better relationship with God or yourself or others that you want me to cover, always PM me. I be getting lots of messages which have, has have, have helped me decide what to talk about. And I will be back here on Monday at 12 o’clock Eastern 11 central nine Pacific to talk with you about building better relationships, better communication as we all walk through this together. Thanks for being with me. I appreciate you all and I’ll see you soon.