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The Lodging Place

Words of Faith Final

The Lodging Place
Words of Faith 9-23-2022
Dr. Jeffrey D. Hoy © 2022
Jeff.Hoy@faithfellowshipweb.com
Faith Fellowship Church - Melbourne, FL
www.faithfellowshipweb.com
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Exodus 4
[24] At a lodging place on the way, the Lord met Moses and was about to kill him. [25] But Zipporah took a flint knife, cut off her son's foreskin and touched Moses' feet with it. "Surely you are a bridegroom of blood to me," she said. [26] So the Lord let him alone. (At that time she said "bridegroom of blood," referring to circumcision.)

This text is a bit puzzling. It is unclear why the Lord was about to kill Moses. This seems to be a way of describing a very grave illness that came upon Moses. It was at a "lodging place" or "inn," so this would make sense. Such a life-threatening illness was understood to be from God and for some purpose. Something was terribly wrong and had to be dealt with before the mission of Moses could move on.
Zipporah concluded that the problem had to do with the rite of circumcision. Apparently, Moses had neglected to circumcise his sons, and now the Lord was prepared to take his life. Although the Lord never says this, obviously, she was correct. Zipporah must have been aware that during his years in Midian, Moses had neglected to obey God's command in Genesis 17:10 to circumcise his sons. It is possible the neglect was at her insistence. But now, Zipporah circumcised her son with flint, and then God healed His prophet. Her touching of Moses' feet with the son's foreskin was possibly a symbolic act of substitution, in which obedience was seen as replacing disobedience.
Zipporah then called Moses a "bridegroom of blood." The meaning of this phrase is unknown, but some suggest that it was used in a derogatory way to mean that she did not favor the rite and did it only to save her husband's life. Others propose that Zipporah saw the act as a sort of redemption by which the son's blood restored Moses to the Lord and to her as a new bridegroom. We know that circumcision was a blood covenant in the place of sacrifice. Either way, Moses' sudden illness was a warning that he must obey God wholly to continue and fulfill his mission. Walking with God is not a half-hearted endeavor.
What do we do with this? This is not your average devotional Scripture, but there is a compelling point here. Suppose we are aware of something God requires in our life, and we ignore that thing. In that case, our disobedience puts our journey with God in peril no matter who we are, even Moses.
I have often counseled persons who are troubled or stuck in their spiritual life. We sometimes discover together that there was something God had convicted this person to do, but they had failed to obey. It might be a specific call upon their life-- a mission, ministry, or act of service. It might have been the conviction to be baptized in water or make a significant life change. It may have been the conviction to return to God a tithe or special offering. Because they had failed to walk this specific conviction out, they were "stuck" in their life with the Lord. They could not move past that "lodging place."
It seems that when we have been convicted of a particular matter, we cannot move on in our spiritual journey until we walk that out. For Moses, it was the covenant of circumcision. For you or me, it may be something entirely different. It is something only the Lord can reveal.
This is not a matter of legalism. It is certainly not a matter of religiously justifying ourselves by works. It has nothing to do with salvation. It is simply a matter of faithfulness. God is not ready to entrust the next leg of the journey to you until you have been faithful and obedient in what He has already shown you. We can try with all our might to be growing in new areas, but it is futile if we are still stuck in an area of disobedience. It is only as we are faithful in the more minor things that the Lord entrusts us with the next part of the journey (Luke 19:17).
Is there something you need to deal with before the Lord? An area of obedience that has you "stuck"? A "lodging place"? Is there a fundamental conviction that you must walk out by faith to get direction for the next leg of the journey? Deal with it today.

Lord, search and illuminate me. Reveal in me any place of disobedience. Show me any area where I need to follow through. Give me the faith to trust and obey in the small things so that I might hear from You in the more significant matters. In Jesus' name.

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© Jeffrey D. Hoy 2022
Dr. Jeffrey D. Hoy - Faith Fellowship Church (EFCA)
2820 Business Center Blvd.
Melbourne, Florida 32940 (321)-259-7200
Jeff.Hoy@faithfellowshipweb.com
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The Words of Faith devotion is published five days a week by E-mail, excluding Federal holidays. Please feel free to forward this devotion to a friend who might be blessed by this devotion. Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture is quoted from the New International Version (R) of The Holy Bible. Copyright (c) 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved. Words of Faith (c) 1997, 2022 Jeffrey D. Hoy. All rights reserved. Permission is granted to forward this copyrighted material or use portions of it with appropriate notation of the source for non-profit purposes.