I’ve been thinking lately about the holy audacity of Shiphrah and Puah, midwives who lived in the era of Moses. They were so sure of the will of God and so confident in his ability to use them that they didn’t flinch when they were challenged. Their boldness – that assurance that they knew what they knew – is such a powerful witness. I’m inspired by it.
Of course, their witness would never have materialized if they had not spent faithful, obedient hours in the place of prayer and devotion learning to discern the will of God. If they’d not been surrendered to the pursuit of God they could not discover the will of God. This is a spiritual principle: we cannot bend to the will of God or follow the will of God if we do not know the will of God. And we cannot know it if we do not pursue it.
That principle has remarkable real-life applications. Last night, recovery groups began Step 3: “ We made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God.” This is a freedom step and it makes tons of sense for people who have let their stubborn self-will destroy their freedoms. Addicts know that free will is not freedom; surrendered will is. For many of us, the spirit of rebellion and even spiritual laziness has kept us from turning our will and our lives over to God in any truly transformational way.So we stay stuck and fearful. We miss the will of God by both passive and active avoidance.
We miss freedom and we miss – in the words of Alexander Hamilton – our shot, which is our call and purpose in the world. And that’s why I’m so taken by those midwives. They were so steeped in the will of God and so surrendered to his will above self-preservation that they didn’t think twice about standing up to a king. No flinch. Just holy boldness driven by the sure knowledge of God’s will. When it came their turn to advance the Kingdom they didn’t miss their shot
Lord, give me the discipline that keeps me in the place of knowing you so I can walk in freedom … and so I don’t miss my shot.
