Find rest as you listen to this peaceful
bedtime story. For more Bible stories that bring you refreshing sleep,
download the Abide app in the iTunes or Google Play Store. Hello. Welcome to this
bedtime story on the life of Moses. In this meditation, I invite you to rest in
the words God said to Moses when he was exhausted, angry and afraid. God said to
Moses, "I will be with you" and tonight as you turn to sleep, he says this to you as
well, "I will be with you." When God revealed himself to Moses in a burning
bush, the place was holy sacred ground, so God asked Moses to take off his shoes.
Here tonight, after you have taken off your shoes and as you turn to sleep, I
invite you to also take off your burdens. Set them aside trusting that where you
are right now, God is with you and where God is, this is holy ground too. So
close your eyes, allow peace into every part of your body. Slow your breath.
Breathe in goodness and trust. Exhale, letting go of anxious thoughts.
Breathe in peace and love and then breathe out the day's troubles. As you settle into a good night of sleep,
I invite you to acknowledge the nearness of God. No matter how close or distant
you have been to Jesus today, turn back into his presence and sink into his love. Father God, as I finished this day, I
trust that you desire my company even while I am sleeping. Even while I sleep,
you can heal my hurts. Even while I sleep, you can restore my exhausted mind and
body. Even while I sleep, you can reveal your love to me and fill
me with grace and mercy. As I have taken off my shoes for bed, I
take off my burdens and hand them to you. I rest knowing that those things that
are still unfinished today, I trust you will help me with these things tomorrow. God speaks the words for you tonight
that he spoke to Moses, "I will be with you." He wants these words to burn bright
and clear before you like the fire that burned before Moses. He wants his words
to break through your darkness to penetrate deep into your inner being to
grow in you confidence and love. God is a blazing fire of goodness, warmth and hope.
Yet it is often difficult for us to see him and to hear his faithful words, "I
will be with you." These were words that Moses had trouble hearing and trusting too.
His life before the burning bush had been strange and messy. Nothing about his
life made it obvious that God would choose him to lead his people out of
slavery to freedom. He was the baby sent down the river in a basket, a Hebrew
raised in the palace of the Egyptian king. Moses was a murderer who hid in the
desert. If there had been a job opening for hero of the Israelites, Moses would
not have had a strong resume to our minds.
Moses was an unlikely leader yet God blesses, he embraces, he uses unlikely
people. Moses doubted himself. He doubted God too. He was lost in the desert and
the despair of his terrible mistakes and even still God says to him, "Moses, I will
be with you" and God will be with you too. God is with you. Your life doesn't need
to make sense to you or to others. Your life can be messy and strange and even
still God says to you, "I will be with you." Allow these words deeper into your heart
and mind, "I will be with you." Rehearse this good news in your breath. Allow the
burning fire of God's voice to shine into your darkness by breathing in and
saying to your soul, "God is with me" and then also breathing out, pray, meditate
and trust saying again, "God is with me." When I say Moses' life was strange
and messy, I mean that his life did not move in a nice clear clean straight line.
His life's journey had many twists and turns, many layers of confusion and
suffering. His mother took a papyrus basket and covered it with tar and pitch
so that it would float. She placed Moses as a baby inside and
set the basket among the reeds of the Nile, a wide long river. His mother didn't
know where the basket would be found. She sent her daughter to follow it as it
floated away. It was the Egyptian king's daughter who
drew him out of the water. The Egyptian King, the Pharaoh, had ordered that all
Hebrew baby boys were to be thrown into the Nile and it was Pharaoh's daughter
who drew him out of the water. That is what Moses's name means:
drew him out of the water. How have you been cast into the waters
left to drown? How have you been lost among the reeds, caught in the perilous
current of life? How have you been abandoned, thrust out
of the safety of home? Jesus says to you, "I will be with you. I have been with you.
I will not leave you alone. You are named Moses too. You are the one I
draw out of the water. I will draw you out of the pit, out of the miry clay and
set your feet upon a rock." You have been in the current of today's dangerous
rapid waters. Call out to God for help. Allow him to draw you up from the sole
numbing currents of busyness, rush and self-dependence. As you allow yourself to
go to sleep, give yourself to God's care. Become
God dependent. In this story of Moses,
we have a foreshadowing of what we gain in the waters of baptism. The waters that
are meant for death turned out to be instead cleansing healing waters. Yes, our
enemy prowls around like a roaring lion seeking whom he can devour. Yes, like the
Egyptian king, our enemy wants to drown you. He wants you to be covered by the
dangerous waters of life. Get through this danger. Through these very same
waters, Jesus meets you. He reaches out to rescue you. He draws you out of death
into new life. Allow these waters to wash you, ending a day, giving yourself to
sleep, resting in God's love. This is sacred,
holy, precious. As you are being washed, you are more and
more free to be near God to enjoy his presence to trust in his watchful care. Rest, sleep, believe,
allowing these words deeper into your heart and mind, "I will be with you." See
the burning bush of God's presence speaking goodness into your heart.
Rehearse this good news in your breath. Breathing in, saying to your soul, "You are
with me" and then also breathing out, pray, meditate and trust saying again, "You are
with me." Moses's life had been strange messy and confusing. When he came of age,
he began to sort out the things that mattered most to his life. He understood
in deeper ways that he was an alien and a stranger in the house of Pharaoh. He was
a Hebrew, one of the oppressed. Benefiting from the riches of the oppressor was
troubling. How could he enjoy any good thing when his own people were enslaved,
working tirelessly for the brutal king of Egypt? When he saw an Egyptian beating
one of his Hebrew brothers one day, he was given a chance to prove his identity
as an Israelite. In a fit of rage and vindication, he killed the Egyptian,
hid the body in the sand and then fled into the desert to hide from Pharaoh's
wrath. Years later, Moses had married, raised a
family and was working for his father-in-law Jethro tending sheep on
the back side of Mount Horeb. Moses was no doubt content to be removed and
hidden from his previous life as the son of Pharaoh's daughter. He had no expectation that God had any
special plans for his life. He had no idea that his life was about to change
there on the backside of Mount Horeb. This was a wilderness place where God
spoke to Moses in a burning bush. You likely have not experienced a literal
burning bush, but you have had some kind of burning bush experience. This would be
that turning point when you came to accept the truth of God in a way that
changed the direction of your life. This would be a moment when he especially
revealed himself through a person, an experience, maybe a worship service, a
time when you were serving someone, perhaps a time of prayer or even a
powerful sermon. Something shifted inside of you and you haven't been the same
since. You might protest here, "But I haven't taken God as seriously as
I should. My life hasn't changed that much.
I still struggle. I still don't know how to trust God with my life. I continue to
resist him each day. I live more through my strength than God's love." Moses
protested too. He said, "Who am I that you would speak to me?" He worried about his
weaknesses, "I can't speak for you I stutter when I opened my mouth." Moses would drift away from God too. He
would become impatient and angry with the people he was leading.
He would continue to struggle with fear and doubt. Even still, God says to Moses, "I
will be with you" and God still says to you, "I will be with you." No matter how
much doubt or fear that stir inside of you, God still says, "I will be with you." No
matter how much stubbornness and anger, God still says, "I will be with you." Once again, place yourself before the
burning bush of God's presence. Rest, sleep, believe these words deeper into
your heart and mind, "I will be with you." Rehearse this good news in your breath.
Breathing in saying to your soul, "My God is with me" and then also breathing out,
pray, meditate and trust saying again, "My God is with me."
As we bring this meditation to a close, I invite you to consider one more part of
Moses' story. God instructs Moses to say to Pharaoh, "Let my people go."
Moses fusses, "But how can I go back? How can I speak for you? Why would the king
of Egypt listen to me?" God replies, "Tell Pharaoh that 'I Am' sent
you." "I Am," "The Great I Am" is with you. The Great "I Am" sends you.
He is the true, true. He is the real, real. God is being behind and before all other
things. He is the one by whom everything else in the universe was created. He is
the one in whom all things hold together and have their being. "The Great I Am" says
to you tonight, "I Am with you. 'I Am' The Being who will always be with
you." In peace, give yourself to sleep. Rest in God's faithfulness for he alone
can make you dwell in safety. May the Lord bless you and protect you as you
sleep. May his face shine upon you like the radiance of a burning bush. May he be
gracious and kind, granting you deep healing sleep.
May you be filled with peace. Continue to allow yourself to let go of today by
rehearsing in your breathing in and breathing out, "My God is with me. My God
is with me. My God is with me." Amen. God speaks the words for you
tonight that he spoke to Moses, "I will be with you." He wants these words to burn
bright and clear before you like the fire that burned before Moses. He wants
his words to break through your darkness to penetrate deep into your inner being
to grow in you confidence and love. God is a blazing fire of goodness, warmth
and hope. Yet it is often difficult for us to see him and to hear his faithful
words, "I will be with you." These were words that Moses had trouble hearing and
trusting too. His life before the burning bush had been strange and messy. Nothing
about his life made it obvious that God would choose him to lead his people out
of slavery to freedom. He was the baby sent down the river in a basket, a Hebrew
raised in the palace of the Egyptian King. Moses was a murderer who hid in the
desert. If there had been a job opening for hero of the Israelites, Moses would
not have had a strong resume to our minds.
Moses was an unlikely leader, yet God blesses, he embraces, he uses unlikely
people. Moses doubted himself. He doubted God too.
He was lost in the desert and the despair of his terrible mistakes and
even still God says to him, "Moses I will be with you" and God will be with you too.
God is with you. Your life doesn't need to make sense to you or to others. Your
life can be messy and strange and even still God says to you, "I will be with you." Allow these words deeper into your heart
and mind, "I will be with you." Rehearse this good
news in your breath. Allow the burning fire of God's voice to shine into your
darkness by breathing in and saying to your soul, "God is with me" and then also
breathing out, pray, meditate and trust saying again, "God is with me." When I say
Moses's life was strange and messy, I mean that his life did not move in a
nice, clear, clean, straight line. His life's journey had many twists and turns,
many layers of confusion and suffering. His mother took a papyrus basket and
covered it with tar and pitch so that it would float. She placed Moses as a baby
inside and set the basket among the reeds of the Nile, a wide long river. His
mother didn't know where the basket would be found.
She sent her daughter to follow it as it floated away.
It was the Egyptian king's daughter who drew him out of the water. The Egyptian
King, the Pharaoh, had ordered that all Hebrew baby boys were to be thrown into
the Nile and it was Pharaoh's daughter who drew him out of the water. That is
what Moses's name means: drew him out of the water.
How have you been cast into the waters left to drown?
How have you been lost among the reeds, caught in the perilous current of life? How have you been abandoned, thrust out
of the safety of home? Jesus says to you, "I will be with you. I have been with you.
I will not leave you alone. You are named Moses too. You are the one I draw out of
the water. I will draw you out of the pit out of the miry clay and set your feet
upon a rock." You have been in the current of today's dangerous rapid waters. Call
out to God for help. Allow him to draw you up from the sole
numbing currents of busyness, rush and self-dependence. As you allow yourself to
go to sleep, give yourself to God's care.
Become God dependent. In this story of Moses, we have a
foreshadowing of what we gain in the waters of baptism, the waters that are
meant for death turn out to be instead cleansing healing waters. Yes our enemy
prowls around like a roaring lion seeking whom he can devour. Yes like the
Egyptian king, our enemy wants to drown you. He wants you to be covered by the
dangerous waters of life. Get through this danger. Through these very same
waters, Jesus meets you. He reaches out to rescue you. He draws you out of death
into new life. Allow these waters to wash you, ending a day, giving yourself to
sleep, resting in God's love. This is sacred, holy,
precious. As you are being washed, you are more and more free to be near God to
enjoy his presence, to trust in his watchful care. Rest, sleep, believe,
allowing these words deeper into your heart and mind, "I will be with you." See
the burning bush of God's presence speaking goodness into your heart.
Rehearse this good news in your breath. Breathing in saying to your soul, "You are
with me" and then also breathing out pray, meditate, and trust saying again, "You are
with me." Moses's life had been strange, messy and
confusing. When he came of age, he began to sort out the things that mattered
most to his life. He understood in deeper ways that he was an alien and a stranger
in the house of Pharaoh. He was a Hebrew, one of the oppressed. Benefiting from the
riches of the oppressor was troubling. How could he enjoy any good thing when
his own people were enslaved, working tirelessly for the brutal king of Egypt?
When he saw an Egyptian beating one of his Hebrew brothers one day, he was given
a chance to prove his identity as an Israelite. In a fit of rage and
vindication, he killed the Egyptian, hid the body in the sand and then fled into
the desert to hide from Pharaoh's wrath. Years later, Moses had married, raised a
family and was working for his father-in-law Jethro tending sheep on
the back side of Mount Horeb. Moses was no doubt content to be removed
and hidden from his previous life as the son of Pharaoh's daughter. He had no expectation that God had any
special plans for his life. He had no idea that his life was about
to change there on the backside of Mount Horeb. This was a wilderness place where
God spoke to Moses in a burning bush. You likely have not experienced a literal
burning bush, but you have had some kind of burning bush experience. This would be
that turning point when you came to accept the truth of God in a way that
changed the direction of your life. This would be a moment when he especially
revealed himself through a person, an experience, maybe a worship service, a
time when you were serving someone, perhaps a time of prayer or even a
powerful sermon. Something shifted inside of you
and you haven't been the same since. You might protest here, "But I haven't taken
God as seriously as I should. My life hasn't changed that much.
I still struggle. I still don't know how to trust God with my life. I continue to
resist him. Each day I live more through my strength than God's love." Moses protested too. He said, "Who am I
that you would speak to me?" He worried about his weaknesses, "I can't
speak for you, I stutter when I open my mouth." Moses would drift away from God too.
He would become impatient and angry with the people he was leading. He would
continue to struggle with fear and doubt. Even still, God says to Moses, "I will be
with you" and God still says to you, "I will be with you." No matter how much
doubt or fear that stir inside of you, God still says, "I will be with you."
No matter how much stubbornness and anger, God still says, "I will be with you." Once again, place yourself before the
burning bush of God's presence. Rest, sleep, believe these words deeper into
your heart and mind, "I will be with you." Rehearse this good news in your breath.
Breathing in saying to your soul, "My God is with me" and then also breathing out,
pray, meditate and trust saying again, "My God
is with me." As we bring this meditation to a close, I invite you to consider one
more part of Moses story. God instructs Moses to say to Pharaoh, "Let my people go."
Moses fusses, "But how can I go back? How can I speak for you?
Why would the king of Egypt listen to me?" God replies, "Tell Pharaoh that 'I Am' sent
you." "I Am," "The Great I Am" is with you. "The Great I Am" sends you. He is the true, true.
He is the real, real. God is being behind and before all other things. He is the
one by whom everything else in the universe was created. He is the one in
whom all things hold together and have their being. "The Great I Am" says to you
tonight, "I Am with you. 'I Am' The Being who will always be with
you." In peace, give yourself to sleep. Rest in God's faithfulness for he alone
can make you dwell in safety. May the Lord bless you and protect you as you
sleep. May his face shine upon you like the radiance of a burning bush. May he be
gracious and kind granting you deep healing sleep.
May you be filled with peace. Continue to allow yourself to let go of today by
rehearsing in your breathing in, and breathing out, "My God is with me. My God
is with me. My God is with me." Amen. God speaks the words for you
tonight that he spoke to Moses, "I will be with you." He wants these words to burn
bright and clear before you like the fire that burned before Moses. He wants
his words to break through your darkness to penetrate deep into your inner being
to grow in you confidence and love. God is a blazing fire of goodness, warmth and
hope. Yet it is often difficult for us to see him and to hear his faithful words, "I
will be with you." These were words that Moses had trouble hearing and trusting too.
His life before the burning bush had been strange and messy nothing about his
life made it obvious that God would choose him to lead his people out of
slavery to freedom. He was the baby sent down the river in a basket, a Hebrew
raised in the palace of the Egyptian King. Moses was a murderer who hid in the
desert. If there had been a job opening for hero of the Israelites, Moses would
not have had a strong resume to our minds.
Moses was an unlikely leader yet God blesses, he embraces, he uses unlikely
people. Moses doubted himself. He doubted God too. He was lost in the desert and
the despair of his terrible mistakes and even still, God says to him, "Moses, I will
be with you" and God will be with you too. God is with you. Your life doesn't need
to make sense to you or to others. Your life can be messy and strange and even
still God says to you, "I will be with you." Allow
these words deeper into your heart and mind, "I will be with you."
Rehearse this good news in your breath. Allow the burning fire of God's voice to
shine into your darkness by breathing in and saying to your soul, "God is with me" and then also breathing out pray,
meditate and trust saying again, "God is with me."
When I say Moses's life was strange and messy, I mean that his life did not move
in a nice, clear, clean, straight line. His life's journey had many twists and turns,
many layers of confusion and suffering. His mother took a papyrus basket and
covered it with tar and pitch so that it would float. She placed Moses as a baby
inside and set the basket among the reeds of the Nile, a wide long river. His mother didn't know where the basket
would be found. She sent her daughter to follow it as it floated away. It was the Egyptian king's daughter who
drew him out of the water. The Egyptian king, the Pharaoh, had ordered that all
Hebrew baby boys were to be thrown into the Nile and it was Pharaoh's daughter
who drew him out of the water. That is what Moses's name means: drew him
out of the water. How have you been cast into the waters
left to drown? How have you been lost among the reeds,
caught in the perilous current of life? How have you been abandoned, thrust out
of the safety of home? Jesus says to you, "I will be with you.
I have been with you. I would not leave you alone. You are named Moses too.
You are the one I draw out of the water. I will draw you out of the pit out of
the miry clay and set your feet upon a rock." You have been in the current of
today's dangerous rapid waters. Call out to God for help. Allow him to draw you up
from the sole numbing currents of busyness, rush and self dependence. As you
allow yourself to go to sleep, give yourself to God's care. Become God
dependent. In this story of Moses, we have a foreshadowing of what we gain in the
waters of baptism, the waters that are meant for death turn out to be instead
cleansing healing waters. Yes, our enemy prowls around like a roaring lion
seeking whom he can devour. Yes like the Egyptian king, our enemy wants to drown
you. He wants you to be covered by the dangerous waters of life. Get through
this danger. Through these very same waters, Jesus meets you.
He reaches out to rescue you. He draws you out of death into new life. Allow
these waters to wash you, ending a day giving yourself to sleep, resting in
God's love. This is sacred, holy, precious. As you are being washed, you are more and
more free to be near God to enjoy his presence to trust in his watchful care. Rest, sleep, believe, allowing these words deeper into
your heart and mind, "I will be with you." See the burning bush of God's presence
speaking goodness into your heart. Rehearse this good news in your breath.
Breathing in saying to your soul, "You are with me" and then also breathing out pray,
meditate and trust saying again, "You are with me." Moses's life had been strange,
messy and confusing. When he came of age, he began to sort out the things that
mattered most to his life. He understood in deeper ways that he was an alien and
a stranger in the house of Pharaoh. He was a Hebrew, one of the oppressed.
Benefiting from the riches of the oppressor was troubling.
How could he enjoy any good thing when his own people were enslaved, working
tirelessly for the brutal king of Egypt? When he saw an Egyptian beating one of
his Hebrew brothers one day, he was given a chance to prove his identity as an
Israelite. In a fit of rage and vindication, he killed the Egyptian, hid
the body in the sand and then fled into the desert to hide from Pharaoh's wrath.
Years later, Moses had married, raised a family and was working for his
father-in-law Jethro tending sheep on the backside of Mount Horeb. Moses was no
doubt content to be removed and hidden from his previous life as the son of
Pharaoh's daughter. He had no expectation that God had any
special plans for his life. He had no idea that his life was about to change
there on the backside of Mount Horeb. This was a wilderness place where God
spoke to Moses in a burning bush. You likely have not experienced a literal
burning bush, but you have had some kind of burning bush experience. This would be
that turning point when you came to accept the truth of God
in a way that changed the direction of your life. This would be a moment when he
especially revealed himself through a person, an experience, maybe a worship
service, a time when you were serving someone, perhaps a time of prayer or even
a powerful sermon. Something shifted inside of you and you haven't been the
same since. You might protest here, "But I haven't taken God as seriously as
I should. My life hasn't changed that much.
I still struggle. I still don't know how to trust God with my life.
I continue to resist him. Each day I live more through my strength than God's love." Moses protested too. He said, "Who am I
that you would speak to me?" He worried about his weaknesses, "I can't speak for
you, I stutter when I open my mouth." Moses would drift away from God too. He
would become impatient and angry with the people he was leading. He would
continue to struggle with fear and doubt. Even still, God says to Moses, "I will be
with you" and God still says to you, "I will be with
you. " No matter how much doubt or fear that stir inside of you, God still says, "I
will be with you." No matter how much stubbornness and anger, God still says, "I
will be with you." Once again,
place yourself before the burning bush of God's presence. Rest, sleep, believe
these words deeper into your heart and mind, "I will be with you." Rehearse this
good news in your breath. Breathing in saying to your soul, "My god is with me"
and then also breathing out pray, meditate and trust saying again, "My God
is with me." As we bring this meditation to a close, I invite you to consider one
more part of Moses story. God instructs Moses to say to Pharaoh, "Let my people go."
Moses fusses, "But how can I go back? how How can I speak for you? Why would the king
of Egypt listen to me?" God replies, "Tell Pharaoh that 'I Am' sent you. "I Am," "The
Great I Am" is with you. "The Great I Am" sends you. He is the true, true. He is the
real, real. God is being behind and before all other
things. He is the one by whom everything else in the universe was created. He is
the one in whom all things hold together and have their being. "The Great I Am" says
to you tonight, "I Am with you. 'I Am' The Being who will always be with you." In
peace give yourself to sleep. Rest in God's
faithfulness for he alone can make you dwell in safety. May the Lord bless you
and protect you as you sleep. May his face shine upon you like the radiance of
a burning bush. May he be gracious and kind, granting you deep healing sleep. May
you be filled with peace. Continue to allow yourself to let go of today by
rehearsing in your breathing in and breathing out, "My God is with me. My God
is with me. My God is with me." Amen.
God speaks the words for you tonight that he spoke to Moses, "I will be with
you." He wants these words to burn bright and clear before you like the fire that
burned before Moses. He wants his words to break through your darkness to
penetrate deep into your inner being to grow in you confidence and love. God is a
blazing fire of goodness warmth and hope. Yet it is often difficult for us to see
him and to hear his faithful words, "I will be with you." These were words that
Moses had trouble hearing and trusting too. His life before the burning bush had
been strange and messy. Nothing about his life made it obvious that God would
choose him to lead his people out of slavery to freedom. He was the baby sent
down the river in a basket, a Hebrew raised in the palace of the Egyptian
king. Moses was a murderer who hid in the
desert. If there had been a job opening for hero of the Israelites, Moses would
not have had a strong resume to our minds.
Moses was an unlikely leader yet God blesses, he embraces, he uses unlikely
people. Moses doubted himself. He doubted God too.
He was lost in the desert and the despair of his terrible mistakes and
even still God says to him, "Moses, I will be with you"
and God will be with you too. God is with you. Your life doesn't need to make sense
to you or to others. Your life can be messy and strange and
even still God says to you, "I will be with you." Allow these words deeper into
your heart and mind, "I will be with you." Rehearse this good
news in your breath. Allow the burning fire of God's voice to shine into your
darkness by breathing in and saying to your soul, "God is with me" and then also
breathing out pray, meditate
and trust saying again, "God is with me." When I say Moses's life was strange and
messy, I mean that his life did not move in a nice clear clean straight line. His
life's journey had many twists and turns, many layers of confusion and suffering.
His mother took a papyrus basket and covered it with tar and pitch so that it
would float. She placed Moses as a baby inside and set the basket among the
reeds of the Nile, a wide long river. His mother didn't know where the basket
would be found. She sent her daughter to follow it as it
floated away. It was the Egyptian king's daughter who
drew him out of the water. The Egyptian King, the Pharaoh, had ordered that all
Hebrew baby boys were to be thrown into the Nile and it was Pharaoh's daughter
who drew him out of the water. That is what Moses's name means: drew him out of
the water. How have you been cast into the waters
left to drown? How have you been lost among the reeds,
caught in the perilous current of life? How have you been abandoned, thrust out
of the safety of home? Jesus says to you, "I will be with you. I have been with you.
I will not leave you alone. You are named Moses too. You are the one I draw out of
the water. I will draw you out of the pit out of the miry clay and set your feet
upon a rock." You have been in the current of today's dangerous rapid waters. Call
out to God for help. Allow him to draw you up from the soul numbing currents of
busyness, rush and self dependence. As you allow yourself to go to sleep, give
yourself to God's care. Become God dependent. In this story of Moses, we have a
foreshadowing of what we gain in the waters of baptism, the waters that are
meant for death turn out to be instead cleansing healing waters. Yes,
our enemy prowls around like a roaring lion seeking whom he can devour. Yes like
the Egyptian king, our enemy wants to drown you he wants you to be covered by
the dangerous waters of life. Get through this danger. Through these very same
waters, Jesus meets you. He reaches out to rescue you.
He draws you out of death into new life. Allow these waters to wash you, ending a
day giving yourself to sleep, resting in God's love. This is sacred, holy, precious.
As you are being washed, you are more and more free to be near God to enjoy his
presence to trust in his watchful care. Rest, sleep, believe allowing these words
deeper into your heart and mind, "I will be with you." See the burning bush of God's presence
speaking goodness into your heart. Rehearse this good news in your breath.
Breathing in saying to your soul, "You are with me"
and then also breathing out pray, meditate and trust saying again, "You are
with me." Moses's life had been strange, messy and confusing. When he came of age,
he began to sort out the things that mattered most to his life. He understood
in deeper ways that he was an alien and a stranger in the house of Pharaoh. He
was a Hebrew, one of the oppressed. Benefiting from the riches of the
oppressor was troubling. How could he enjoy any good thing when
his own people were enslaved, working tirelessly for the brutal king of Egypt?
When he saw an Egyptian beating one of his Hebrew brothers one day, he was given
a chance to prove his identity as an Israelite. In a fit of rage and
vindication, he killed the Egyptian, hid the body in the sand and then fled into
the desert to hide from Pharaoh's wrath. Years later, Moses had married, raised a
family and was working for his father-in-law Jethro tending sheep on
the backside of Mount Horeb. Moses was no doubt content to be removed and hidden
from his previous life as the son of Pharaoh's daughter. He had no expectation that God had any
special plans for his life. He had no idea that his life was about to change
there on the backside of Mount Horeb. This was a wilderness place where God
spoke to Moses in a burning bush. You likely have not experienced a
literal burning bush, but you have had some kind of burning bush experience.
This would be that turning point when you came to accept the truth of God
in a way that changed the direction of your life. This would be a moment when he
especially revealed himself through a person, an experience, maybe a worship
service, a time when you were serving someone, perhaps a time of prayer or even
a powerful sermon. Something shifted inside of you and you haven't been the
same since. You might protest here, "But I haven't taken God as seriously as I
should. My life hasn't changed that much. I still struggle. I still don't know how
to trust God with my life. I continue to resist him. Each day I live
more through my strength than God's love." Moses protested too. He said, "Who am I that
you would speak to me?" He worried about his weaknesses, "I can't speak for you, I
stutter when I open my mouth." Moses would drift away from God too. He
would become impatient and angry with the people he was leading. He would
continue to struggle with fear and doubt. Even still, God says to Moses, "I will be
with you" and God still says to you, "I will be with you." No matter how much
doubt or fear that stir inside of you, God still says, "I will be with you." No
matter how much stubbornness and anger God still says, "I will be with you." Once
again place yourself before the burning bush of God's presence. Rest,
sleep, believe these words deeper into your heart and mind, "I will be with you."
Rehearse this good news in your breath. Breathing in saying to your soul, "My God
is with me" and then also breathing out pray, meditate and trust saying again, "My
God is with me." As we bring this meditation to a close, I invite you to
consider one more part of Moses story. God instructs Moses to say to Pharaoh,
"Let my people go." Moses fusses, "But how can I go back? How
can I speak for you? Why would the king of Egypt listen to me?"
God replies, "Tell Pharaoh that 'I Am' sent you. "I Am, "The Great I Am" is with you. "The
Great I Am" sends you. He is the true, true. He is the real, real. God is being behind
and before all other things. He is the one by whom everything else in the
universe was created. He is the one in whom all things hold together and have
their being. "The Great I Am" says to you tonight, "I Am with you. 'I Am' The Being who
will always be with you." In peace give yourself to sleep. Rest in God's
faithfulness for he alone can make you dwell in safety. May the
Lord bless you and protect you as you sleep. May his face shine upon you like
the radiance of a burning bush. May he be gracious and kind granting you deep
healing sleep. May you be filled with peace. Continue to
allow yourself to let go of today by rehearsing in your breathing in and
breathing out, "My God is with me. My God is with me. My God is with me." Amen.
God speaks the words for you tonight that he spoke to Moses, "I will be with
you." He wants these words to burn bright and clear before you like the fire that
burned before Moses. He wants his words to break through your darkness to
penetrate deep into your inner being to grow a new confidence and love. God is a blazing fire of goodness, warmth
and hope. Yet it is often difficult for us to see him and to hear his faithful
words, "I will be with you." These were words that Moses had trouble hearing and
trusting too. His life before the burning bush had been strange and messy. Nothing
about his life made it obvious that God would choose him to lead his people out
of slavery to freedom. He was the baby sent down the river in a basket, a Hebrew
raised in the palace of the Egyptian King. Moses was a murderer who hid in the
desert . If there had been a job opening for hero of the Israelites, Moses would
not have had a strong resume to our minds.
Moses was an unlikely leader yet God blesses, he embraces, he uses unlikely
people. Moses doubted himself. He doubted God too.
He was lost in the desert and the despair of his terrible mistakes and
even still God says to him, "Moses, I will be with you" and God will be
with you too. God is with you. Your life doesn't need to make sense to you or to
others. Your life can be messy and strange and even still God says to you, "I
will be with you." Allow these words deeper into your heart and mind, "I will
be with you." Rehearse this good news in your breath. Allow the burning fire of
God's voice to shine into your darkness by breathing in and saying to your soul,
"God is with me" and then also breathing out pray,
meditate in trust saying again, "God is with me." When I say Moses's life was
strange and messy, I mean that his life did not move in a nice clear clean
straight line. His life's journey had many twists and turns, many layers of
confusion and suffering. His mother took a papyrus basket and covered it with tar
and pitch so that it would float. She placed Moses as a baby inside and set
the basket among the reeds of the Nile, a wide long river. His mother didn't know
where the basket would be found. She sent her daughter to follow it as it floated
away. It was the Egyptian king's daughter who
drew him out of the water. The Egyptian King, the Pharaoh, had ordered that all
Hebrew baby boys were to be thrown into the Nile and it was Pharaoh's daughter
who drew him out of the water. That is what Moses's name means: drew him out of
the water. How have you been cast into the waters
left to drown? How have you been lost among the reeds, caught in the perilous
current of life? How have you been abandoned, thrust out
of the safety of home? Jesus says to you, "I will be with you. I have been with you.
I will not leave you alone. You are named Moses too. You are the one I draw out of
the water. I will draw you out of the pit out of the miry clay and set your feet
upon a rock." You have been in the current of today's dangerous rapid waters. Call
out to God for help. Allow him to draw you up from the soul numbing currents of
busyness rush and self dependence. As you allow yourself to go to sleep, give
yourself to God's care. Become God dependent.
In this story of Moses, we have a foreshadowing of what we gain in the
waters of baptism, the waters that are meant for death turn out to be instead
cleansing healing waters. Yes, our enemy prowls around like a roaring lion
seeking whom he can devour. Yes, like the Egyptian king, our enemy wants to drown
you he wants you to be covered by the dangerous waters of life. Get through
this danger. Through these very same waters, Jesus meets you. He reaches out to
rescue you he draws you out of death into new life. Allow these waters to wash
you, ending a day giving yourself to sleep, resting in God's love. This is
sacred, holy, precious. As you are being washed,
you are more and more free to be near God to enjoy his presence to trust in
his watchful care. Rest sleep, believe allowing these words deeper into
your heart and mind, "I will be with you." See the burning bush of God's presence
speaking goodness into your heart. Rehearse this good news in your breath.
Breathing in saying to your soul, "You are with me" and then also breathing out pray,
meditate and trust saying again, "You are with me." Moses's life had been strange,
messy and confusing. When he came of age, he began to sort out the things that
mattered most to his life. He understood in deeper ways that he was an alien and
a stranger in the house of Pharaoh. He was a Hebrew, one of the oppressed.
Benefiting from the riches of the oppressor was troubling.
How could he enjoy any good thing when his own people were enslaved, working
tirelessly for the brutal king of Egypt? When he saw an Egyptian beating one of
his Hebrew brothers one day, he was given a chance to prove his identity as an
Israelite. In a fit of rage and vindication, he killed the Egyptian, hid the body in the sand and then fled
into the desert to hide from Pharaoh's wrath. Years later, Moses had married,
raised a family and was working for his father-in-law Jethro tending sheep on
the backside of Mount Horeb. Moses was no doubt content to be removed and hidden
from his previous life as the son of Pharaoh's daughter.
He had no expectation that God had any special plans for his life. He had no
idea that his life was about to change there on the backside of Mount Horeb.
This was a wilderness place where God spoke to Moses and a burning bush.
You likely have not experienced a literal burning bush, but you have had
some kind of burning bush experience. This would be that turning point when
you came to accept the truth of God in a way that changed the direction of your
life. This would be a moment when he especially revealed himself through a
person, an experience, maybe a worship service, a time when you were serving
someone, perhaps a time of prayer or even a powerful sermon. Something shifted
inside of you and you haven't been the same since. You might protest here, "But I
haven't taken God as seriously as I should. My life hasn't changed that much.
I still struggle. I still don't know how to trust God with my life. I continue to
resist him. Each day I live more through my strength than God's love. Moses
protested too. He said, "Who am I that you would speak to me?" He worried about his
weaknesses, "I can't speak for you, I stutter when I open my mouth." Moses would drift away from God too. He
would become impatient and angry with the people he was leading. He would
continue to struggle with fear and doubt. Even still God says to Moses, "I will be
with you" and God still says to you, "I will be with you." No matter how much
doubt or fear that stir inside of you, God still says, "I will be with you." No
matter how much stubbornness and anger, God still says, "I will be with you." Once
again place yourself before the burning bush of God's presence. Rest, sleep,
believe these words deeper into your heart and mind, "I will be with you."
Rehearse this good news in your breath. Breathing in saying to your soul, "my God
is with me" and then also breathing out pray, meditate and trust saying again, "my
God is with me." As we bring this meditation to a close, I
invite you to consider one more part of Moses's story. God instructs Moses to say
to Pharaoh, "Let my people go." Moses fusses, "But how can I go back? How
can I speak for you? Why would the king of Egypt listen to me?" God replies, "Tell
Pharaoh that 'I Am' sent you. "I Am," "The Great I Am" is with you. "The great I Am"
sends you. He is the true, true. He is the real, real. God is being behind and before
all other things. He is the one by whom everything else in the universe was
created. He is the one in whom all things hold together and have their being. "The
Great I Am" says to you tonight, "I Am with you. 'I Am' The Being who will always be
with you." In peace give yourself to sleep. Rest in God's faithfulness for he alone
can make you dwell in safety. May the Lord bless you and protect you as you
sleep. May his face shine upon you like the radiance of a burning bush. May he be
gracious and kind granting you deep healing sleep.
May you be filled with peace. Continue to allow yourself to let go of today by
rehearsing in your breathing in and breathing out, "My God is with me.
My God is with me. My God is
with me." Amen. When God revealed himself to Moses in a burning bush, the place was
holy sacred ground. So God asked Moses to take off his shoes.
Here tonight after you have taken off your shoes and as you turn to sleep, I
invite you to also take off your burdens. Set them aside, trusting that where you
are right now God is with you and where God is this is holy ground too. So
close your eyes. Allow peace into every part of your body. Slow your breath.
Breathe in goodness and trust. Exhale, letting go of anxious thoughts. Breathe
in peace and love and then breathe out the day's troubles. As you settle into a good night of sleep,
I invite you to acknowledge the nearness of God. No matter how close or distant
you have been to Jesus today, turn back into his presence and sink into his love.
Father God, as I finish this day, I trust that you desire my company even
while I am sleeping. Even while I sleep, you can heal my hurts. Even while I sleep,
you can restore my exhausted mind and body. Even while I sleep, you can reveal
your love to me and fill me with grace and mercy. As I have taken off my shoes
for bed, I take off my burdens and hand them to you. I rest knowing that those
things that are still unfinished today, I trust you will help me with these things
tomorrow. God speaks the words for you tonight that he spoke to Moses, "I will be
with you." He wants these words to burn bright and clear before you like the
fire that burned before Moses. He wants his words to break through your darkness
to penetrate deep into your inner being to grow in you confidence and love. God
is a blazing fire of goodness, warmth and hope.
Yet it is often difficult for us to see him and to hear his faithful words, "I
will be with you." These were words that Moses had trouble hearing and trusting too.
His life before the burning bush had been strange and messy. Nothing about his
life made it obvious that God would choose him to lead his people out of
slavery to freedom. He was the baby sent down the river in a basket, a Hebrew
raised in the palace of the Egyptian King. Moses was a murderer who hid in the
desert. If there had been a job opening for hero of the Israelites, Moses would
not have had a strong resume to our minds.
Moses was an unlikely leader, yet God blesses, he embraces, he uses
unlikely people. Moses doubted himself. He doubted God too. He was lost in the
desert and the despair of his terrible mistakes and even still, God says to him,
"Moses, I will be with you" and God will be with you too. God is with you. Your life
doesn't need to make sense to you or to others. Your life can be messy and
strange and even still God says to you, "I will be with you." Allow these words
deeper into your heart and mind, "I will be with you."
Rehearse this good news in your breath. Allow the burning fire of God's voice to
shine into your darkness by breathing in in saying to your soul, "God is with me"
and then also breathing out pray, meditate and trust
saying again, "God is with me." When I say Moses's life was strange and messy, I
mean that his life did not move in a nice clear clean straight line. His
life's journey had many twists and turns, many layers of confusion and suffering.
His mother took a papyrus basket and covered it with tar and pitch so that it
would float. She placed Moses as a baby inside and set the basket among the
reeds of the Nile, a wide long river. His mother didn't know where the basket
would be found. She sent her daughter to follow it as it
floated away. It was the Egyptian king's daughter who
drew him out of the water. The Egyptian King, the Pharaoh, had ordered that all
Hebrew baby boys were to be thrown into the Nile and it was Pharaoh's daughter
who drew him out of the water. That is what Moses's name means: drew him out of
the water. How have you been cast into the waters
left to drown? How have you been lost among the reeds,
caught in the perilous current of life? How have you been abandoned, thrust out
of the safety of home? Jesus says to you, "I will be with you. I have been with you.
I will not leave you alone. You are named Moses too. You are the one I draw out of
the water I will draw you out of the pit out of the miry clay and set your feet
upon a rock." You have been in the current of today's dangerous rapid waters. Call
out to God for help. Allow him to draw you up from the soul numbing currents of
busyness, rush and self dependence. As you allow yourself to go to sleep,
give yourself to God's care. Become God dependent. In this story of Moses, we have a
foreshadowing of what we gain in the waters of baptism, the waters that are
meant for death turned out to be instead cleansing healing waters. Yes,
our enemy prowls around like a roaring lion seeking whom he can devour. Yes, like
the Egyptian king, our enemy wants to drown you. He wants you to be covered by
the dangerous waters of life. Get through this danger. Through these very same
waters, Jesus meets you. He reaches out to rescue you. He draws
you out of death into new life. Allow these waters to wash you, ending a day
giving yourself to sleep, resting in God's love. This is sacred, holy, precious.
As you are being washed, you are more and more free to be near God to enjoy his
presence, to trust in his watchful care. Rest, sleep, believe, allowing these words deeper into
your heart and mind, "I will be with you." See the burning bush of God's presence
speaking goodness into your heart. Rehearse this good news in your breath.
Breathing in saying to your soul, "You are with me" and then also breathing out pray,
meditate and trust saying again, "You are with me." Moses's life had been strange,
messy and confusing. When he came of age, he began to sort out the things that
mattered most to his life. He understood in deeper ways that he was an alien and a
stranger in the house of Pharaoh. He was a Hebrew, one of the oppressed. Benefiting
from the riches of the oppressor was troubling. How could he enjoy any good
thing when his own people were enslaved, working tirelessly for the brutal king
of Egypt? When he saw an Egyptian beating one of his Hebrew brothers one day,
he was given a chance to prove his identity as an Israelite. In a fit of
rage and vindication, he killed the Egyptian, hid the body in the sand and
then fled into the desert to hide from Pharaoh's wrath. Years later, Moses had
married, raised a family and was working for his father-in-law Jethro tending
sheep on the back side of Mount Horeb. Moses was no doubt content to be removed
and hidden from his previous life as the son of Pharaoh's daughter. He had no expectation that God had any
special plans for his life. He had no idea that his life was about to change
there on the backside of Mount Horeb. This was a wilderness place where God
spoke to Moses in a burning bush. You likely have not experienced a literal
burning bush, but you have had some kind of burning bush experience. This would be
that turning point when you came to accept the truth of God in a way that
changed the direction of your life. This would be a moment when he especially
revealed himself through a person, an experience, maybe a worship service, a
time when you were serving someone, perhaps a time of prayer or even a
powerful sermon. Something shifted inside of you and you
haven't been the same since. You might protest here, "But I haven't taken God as
seriously as I should. My life hasn't changed that much.
I still struggle. I still don't know how to trust God with my life. I continue to
resist him. Each day I live more through my strength than God's love." Moses protested too. He said, "Who am I
that you would speak to me?" He worried about his weaknesses, "I can't speak for
you, I stutter when I open my mouth." Moses would drift away from God too. He
would become impatient and angry with the people he was leading. He would
continue to struggle with fear and doubt. Even still, God says to Moses, "I will be
with you" and God still says to you, "I will be with you." No matter how much
doubt or fear that stir inside of you, God still says, "I will be with you." No
matter how much stubbornness and anger, God still says, "I will be with you." Once
again, place yourself before the burning bush of God's presence,
rest, sleep, believe these words deeper into your heart and mind, "I will be with
you." Rehearse this good news in your breath. Breathing in saying to your soul,
"My God is with me" and then also breathing out pray, meditate and trust
saying again, "my God is with me." As we bring this meditation to a close, I
invite you to consider one more part of Moses's story. God instructs Moses to say
to Pharaoh, "Let my people go." Moses fusses,
"But how can I go back? How can I speak for you? Why would the king of Egypt
listen to me?" God replies, "tell Pharaoh that 'I Am' sent you.
"I Am," "The Great I Am" is with you. "The Great I Am" sends you. He is the true, true.
He is the real, real. God is being behind and before all other things. He is the
one by whom everything else in the universe was created. He is the one in
whom all things hold together and have their being. "The great I Am" says to you
tonight, "I Am with you. 'I Am' The Being who will always be with you." In peace give
yourself to sleep. Rest and God's faithfulness for he alone can make you
dwell in safety. May the Lord bless you and protect you as you sleep. May his
face shine upon you like the radiance of a burning bush. May he be gracious and
kind granting you deep healing sleep. May you be filled with peace.
Continue to allow yourself to let go of today by rehearsing in your breathing in
and breathing out, "My God is with me. My God is with me. My God is with me."
Amen. God speaks the words for you tonight that he spoke to Moses, "I will be
with you." He wants these words to burn bright and clear before you like the
fire that burned before Moses. He wants his words to break through your darkness
to penetrate deep into your inner being to grow in you confidence and love. God
is a blazing fire of goodness, warmth and hope. Yet it is often difficult for us to
see him and to hear his faithful words, "I will be with you." These were words that
Moses had trouble hearing and trusting too. His life before the burning bush had
been strange and messy. Nothing about his life made it obvious that God would
choose him to lead his people out of slavery to freedom.
He was the baby sent down the river in a basket, a Hebrew raised in the palace of
the Egyptian King. Moses was a murderer who hid in the desert. If there had been
a job opening for hero of the Israelites, Moses would not have had a strong resume
to our minds. Moses was an unlikely leader yet God
blesses, he embraces, he uses unlikely people. Moses doubted himself. He doubted
God too. He was lost in the desert and the
despair of his terrible mistakes and even still God says to him, "Moses, I will
be with you" and God will be with you too. God is with
you. Your life doesn't need to make sense to you or to others.
Your life can be messy and strange and even still God says to you, "I will be
with you." Allow these words deeper into your heart and mind, "I will be with you."
Rehearse this good news in your breath. Allow the burning fire of God's voice to
shine into your darkness by breathing in in saying to your soul, "God is with me"
and then also breathing out pray, meditate and trust saying again,
"God is with me." When I say Moses's life was
strange and messy, I mean that his life did not move in a nice clear clean
straight line. His life's journey had many twists and turns, many layers of
confusion and suffering. His mother took a papyrus basket and covered it with tar
and pitch so that it would float. She placed Moses as a baby inside and set
the basket among the reeds of the Nile, a wide long river. His mother didn't know
where the basket would be found., She sent her daughter to follow it as it floated
away. It was the Egyptian king's daughter who
drew him out of the water. The Egyptian king, the Pharaoh, had
ordered that all Hebrew baby boys were to be thrown into the Nile and it was
Pharaoh's daughter who drew him out of the water. That is what Moses's name
means: drew him out of the water. How have you been cast into the waters
left to drown? How have you been lost among the reeds,
caught in the perilous current of life? How have you been abandoned thrust out
of the safety of home? Jesus says to you, "I will be with you. I have been with you.
I will not leave you alone. You are named Moses too. You are the one I draw out of
the water I will draw you out of the pit out of the miry clay and set your feet
upon a rock." You have been in the current of today's dangerous rapid waters. Call
out to God for help. Allow him to draw you up from the soul numbing currents of
busyness, rush and self dependence. As you allow yourself to go to sleep, give
yourself to God's care. Become God dependent.
In this story of Moses we have a foreshadowing of what we gain in the
waters of baptism, the waters that are meant for death turn out to be instead
cleansing healing waters. Yes, our enemy prowls around like a roaring
lion seeking whom he can devour. Yes, like the Egyptian king, our enemy wants to
drown you he wants you to be covered by the dangerous waters of life. Get through
this danger. Through these very same waters, Jesus meets you. He reaches out to
rescue you he draws you out of death into new life. Allow these waters to wash
you, ending a day giving yourself to sleep, resting
in God's love. This is sacred, holy, precious. As you are being washed, you are
more and more free to be near God to enjoy his presence to trust in his
watchful care. Rest, sleep, believe allowing these words deeper into your
heart and mind, "I will be with you." See the burning bush of God's presence
speaking goodness into your heart. Rehearse this good news in your breath.
Breathing in saying to your soul, "You are with me" and then also breathing out pray,
meditate and trust saying again, "You are with me."
Moses's life had been strange, messy and confusing. When he came of age, he began
to sort out the things that mattered most to his life. He understood in deeper
ways that he was an alien and a stranger in the house of Pharaoh. He was a Hebrew,
one of the oppressed. Benefiting from the riches of the oppressor was troubling.
How could he enjoy any good thing when his own people were enslaved, working
tirelessly for the brutal king of Egypt? When he saw an Egyptian beating one of
his Hebrew brothers one day, he was given a chance to prove his identity as an
Israelite. In a fit of rage and vindication, he killed the Egyptian, hid
the body in the sand and then fled into the desert to hide from Pharaoh's wrath.
Years later, Moses had married, raised a family and was working for his
father-in-law Jethro tending sheep on the backside of Mount Horeb. Moses was no
doubt content to be removed and hidden from his previous life as the son of
Pharaoh's daughter. He had no expectation that God had any
special plans for his life. He had no idea that his life was about to change
there on the backside of Mount Horeb. This was a wilderness place where God
spoke to Moses in a burning bush. You likely have not experienced a
literal burning bush, but you have had some kind of burning
bush experience. This would be that turning point when you came to accept
the truth of God in a way that changed the direction of your life. This would be
a moment when he especially revealed himself through a person, an experience,
maybe a worship service, a time when you were serving someone, perhaps a time of
prayer or even a powerful sermon. Something shifted inside of you and you
haven't been the same since. You might protest here, "But I haven't taken God as seriously as I should. My life hasn't changed that
much. I still struggle. I still don't know how
to trust God with my life. I continue to resist him. Each day I live
more through my strength than God's love." Moses protested too. He said, "Who am I
that you would speak to me?" He worried about his weaknesses, "I can't speak for
you. I stutter when I open my mouth." Moses would drift away from God too.
He would become impatient and angry with the people he was leading. He would
continue to struggle with fear and doubt. Even still, God says to Moses, "I will be
with you" and God still says to you. "I will be with
you." No matter how much doubt or fear that stir inside of you, God still says, "I
will be with you." No matter how much stubbornness and anger, God still says, "I
will be with you." Once again, place yourself before the burning bush of
God's presence. Rest, sleep, believe these words deeper into your heart and mind, "I
will be with you." Rehearse this good news in your breath. Breathing in saying to
your soul, "My God is with me" and then also breathing out
pray, meditate and trust saying again, "My God is with me." As we bring this
meditation to a close, I invite you to consider one more part of Moses story. God instructs Moses to say to Pharaoh,
"Let my people go." Moses fusses, "But how can I go back? How
can I speak for you? Why would the king of Egypt listen to me?" God replies, "tell
Pharaoh that 'I Am' sent you. "I Am," "The Great I Am" is with you. "The Great I Am"
sends you. He is the true, true. He is the real, real. God is being behind and before
all other things. He is the one by whom everything else in the universe was
created. He is the one in whom all things hold together and have their being. "The
Great I Am" says to you tonight, "I Am with you. 'I Am' The Being who will always be
with you." In peace give yourself to sleep. Rest and
God's faithfulness for he alone can make you dwell in safety. May the Lord bless
you and protect you as you sleep. May his face shine upon you like the radiance of
a burning bush. May he be gracious and kind granting you deep healing sleep.
May you be filled with peace. Continue to allow yourself to let go of today by
rehearsing in your breathing in and breathing out, "My God is with me. My God
is with me. My God is with me." Amen. God speaks the words for you tonight
that he spoke to Moses, "I will be with you." He wants these words to burn bright
and clear before you like the fire that burned before Moses. He wants his words
to break through your darkness to penetrate deep into your inner being to
grow a new confidence and love. God is a blazing fire of goodness, warmth
and hope. Yet it is often difficult for us to see him and to hear his faithful
words, "I will be with you." These were words that Moses had trouble hearing and
trusting too. His life before the burning bush had been strange and messy. Nothing
about his life made it obvious that God would choose him to lead his people out
of slavery to freedom. He was the baby sent down the river in a basket, a Hebrew
raised in the palace of the Egyptian King. Moses was a murderer who hid in the
desert. If there had been a job opening for hero of the Israelites, Moses would
not have had a strong resume to our minds.
Moses was an unlikely leader yet God blesses, he embraces, he uses unlikely
people. Moses doubted himself. He doubted God too.
He was lost in the desert and the despair of his terrible mistakes and
even still God says to him, "Moses, I will be with you" and God will be with you too.
God is with you. Your life doesn't need to make sense to you or to others. Your
life can be messy and strange and even still God says to you, "I will be with you." Allow these words deeper into your heart
and mind, "I will be with you." Rehearse this good news in your breath. Allow the
burning fire of God's voice to shine into your darkness by breathing in and
saying to your soul, "God is with me" and then also breathing out pray, meditate
and trust saying again, "God
is with me." When I say Moses's life was strange and messy I mean that his life
did not move in a nice clear clean straight line. His life's journey had
many twists and turns, many layers of confusion and suffering. His mother took
a papyrus basket and covered it with tar and pitch so that it would float. She
placed Moses as a baby inside and set the basket among the reeds of the Nile, a
wide long river. His mother didn't know where the basket would be found. She sent
her daughter to follow it as it floated away. it was the Egyptian king's daughter who
drew him out of the water. The Egyptian King, the Pharaoh, had ordered that all
Hebrew baby boys were to be thrown into the Nile and it was Pharaoh's daughter
who drew him out of the water. That is what Moses's name means: drew him out of
the water. How have you been cast into the waters
left to drown? How have you been lost among the reeds, caught in the perilous
current of life? How have you been abandoned, thrust out
of the safety of home? Jesus says to you, "I will be with you. I have been with you.
I will not leave you alone. You are named Moses too. You are the one I draw out of
the water I will draw you out of the pit out of the miry clay and
set your feet upon a rock." You have been in the current of today's dangerous
rapid waters. Call out to God for help. Allow him to draw you up from the sole
numbing currents of busyness, rush and self dependence. As you allow yourself to
go to sleep, give yourself to God's care. Become God
dependent. In this story of Moses, we have a foreshadowing of what we gain in the
waters of baptism, the waters that are meant for death turn out to be instead
cleansing healing waters. Yes, our enemy prowls around like a roaring
lion seeking whom he can devour. Yes, like the Egyptian king, our enemy wants to
drown you. He wants you to be covered by the dangerous waters of life. Get through
this danger. Through these very same waters, Jesus meets you. He reaches out to
rescue you. He draws you out of death into new life. Allow these waters to wash you, ending a
day giving yourself to sleep, resting in God's love. This is sacred,
holy, precious. As you are being washed, you are more and more free to be near
God to enjoy his presence to trust in his watchful care. Rest, sleep, believe allowing these words
deeper into your heart and mind, "I will be with you." See the burning bush of
God's presence speaking goodness into your heart. Rehearse this good news in
your breath. Breathing in saying to your soul, "You are with me" and then also
breathing out pray, meditate and trust saying again, "you are with me." Moses's
life had been strange messy and confusing. When he came of age, he began
to sort out the things that mattered most to his life. He understood in deeper
ways that he was an alien and a stranger in the house of Pharaoh. He was a Hebrew,
one of the oppressed. Benefiting from the riches of the oppressor was troubling.
How could he enjoy any good thing when his own people were enslaved, working
tirelessly for the brutal king of Egypt? When he saw an Egyptian beating one of
his Hebrew brothers one day, he was given a chance to prove his identity as an
Israelite. In a fit of rage and vindication, he killed the Egyptian,
hid the body in the sand and then fled into the desert to hide from Pharaoh's
wrath. Years later, Moses had married, raised a family and was working for his
father-in-law Jethro tending sheep on the backside of Mount Horeb. Moses was no
doubt content to be removed and hidden from his previous life as the son of
Pharaoh's daughter. He had no expectation that God had any
special plans for his life. He had no idea that his life was about to change
there on the backside of Mount Horeb. This was a wilderness place where God
spoke to Moses in a burning bush. You likely have not experienced a literal
burning bush, but you have had some kind of burning bush experience. This would be
that turning point when you came to accept the truth of God in a way that
changed the direction of your life. This would be a moment when he especially
revealed himself through a person, an experience, maybe a worship service, the
time when you were serving someone, perhaps a time of prayer or even a
powerful sermon. Something shifted inside of you and you haven't been the same
since. You might protest here, "But I haven't
taken God as seriously as I should. My life hasn't changed that much.
I still struggle. I still don't know how to trust God with my life. I continue to
resist him. Each day I live more through my strength than God's love." Moses protested too. He said, "Who am I that
you would speak to me?" He worried about his weaknesses, "I can't speak for you. I
stutter when I opened my mouth." Moses would drift away from God too. He
would become impatient and angry with the people he was leading. He would
continue to struggle with fear and doubt. Even still, God says to Moses, "I will be
with you" and God still says to you, "I will be with you." No matter how much
doubt or fear that stir inside of you, God still says, "I will be with you." No
matter how much stubbornness and anger, God still says, "I will be with you." Once
again, place yourself before the burning bush of God's presence.
Rest, sleep, believe these words deeper into your heart and mind, "I will be with
you." Rehearse this good news in your breath. Breathing in saying to your soul,
"My God is with me" and then also breathing out pray, meditate and trust
saying again, "My God is with me." As we bring this meditation to a close, I
invite you to consider one more part of Moses story. God instructs Moses to say
to Pharaoh, "Let my people go." Moses fusses, "But how can I go back? How
can I speak for you? Why would the king of Egypt listen to me?" God replies, "tell
Pharaoh that 'I Am' sent you. "I Am, "The Great I Am" is with you. "The Great I Am"
send you. He is the true, true. He is the real, real.
God is being behind and before all other things. He is the one by whom everything
else in the universe was created. He is the one in whom all things hold together
and have their being. "The Great I Am" says to you tonight, "I Am with you. 'I Am' The
Being who will always be with you." In peace,
give yourself to sleep. Rest in God's faithfulness for he alone can make you
dwell in safety. May the Lord bless you and protect you as you sleep. May his
face shine upon you like the radiance of a burning bush. May he be gracious and
kind granting you deep healing sleep. May you be filled with peace.
Continue to allow yourself to let go of today by rehearsing in your breathing in
and breathing out, "My God is with me. My God is with me. My God is with me."
Amen. God speaks the words for you tonight that he spoke to Moses, "I will be
with you." He wants these words to burn bright and clear before you like the
fire that burned before Moses. He wants his words to break through your darkness
to penetrate deep into your inner being to grow in you confidence and love. God
is a blazing fire of goodness, warmth and hope. Yet it is often difficult for us to
see him and to hear his faithful words, "I will be with you."
These were words that Moses had trouble hearing and trusting too. His life before
the burning bush had been strange and messy. Nothing about his life made it
obvious that God would choose him to lead his people out of slavery to
freedom. He was the baby sent down the river in a basket, a Hebrew raised in the
palace of the Egyptian King. Moses was a murderer who hid in the desert. If there
had been a job opening for hero of the Israelites, Moses would not have had a
strong resume to our minds. Moses was an unlikely leader yet God
blesses, he embraces, he uses unlikely people. Moses doubted himself. He doubted
God too he was lost in the desert and the
despair of his terrible mistakes and even still, God says to him, "Moses, I will
be with you" and God will be with you too. God is with you. Your life doesn't need
to make sense to you or to others. Your life can be messy and strange and even
still God says to you, "I will be with you." Allow these words deeper into your heart
and mind, "I will be with you." Rehearse this good
news in your breath. Allow the burning fire of God's voice to shine into your
darkness by breathing in and saying to your soul, "God is with me" and then also
breathing out pray, meditate and trust saying again, "God is with me." When I say
Moses's life was strange and messy, I mean that his life did not move in a
nice clear clean straight line. His life's journey had many twists and turns,
many layers of confusion and suffering. His mother took a papyrus basket and
covered it with tar and pitch so that it would float. She placed Moses as a baby
inside and set the basket among the reeds of the Nile, a wide long river. His
mother didn't know where the basket would be found. She sent her daughter to
follow it as it floated away. It was the Egyptian king's daughter who
drew him out of the water. The Egyptian King, the Pharaoh, had
ordered that all Hebrew baby boys were to be thrown into the Nile and it was
Pharaoh's daughter who drew him out of the water. That is what Moses's name
means: drew him out of the water. How have you been cast into the waters,
left to drown? How have you been lost among the reeds, caught in the perilous
current of life. How have you been abandoned, thrust out of the safety of
home? Jesus says to you, "I will be with you. I have been with you.
I will not leave you alone. You are named Moses too. You are the one I draw out of
the water I will draw you out of the pit out of the miry clay and set your feet
upon a rock." You have been in the current of today's dangerous rapid waters. Call
out to God for help. Allow him to draw you up from the soul numbing currents of
busyness, rush and self dependence. As you allow yourself to go to sleep,
give yourself to God's care. Become God dependent. In this story of Moses, we have
a foreshadowing of what we gain in the waters of baptism, the waters that are
meant for death turn out to be instead cleansing healing waters. Yes, our enemy
prowls around like a roaring lion seeking whom he can devour. Yes, like the
Egyptian king, our enemy wants to drown you. He wants you to be covered by the
dangerous waters of life. Get through this danger. Through these very same
waters, Jesus meets you. He reaches out to rescue you. He draws you out of death
into new life. Allow these waters to wash, ending a day, giving yourself to sleep,
resting in God's love. This is sacred, holy, precious. As you are being washed, you are more and
more free to be near God to enjoy his presence to trust in his watchful care. Rest, sleep, believe allowing these words
deeper into your heart and mind, "I will be with you." See the burning bush of
God's presence speaking goodness into your heart. Rehearse this good news in
your breath. Breathing in saying to your soul, "You are with me"
and then also breathing out pray, meditate and trust saying again, "You are
with me." Moses's life had been strange messy and confusing. When he came of age,
he began to sort out the things that mattered most to his life. He understood
in deeper ways that he was an alien and a stranger in the house of Pharaoh. He was
a Hebrew, one of the oppressed. Benefiting from the riches of the oppressor was
troubling. How could he enjoy any good thing when
his own people were enslaved, working tirelessly for the brutal king of Egypt?
When he saw an Egyptian beating one of his Hebrew brothers one day, he was given
a chance to prove his identity as an Israelite. In a fit of rage and
vindication, he killed the Egyptian, hid the body in the sand and then fled into
the desert to hide from Pharaoh's wrath. Years later, Moses had married, raised a
family and was working for his father-in-law Jethro tending sheep on
the backside of Mount Horeb. Moses was no doubt content to be removed
and hidden from his previous life as the son of Pharaoh's daughter. He had no expectation that God had any
special plans for his life. He had no idea that his life was about to change
there on the backside of Mount Horeb. This was a wilderness place where God
spoke to Moses in a burning bush. You likely have not experienced a literal
burning bush, but you have had some kind of burning bush experience. This would be
that turning point when you came to accept the truth of God in a way that
changed the direction of your life. This would be a moment when he especially
revealed himself through a person, an experience, maybe a worship service, a
time when you were serving someone, perhaps a time of prayer
or even a powerful sermon. Something shifted inside of you and you haven't
been the same since. You might protest here, "But I haven't taken God as
seriously as I should. My life hasn't changed that much.
I still struggle. I still don't know how to trust God with my life. I continue to
resist him. Each day I live more through my strength than God's love." Moses protested too. He said, "Who am I
that you would speak to me?" He worried about his weaknesses, "I can't speak for
you. I stutter when I open my mouth." Moses would drift away from God too.
He would become impatient and angry with the people he was leading. He would
continue to struggle with fear and doubt. Even still, God says to Moses, "I will be
with you" and God still says to you, "I will be with you." No matter how much
doubt or fear that stir inside of you, God still says, "I will be with you." No
matter how much stubbornness and anger, God still says, "I will be with you." Once
again, place yourself before the burning bush of God's presence. Rest, sleep,
believe these words deeper into your heart and mind, "I will be with you."
Rehearse this good news in your breath. Breathing in saying to your soul, "My God
is with me" and then also breathing out pray, meditate
and trust saying again, "My God is with me." As we bring this meditation to a close, I
invite you to consider one more part of Moses's story. God instructs Moses to say
to Pharaoh, "Let my people go." Moses fusses, "But how can I go back? How
can I speak for you? Why would the king of Egypt listen to me?"
God replies, "Tell Pharaoh that 'I Am' sent you." "I Am," "The Great I Am" is with you. "The
Great I Am" sends you. He is the true, true. He is the real, real. God is being behind
and before all other things he is the one by whom everything else in the
universe was created. He is the one in whom all things hold together and have
their being. "The Great I Am" says to you tonight "I Am with you.
'I Am' The Being who will always be with you." In peace
give yourself to sleep. Rest in God's faithfulness for he alone can make you
dwell in safety. May the Lord bless you and protect you as you sleep. May his
face shine upon you like the radiance of a burning bush. May he be gracious and
kind, granting you deep healing sleep may you be filled with peace. Continue to
allow yourself to let go of today by rehearsing in your breathing in and
breathing out, "My God is with me.
My God is with me. My God is with me." Amen.
God speaks the words for you tonight that he spoke to Moses, "I will be with
you." He wants these words to burn bright and clear before you like the fire that
burned before Moses. He wants his words to break through your
darkness to penetrate deep into your inner being to grow a new confidence and
love. God is a blazing fire of goodness, warmth
and hope. Yet it is often difficult for us to see him and to hear his faithful
words, "I will be with you." These were words that Moses had trouble hearing and
trusting too. His life before the burning bush had been strange and messy. Nothing
about his life made it obvious that God would choose him to lead his people out
of slavery to freedom. He was the baby sent down the river in a basket, a Hebrew
raised in the palace of the Egyptian King. Moses was a murderer
who hid in the desert. If there had been a job opening for hero of the Israelites,
Moses would not have had a strong resume to our minds.
Moses was an unlikely leader yet God blesses, he embraces, he uses unlikely
people. Moses doubted himself. He doubted God too.
he was lost in the desert and the despair of his terrible mistakes and
even still God says to him, "Moses, I will be with you"
and God will be with you too. God is with you. Your life doesn't need to make sense
to you or to others. Your life can be messy and strange and
even still, God says to you, "I will be with you." Allow these words deeper into
your heart and mind, "I will be with you." Rehearse this good news in your breath.
Allow the burning fire of God's voice to shine into your darkness by breathing in
and saying to your soul, "God is with me" and then also breathing out pray,
meditate and trust saying again, "God is with me."
When I say Moses's life was strange and messy, I mean that his life did not move
in a nice clear clean straight line. His life's journey had many twists and turns,
many layers of confusion and suffering. His mother took a papyrus basket and
covered it with tar and pitch so that it would float. She placed Moses as a baby
inside and set the basket among the reeds of the Nile, a wide long river. His
mother didn't know where the basket would be found. She sent her daughter to
follow it as it floated away. It was the Egyptian king's daughter who
drew him out of the water. The Egyptian King, the Pharaoh, had ordered that all
Hebrew baby boys or to be thrown into the Nile and it was Pharaoh's daughter
who drew him out of the water. That is what Moses's name means: drew him out of
the water. How have you been cast into the waters,
left to drown? How have you been lost among the reeds, caught in the perilous
current of life? How have you been abandoned, thrust out
of the safety of home? Jesus says to you, "I will be with you. I have been with you.
I will not leave you alone. You are named Moses too. You are the one I draw out of
the water I will draw you out of the pit out of the miry clay and set your feet
upon a rock." You have been in the current of today's dangerous rapid waters. Call
out to God for help. Allow him to draw you up from the soul numbing currents of
busyness, rush and self dependence. As you allow yourself to go to sleep, give
yourself to God's care. Become God dependent.
In this story of Moses, we have a foreshadowing of what we gain in the
waters of baptism, the waters that are meant for death turn out to be instead
cleansing healing waters. Yes, our enemy prowls around like a roaring
lion seeking whom he can devour. Yes, like the Egyptian king, our enemy wants to
drown you. He wants you to be covered by the dangerous waters of life. Get through
this danger. Through these very same waters, Jesus meets you. He reaches out to
rescue you. He draws you out of death into new life. Allow these waters to wash you, ending a
day, giving yourself to sleep, resting in
God's love. This is sacred, holy, precious. As you are being washed, you are more and
more free to be near God to enjoy his presence to trust in his watchful care. Rest, sleep, believe, allowing these words deeper into
your heart and mind, "I will be with you." See the burning bush of God's presence
speaking goodness into your heart. Rehearse this good news in your breath.
Breathing in saying to your soul, "You are with me" and then also breathing out pray,
meditate in trust saying again, "You are with me."
Moses's life had been strange, messy and confusing. When he came of age, he began
to sort out the things that mattered most to his life. He understood in deeper
ways that he was an alien and a stranger in the house of Pharaoh. He was a Hebrew,
one of the oppressed. Benefiting from the riches of the oppressor was troubling.
How could he enjoy any good thing when his own people were enslaved, working
tirelessly for the brutal king of Egypt? When he saw an Egyptian beating one of
his Hebrew brothers one day, he was given a chance to prove his identity as an
Israelite. In a fit of rage and vindication, he killed the Egyptian, hid
the body in the sand and then fled into the desert to hide from Pharaoh's wrath.
Years later, Moses had married, raised a family and
was working for his father-in-law Jethro tending sheep on the back side of Mount
Horeb. Moses was no doubt content to be removed and hidden from his previous
life as the son of Pharaoh's daughter. he had no expectation that God had any
special plans for his life. He had no idea that his life was about to change
there on the backside of Mount Horeb. This was a wilderness place where God
spoke to Moses in a burning bush. You likely have not experienced a literal
burning bush, but you have had some kind of burning bush experience. This would be
that turning point when you came to accept the truth of God in a way that
changed the direction of your life. This would be a moment when he especially
revealed himself through a person, an experience, maybe a worship service, a
time when you were serving someone, perhaps a time of prayer or even a
powerful sermon. Something shifted inside of you and you
haven't been the same since. You might protest here, "But I haven't taken God as
seriously as I should. My life hasn't changed that much.
I still struggle. I still don't know how to trust God with my life. I continue to
resist him. Each day I live more through my strength than God's love." Moses protested too. He said, "Who am I
that you would speak to me?" He worried about his weaknesses, "I can't speak for
you. I stutter when I open my mouth." Moses would drift away from God too.
He would become impatient and angry with the people he was leading. He would
continue to struggle with fear and doubt. Even still, God says to Moses, "I will be
with you" and God still says to you "I will be with
you." No matter how much doubt or fear that stir inside of you, God still says, "I
will be with you." No matter how much stubbornness and anger, God still says, "I
will be with you." Once again, place yourself before the burning bush of
God's presence. Rest, sleep, believe these words deeper into your heart and mind, "I
will be with you." Rehearse this good news in your breath. Breathing in saying to
your soul, "My God is with me" and then also breathing out pray, meditate and
trust saying again, "My God is with me." As we bring this meditation to a close,
I invite you to consider one more part of Moses's story. God instructs Moses to
say to Pharaoh, "Let my people go." Moses fusses, "But how can I go back? How
can I speak for you? Why would the king of Egypt listen to me?" God replies, "Tell
Pharaoh that 'I Am' sent you. "I Am, "The Great I Am" is with you. "The Great I Am"
sends you. He is the true, true. He is the real, real. God is being behind and before
all other things he is the one by whom everything else in the universe was
created. He is the one in whom all things hold together and have their being. "The
Great I Am" says to you tonight, "I Am with you. 'I Am' The Being who will always be
with you." In peace, give yourself to sleep. Rest in God's faithfulness for he alone
can make you dwell in safety. May the Lord bless you and protect you
as you sleep may his face shine upon you like the radiance of a burning bush. May
he be gracious and kind, granting you deep healing sleep.
May you be filled with peace. Continue to allow yourself to let go of today by
rehearsing in your breathing in and breathing out, "My God is with me. My God
is with me. My God is with me." Amen. We hope this meditation brought you
peace. To listen to the full collection of Biblical bedtime stories, download the
Abide app in the iTunes or Google Play Store.
