Horizontal vs. Vertical

 

March 8

Horizontal Versus Vertical

From: Today God Is First by Os Hillman

“Glancing this way and that and seeing no one, he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand.” Exodus 2:12

Moses saw the pain of his people . He saw the bondage and the injustice. His heart was enraged, and he decided he would do something. He would take matters into his own hands. The result was murder.

The motive was right, but the action was wrong. He went horizontal instead of vertical with God. Moses fled to the desert, where God prepared the man who would ultimately be the deliverer of a nation.

But it took 40 years of preparation before God determined Moses was ready. He was a sheepherder, and it was during the mundane activity of work that God called him to be Israel’s deliverer.

Moses was like a lot of enthusiastic Christian believers who seek to solve a spiritual problem with a fleshly answer. The greatest danger to any Christian believer is his greatest strength—his acumen and expertise will drive him to get things done in his own strength.

This self-reliance can become the greatest weakness of a man of faith when it comes to moving in the spiritual realm. We're taught to be problem solvers. But, like Moses, if our enthusiasm and passion are not harnessed by the power of the Holy Spirit, we will fail miserably.

Peter had to learn this lesson too. His enthusiasm got him into a lot of trouble, but God was patient, just as He is patient with each of us.

Sometimes He must put us in the desert for a time as He did Moses, in order to season us so that Christ is allowed to reign supreme within us at the completion of the process.

Before we act, we must pray and seek the mind of Christ until we know it is God behind the action; if we do, we may save ourselves a long trip to the desert.