Tents of Mercy Congregation
Kiryat Yam, Israel
Belly large, she looked at me with fearful eyes. After two pregnancies and two deliveries, she was no stranger to the difficulty of giving birth. Her apprehension was real, founded in experience. Doing my very best to walk the line between empathy and encouragement I reminded her of the main points in the pep talk I love to give, whenever I have the chance, about working with the pain and not resisting it. She smiled a tearful smile: “The pain is what scares me – I don’t know if I have what it takes to do it again.”
The fresh young soldier’s army course was shortened unexpectedly, and the soldiers were sent to fill emergency roles. Feeling ill-equipped to do the job for real, her nervousness was understandable. It was one thing to study hard and be devoted to the preparation process, but it was another thing altogether to jump headfirst into the role when the stakes are life and death. I was about to encourage her to trust the system and then realized that “the system” was precisely the thing that had just let everyone down on October 7th. “We’ve been studying and practicing, but now is the real deal; how do I know if I have what it takes?”
Watching through the river reeds, she saw the beautiful princess lift her brother out of the basket. Her heart pounded in her chest and her thoughts raced. “What now?” She had kept a careful eye on the tiny straw boat’s journey down the Nile, delighted and awed that God’s outstretched Hand had guided it away from peril and to the edge of the protected royal river beach. But now she faced a new danger. She had trespassed on the princess’s private property, and had to reveal her crime. She also had to figure out what to say to ensure her brother’s safety and connection with the family. Hesitating for just a moment, she thought: “Do I have what it takes?”
Barefoot and standing on the hot desert floor, he stared at the burning bush in front of him. God had just asked him to go back to the country he had fled from, to advocate to his brother and king for the lives of his enslaved people. Trained and taught and tutored all his life to be a leader, he nevertheless pleaded: “But, but, but, I stutter, and I don’t know if I have what it takes.”
The first two snapshots above are situations that are happening now in the lives of two people in our community. One has been resolved, sort of. The soldier arrived at her temporary post and reported that it was going well and that she and her fellow soldiers were acclimating and fulfilling the duty they were trained for in real-time. The mom has yet to give birth; please pray for her and her young family.
As for the other two stories – we know how they end. Miriam advocates to the princess and successfully fulfills the role she was called to fill, setting things in motion for Moses to be nursed and nurtured by his very own mother, yet adopted into the palace family to play his destined role as Deliverer. Moses himself becomes one of the classic Bible stories of human hesitation and feeling of internal inadequacy vs. God’s call and promise to do what He intends to do through human vessels as they surrender to His plan.
When faced with difficulty and impossible situations, whether on the micro level or the macro level – how do we function? How do we answer this Big Question: “Do I have what it takes?”
In the chaos and desperation of these days, with wars and political unrest proliferating as never before, we need to know the answer.
The best and only way forward is to go back to the original design. God has what it takes, and He designed us to seek Him, walk with Him, and submit to HIS system. That’s how we thrive. That’s how we will “have what it takes.”
“For we are His workmanship, created in Messiah Yeshua for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” (Ephesians 2:10)
“For to everyone I send you, you will go, and all I command you, you will speak. Do not be afraid of them! For I am with you to deliver you.” (Jeremiah 1:7-8)
Amidst the clouds of war and reserve soldiers returning to active duty in light of the escalation on the front lines, we are carrying out our annual Passover Food Basket Project. By the time we are all sitting down to celebrate and tell the ancient Passover story, even as an unresolved modern exodus-type confrontation rages on, we will have given out 900 packages of food to needy families all over the Krayot.
Please pray with us that each bag will be a blessing and a seed to the families they reach, that hearts will be drawn to God the Divine Designer of Life, the One who knows the Plan and “the System” backward and forward.
