Moses is rattling round the vast spaces of the desert. He, the erstwhile Prince of Egypt and Hebrew Hero, is reduced to looking after his father-in-law’s sheep. The memory of Egypt has dissipated into a puff of wind.
But God has not forgotten. For God, forty years has been a mere blink of the eye.
God is about to move upon something that is dead—the gifting and call of Moses. It needs to be dead, because it isn’t worth a lot unless it is anointed. And God is the only one who can bring anointing. Anointing is a product of resurrection.
You may have gifting and calling but it is not enough. Gifting and calling will leave an Egyptian buried in the sand, and will lose you all credibility. If you have lost credibility, don’t try to rescue it. Just learn to enjoy Midian! When I ‘killed’ my ‘Egyptian’ and lost all credibility I tried to grab some little inkling of respect back. A friend of mine told me to walk away, shoulder the humiliation, swallow the bitter pill of deep embarrassment; he was absolutely right. I couldn’t rescue my ego; I just needed to go to Midian.
Midian, for me, was finally accepting and embracing a life of normality. It was embracing my own flaws and accepting that I was no different and certainly no better than anyone else. I had carried a sense from an early age that the hand of God was on my life. I had been prophesied over by some of the most significant prophetic ministries in the world. I had witnessed the power of God manifested in me, over me and through me. But I had to go into what, for me, was mind-numbing boredom and mundaneness.
In truth, I hovered on the edge of mental illness. Then, on the 6 April 1999, God spoke to me. He said these words:
“You are in the desert, my son, stripped of everything, stripped of all reputation. Get used to it! Get used to the large barren spaces where you can shout and not be heard for miles around. Get used to the awesome, deafening silences. Then you will hear the still, small voice carried upon the wind.
...You will be silent for many years, but I will raise you up with those leaders who carry the revelation and incarnation of My Father heart, the one who sets the sons free. They will come, those who are true fathers, who realise that God has given power to man, and they will take responsibility, and use it with resoluteness. They will not lead people in the pursuit of wind, but they will nurture ministries within my church. Keep silent and I will show you these people.”
Amazing, isn’t it? That was in 1999. I had no idea about God’s ‘Father Heart,’ yet that was the exact words he spoke to me.
Those of you who know me, know that God showed me those very people (9 years later in 2008), the “leaders who carry the revelation and incarnation of My Father heart.” I met James and Denise Jordan, and began to journey with them in relationship and in ministry. And now I know many others who are the embodiment and fulfilment of what God said to me as I began my time in ‘Midian.’
I will continue this theme of ‘calling’ (from Moses’ life) in my next post…