MOSES
Moses , a Jewish slave ,
Saved by his mother from a certain death ,
Brought up as a prince of Egypt .
But on discovering his heritage ,
Did not hesitate to murder an Egyptian,
The oppressor of his fellow men .
Forty years he lived in hiding ,a wanted man ,
Until God sought him out to deliver his people ,
From the evil clutches of the Egyptians .
Reluctant he was at first.
With no skill of speech or eloquence ,
To convince Pharaoh to let his people go
And fearing Retribution from the Egyptians,
But with the faith that grew in him,
He conceded to God’s Will and lived ,
To be known as the deliverer of the Israelites,
From the Egyptian bondage and slavery.
Moses teaches us to have faith and courage !
It took a lot of courage to face pharaoh,
Each time, with nothing but a staff and
His unquestioning Faith in God !
We need to hear God’s voice when
He calls and answer in faith
GIDEON
Gideon , a man who lived in fear ,
Belonged to The least of the tribes of Israel.
When he was threshing wheat in hiding
God called him to deliver his people ,
From the hands of the Midianites .
He was a man of no standing , no valour ,
It could only be a mistake.
He sought proof and God sent ,
A fire that consumed his offering ,
Which convinced Gideon .
He set out to free the Israelites,
With an army of thirty two thousand,
But God reduced the army to 300 strong ,
For He wanted to show His people ,
That victory is from God and not man .
Are we not often like Gideon ,
Reluctant to answer God’s call ,
Seeking proof and miracles ,
What we fail to see is that ,
We are His Miracles !
The change He works In each one of us !
JONAH
Jonah , a man who played truant ,
When God sent him to Nineveh ,
To tell them to turn away from sin.
Jonah didn’t care for this
As they were the enemies .
He disobeyed God and took a boat ,
In the opposite direction .
Not far , the ship runs into a storm.
It is soon established that Jonah has
Displeased God and has to be
cast into the sea to quell the storm.
Then swallowed by a whale,
He lay in its belly three days
In prayer and repentance.
God hears his prayer and saves him
From the mouth of death .
On the third day, he is spat out by the whale, in Nineveh .
He then preaches God’s message to them
The people of Nineveh hear him ,
Repent and turn back to God.
We can identify ourselves with Jonah .
God calls each one of us
Has a purpose for us ,
But we prefer the comfort of ignorance,
To turn a blind eye , a deaf ear, to procrastinate .
Maybe, like Jonah, we fear
Ridicule and rejection, while preaching
The word, especially to non believers .
During the Lent, like Jonah alone in whale’s belly
Let’s reflect and pray, repent, grow closer to God
And find His purpose for us .
PETER
Peter , a fisherman , with a couple of boats
A man with a big heart and over zealous .
When he heard Jesus and was called , he
Dropped everything to follow Him,.
He was no learned Jew , but this he knew ,
He recognised his master as Lord ,
And was willing to follow Him, to the very end .
He was a brave man and with a sense of pride
But at great cost he learnt that ,
His courage and strength existed ,
Only in the presence of Jesus .
The first instance being ,
Walking on water keeping his eyes on Jesus ,
Sinking when he took his eyes off of the Lord.
Second instance being
When he swore not to deny Jesus ,
But doing just that when he was away from
The Lord .
This is a great lesson for all of us .
Do we live fearlessly in the presence of God?
Or live in fear and anxiety, away from Him ?
We can be weak and fall short,
But still find strength in Jesus,
He can still make us the ‘ Rock ‘ of His church .
PAUL
Saul a learned scholar, a Pharisee ,
Lived strictly by the law and
Hated and persecuted the Christians .
That did not stop God ,
From calling him to His service .
Saul’s name is changed to Paul ,
And as we know , once the scales,
From his eyes fell off , revealing the truth,
He recognised the Lord and His teachings.
Then transformed, he dedicated his life to
Spreading the Good news and was instrumental
In the wide spread of Christianity .
From Paul we can learn ,
That no one is beyond the reach of the Lord,
He can call us from all walks of life ,
From the highest to the lowest ,
We are before Him the same .
The important thing is to answer ,
To accept , His call , with humility,
Knowing He will strengthen us and guide us to do
His Will .
Mary Jacob 