THE LODGING PLACE

All translations of the Word are from the New International Version.

Exodus 4:24-26:

24 At a lodging place on the way, the Lord met Moses and was about to kill him. 25 But Zipporah took a flint knife, cut off her son’s foreskin and touched Moses’ feet with it. “Surely you are a bridegroom of blood to me,” she said. 26 So the Lord let him alone. (At that time she said “bridegroom of blood,” referring to circumcision.)

I find this text strange for so many reasons. Primarily because  this was Moses on his way to complete his assignment-the assignment he had received from God. And this is what happens to a lot of people-they are on their way to complete their assignment and death meets them on the way. And we wonder why. It is not because they are not called, and it is not because they are not chosen. The LORD says:

Romans 9:15-16:

15 For he says to Moses,

“I will have mercy on whom I have mercy,

    and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.”[a]

16 It does not, therefore, depend on human desire or effort, but on God’s mercy.

This passage is important because it tells us that the LORD alone determines where His mercy and His compassion will rest.

A lot of people like Moses, have been called to death on their way to purpose. And it does not depend on the desires of humans or on their efforts that the LORD prevents death but because of His mercy and His grace:

Ephesians 2:8:

8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—

And this grace we have received enables us to live in salvation through faith. For without faith we cannot say we have pleased God, because in denying faith we have denied Him:

Hebrews 10:38:

38 And,

“But my righteous one will live by faith.

    And I take no pleasure

    in the one who shrinks back.”

Though Moses had followed the instruction, he received from God, he struggled with faith. He struggled to accept the message He had been given and hence displeased God:

Exodus 4:13-14:

13 But Moses said, “Pardon your servant, Lord. Please send someone else.”

14 Then the Lord’s anger burned against Moses and he said, “What about your brother, Aaron the Levite? I know he can speak well. He is already on his way to meet you, and he will be glad to see you.

The LORD knows each of our thoughts and our actions-this is why He already sent Aaron to meet Moses. We have to realize the LORD can do anything without us; He simply chooses to work His will through us. This is why we are instruments of righteousness:

Romans 6:13:

13 Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness.

When we offer ourselves to the LORD as instruments, we submit to His will-and this is when we can walk in our purpose contained in the call He has for each of us:

Romans 8:28:

28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who[a] have been called according to his purpose.

The danger of this is, when one does not walk in accordance with the calling, they walk away from the purpose of God and received only from God. And hence, there is the danger of death-because this is now the path walked apart from God.

Though Moses was walking towards His purpose, which is evidenced by the fact that he had the staff of God in his hand, meaning the gift he had received from God, the LORD met him at a lodging place.

A lodging place is a place of shelter. This is important-because there is nowhere you can hide from the LORD. He is omnipresent and He will find you. It is important to stay in the path He has set before you. Have you rested at a lodging place on the way? Have you decided to seek comfort where He has not sent you? What is your lodging place? What is that place that feels safe, but you know it was not meant to be a stop but rather a passage. The second you decide to rest in a lodging place, it is important to realize that moment, you have broken the covenant you have made with the LORD.

It is important to realize the staff He has given you depends on His presence in your life; the lodging place for Samson was Delilah and the Spirit left him:

Judges 16:20:

20 Then she called, “Samson, the Philistines are upon you!”

He awoke from his sleep and thought, “I’ll go out as before and shake myself free.” But he did not know that the Lord had left him.

Moses was not sent to the lodging place; he was sent to Pharaoh:

Exodus 4:2:

21 The Lord said to Moses, “When you return to Egypt, see that you perform before Pharaoh all the wonders I have given you the power to do. But I will harden his heart so that he will not let the people go.

 Don’t stop at the lodging place, and there will be one or more on the way. Go to the Pharaoh the LORD has given you the staff to fight to show people His purpose working in your life.

The moment you stop at the lodging place, you have broken the covenant you made with the LORD in working in His purpose. And this is clear from the Word- He works for the good of those called according to His purpose.

Hence the minute you step out of purpose is the second you step out of covenant with the LORD. And our covenant with the LORD is in Christ-an irrevocable one. We either accept it, or reject it in our actions because our faith needs to be reflected in our deeds or we have killed the covenant we have made with the LORD in our lives by starving His righteousness and righteousness is Christ-and the righteous live by faith. 

Hence when we fail to live in faith by following with steps taken in obedience we have failed to act out the righteousness we have received from Christ and hence have stepped outside this beautiful covenant we have received from the LORD.

Romans 1:17:

17 For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed—a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.”

Those that have received the calling and chosen to walk apart from it have met death at the lodging place. They would not have met death otherwise. The call the LORD has on your life carries power-this is why the LORD said He had given Moses the power to perform in front of Pharaoh. And Pharaoh was the enemy. Hence the Pharaoh in your life cannot stand against the power the LORD has given you to perform which we receive from Him through His Spirit and because of the covenant we have made in Christ.

Once you stop in that lodging place-because it looks safe, seen and is a shelter, you will be putting your purpose in danger of being met with death.

If Moses did not stop at the lodging place, the LORD would not have met him to kill him. A meeting is explained as an organized event. This is important. There is nothing that takes place under the sun that is not under divine appointment. Our choices determine the spiritual schedule we have to meet.

In the lodging place, there was an appointment for death. What is your lodging place? Don’t go there-it carries an appointment for death-not only the potential of physical death, but certainly death to purpose, passion and ambition-so choose wisely.

And it is our choice because as the Word says:

Hebrews 10:38:

38 And,

“But my righteousone will live by faith.

    And I take no pleasure

    in the one who shrinks back.”

Hence we are the ones who shrink back. He never does.

But this spiritual appointment was averted by blood-the blood of circumcision that touched Moses’ feet.

To touch means to come in contact.

We have come into contact with the blood of Christ-the blood that has circumcised us apart from the death and penalty of sin:

Colossians 2:11:

11 In him you were also circumcised with a circumcision not performed by human hands. Your whole self ruled by the flesh was put off when you were circumcised by Christ,

It is this circumcision that has touched us and enabled us to come in contact with Him.

Circumcision is defined as spiritual purification. Moses needed this purification because he had defied the orders of the LORD.

A lodging place may be seen as just that-a lodging place-a place to rest and relax. But there is a work you have been called to do:

Acts 13:2:

2 While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.”

And our rest is in Christ:

Matthew 11:28:

28 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.

There is a need for spiritual purification because of sin. Sin causes us to dwell apart from spiritual purification-in other words, it keeps us apart from holiness. But in Christ, we have received spiritual purification as He makes us holy:

1 Corinthians 1:30:

30 It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption.

As soon as Moses’s son foreskin touched Moses’ feet, the Lord left him alone. This is because he had received spiritual purification-he had been forgiven for his sins:

2 Corinthians 5:21:

21 God made him who had no sin to be sin[a] for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

And the irony is, for some people, it is in that lodging place that they meet Christ-when they are so close to the scent of death. For a lot of us this has happened. Others, have already received the call and are on their way when they stop at the lodging place, and are so close to death before receiving the cleansing of Christ once more, to be forgiven for our sins. Others are unfortunately met with death in that place.

This is how Moses nearly met death at the lodging place. This is how some have met death.

Walk past the lodging place-and walk towards purpose through the spiritual purification we have received in Christ. Walk in your spiritual inheritance to be able to move in the power we have received from Him by His Spirit:

Zechariah 4:6:

6 So he said to me, “This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel: ‘Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,’ says the Lord Almighty.