Thank God for a knife-wielding wife!

Have you ever read the story in Exodus 4 about God almost killing Moses until his wife circumcised their son? This is what it says:

At a lodging place on the way the LORD met him and sought to put him to death. Then Zipporah took a flint and cut off her son’s foreskin and touched Moses’ feet with it and said, “Surely you are a bridegroom of blood to me!” So he let him alone. It was then that she said, “A bridegroom of blood,” because of the circumcision.

Every time I read this passage, I think, “what’s up with that?” I mean, God had JUST called Moses to be His chosen instrument to deliver His people. Moses was heading to his destiny as a leader and shepherd of Israel. God promised that great miracles were about to happen through Moses hand. And then God shows up to kill him before any of that happens.

I’ll tell you what I think.

It doesn’t matter if you’ve been called; It is irrelevant if God has given you big dreams; the fact that you are about to help usher in salvation to hundreds of thousands of people is inconsequential….IF you don’t take God’s call to obedience and holiness seriously.

Your call, dream, anointing, or ministry don’t add up to your obedience. Moses had not followed the command to circumcise his son. He wasn’t obeying God and he wasn’t taking care of his own family. God wasn’t going to let him lead others when he was not living in personal obedience and integrity.

Many leaders have the best of intentions—and I believe even the heart of God—for their ministries. But if they don’t take God’s call to absolute obedience and holiness seriously, God won’t hesitate to stop them in their tracks. Sometimes it follows the leader and catches up to them, but often the ministry or dream is sidetracked before it ever starts because of a lack of attention to God’s requirements.

I don’t care what God told you about your ministry; if you aren’t personally obedient He may just take you out before any of it comes to be.

And if you are struggling with a ministry-killing issue of disobedience or lack of holiness, make sure someone who loves you has a knife, and knows how to use it.

Because it’s better to experience a little shock and awe at the hands of somebody who cares about your life and future, than to blindly move ahead and get taken out because of your lack of attention to what matters.