Devotional: Lessons for us from the early life of Moses
Devotional: Lessons for us from the early life of Moses
We have begun a new sermon series at our church around the life of the man Moses. In my opinion, Moses was the greatest of all the characters who are found in the Old Testament. Clearly, he is the most influential as he reflects and embodies the life and the purpose of Christ as a savior of the people.
Going back to Genesis 37, we find the story of Joseph and the migration of the Hebrew family to Egypt to avoid a famine that occurred in the land of Canaan. A short summary of that migration includes Joseph being sold by his jealous brothers into slavery in Egypt and Joseph’s rise to power as a ruler of that country — therefore, saving his family’s life by bringing them to Egypt to live.
Then we follow the story into Exodus 1 when a Pharaoh who did not know Joseph and his wonderful story came to power and placed the now huge Hebrew nation in slavery as a result of the Pharaoh’s fear of a rebellion.
Exodus 2 relates the birth of Moses and amazing story of how the baby Moses was placed in the river to escape death, rescued by Pharaoh’s daughter and raised in the Pharaoh’s palace.
One day, somehow realizing that he was not Egyptian but Hebrew, Moses became concerned about the condition of his people. Walking among them one day as they worked, he saw a Hebrew slave being beaten by an Egyptian. Moses killed the Egyptian and was forced to flee when the Pharaoh placed a price on his head. Moses’s attempt and effort to rescue his people by force had failed.
Your stories live here.
Fuel your hometown passion and plug into the stories that define it.
Have we ever seen a situation that was unfair, in which we felt we must straighten out immediately? Many times our efforts fail because God is not included in our efforts, he is not consulted at all, his will not found out. Or maybe it is just not his timing to act.
In Exodus 2, Moses fled to the Midian desert, which is in the modern-day countries of southern Jordan and northern Saudi Arabia — quite a long distance from Egypt, indicating the far-reaching power of the Pharaoh and the fear Moses had of being captured. There, at age 40, he married an Midianite woman.
Moses tended his father-in-law’s sheep for 40 years, contentedly raising his family, apparently the slavery of his people back in Egypt forgotten.
Could it be that God has given us a concern, a vision, a project on which to work but after trying to accomplish things on our own, we give up? Have we fled from the work he has given us and pushed it into the background of our lives? Has his call been lost in the efforts of day-to-day living?
God has unusual ways to get our attention and focus our energy back on the job he intends for us. Sometimes he uses sickness, accidents, deaths, births, tragedies, spiritual reawakenings and even events in nature to get our attention.
So in Exodus 3 God got Moses’s attention with a bush in the desert that was on fire but did not burn up. You can imagine Moses’s surprise, even amazement, as he stood there in the desert with his sheep, watching a bush burn and never go out. God got his attention in a very simple, basic yet awesome way.
Although Moses had apparently forgotten the slavery in Egypt, God had not. God had also not forgotten that Moses was still His choice to lead the people out of bondage. God had heard the cry of bondage and suffering from the Hebrew people. God’s timetable was fulfilled and He was now ready to deliver His people.
God is still in the delivering business! He is still in the hearing business! He will not forsake us, He will answer us!
Maybe the lessons we can take away from this part of the life of the man Moses are real to us today. God has plans for bring salvation to his people and uses ordinary men and women to carry out his purposes if we are willing.
And if we run from God’s purpose for our lives, or try to avoid being involved in the larger picture of his vision, God will pursue us. He will get our attention, sometimes in the most unusual ways. His love for us his people will never let us go! He hears the cries of those oppressed, struggling, hurting and just needy. He hears and he answers!
This is the opinion of the Rev. Tim McConnell, assistant pastor of Long’s Chapel United Methodist Church in Lake Junaluska. Contact him at 828-456-3993 or pastortimmc.blogspot.com.
