Saturday, December 8

MOSES

Exodus 3

After Joseph had been led by God to get the Israelites out of Canaan, and into Egypt, where they could remain pure in marriage, the Israelites enjoyed many years of peace. The Israelites were also multiplying in this time. In fact, the Israelites were multiplying so much that the Pharaoh of the day was afraid of them and enslaved them. But even in slavery, the Israelites continued to multiply to the point that Pharaoh had all the baby boys killed. One day, a boy was born, whose his mother knew was special. She hid the boy until she couldn’t hide him any longer. Then she put him into a basket and placed him into the Nile. When Pharaoh’s daughter found him, she gave him the name Moses. Then she took him as her child, and had him educated in Pharaoh’s courts as he grew older. When Moses was forty years old, he went out to see his fellow Israelites. While he was walking through the Israelite ranks, he ended up killing an Egyptian who was beating on an Israelite slave. Pharaoh heard about it and Moses had to run for his life into the Midian wilderness. Wow!! Moses has now gone from Egyptian royalty to nothing. And I mean literally “nothing.” Moses was forty years old and far away from civilization, soon forgotten by all but God. This is just where God wanted Moses—away from the distractions of the world. Since God was not quite ready for Moses yet, he had to spend another forty years out in the wilderness learning to live off the land.

Now you’re probably wondering why all this is going on. Let’s put all this into perspective. God wanted to get His people out of Egypt, and into the Promised Land where he could use them in His plan of salvation. God also knew that Pharaoh would not let the people go unless a mighty hand compelled him (Exodus 3:20). So God wanted to use Moses because He saw something special in him. What did he see in Moses? Someone educated under Pharaoh? Someone time tested shepherding sheep? No! God saw humility. He saw a man who had just gone from luxury to rags and didn’t complain once. He saw the spirit in Moses and He liked what he saw. 1 Samuel 16:7b says, “The Lord does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but God looks at the heart.” Numbers 12:3 says, “Moses was a very humble man, more humble than anyone else on the face of the earth.” Moses wasn’t some super-human guy that could do no wrong; he was just an ordinary guy with faith and humility, something all of us can have. We can have faith and humility through surrendering to God and putting our full trust in Him. Surrendering to God means giving up our thoughts and plans, and just allowing Him to work through us.

Lord, I pray that we would see that we are nothing apart from You, and that we would allow You to work in our lives instead of us living for ourselves. I pray that we would see that Your strength is sufficient and that our strength is nothing. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

~ Jason Frantz