God's Working in You

Philippians 2:12-13

Introduction:
God orchestrates the events of our lives to uniquely position us to do the work which He has ordained us to do. A prime example of that is the life of Moses.
Amram and Jochabed were expecting their third child when the Pharaoh sent down the edict that the male Hebrew babies were to be cast into the Nile. When Moses was born, Amram and Jochabed hid Moses for 3 months. I have no clue how they did that. When Megan was born, she cried for the first 3 hours. I wanted the doctor to put her back because I was sure she wasn’t done gestating yet. How do you hide a baby from others for 3 months? Even more, how difficult must it have been to give Moses up after holding and loving him for 3 months? But Amram and Jochabed trusted that God would take care of their child. Jochabed made a little ark of bulrushes and painted it with tar so it would withstand water. She took her precious baby and laid him in the ark and set the ark in the Nile.
God orchestrated the events and the river currents so that at the right moment, the ark would come to where Pharaoh’s daughter was bathing in the Nile. Moses’ sister Miriam was sent to watch over the ark from a distance, and, when Pharaoh’s daughter had her servants fetch the ark, Miriam stepped forward and offered to find Pharaoh’s daughter a wet-nurse to tend to the baby. God arranged it so that Jochabed would have the opportunity to raise her baby and even get paid to do it!
Fast forward to Moses as a man. He has been trained in the ways of Egypt and Pharaoh’s court, but he is also keenly aware of his heritage. He realizes that God has positioned him to be a deliverer for his people and he thinks he can serve God without it costing him anything. He gets ahead of God, and his first attempt at being Israel’s deliverer fails miserably. He sees an Egyptian mistreating and Israelite slave and Moses kills the Egyptian and hides his body in the sand.
The next day, Moses is taking a stroll and encounters two Hebrews arguing. He tried to intervene and they throw his crime up in his face: “Are you going to kill us like you killed that Egyptian?” Moses is terrified. People know what he did. He becomes a fugitive and escapes into the backside of the wilderness where he joins himself to a Midian priest named Jethro and marries.
After 40 years of life as a shepherd, God draws Moses attention to a burning bush. Moses investigates that bush, and God speaks to him. There was a time when Moses was willing to step forward and be God’s servant, but that time is passed. He is now reluctant and full of excuses. What he didn’t realize is that God was still working on him. His training was not previously complete. God had used the last 40 years to teach him humility. Now he is ready to be the deliverer, even if he is hesitant.
Another example is the life of Joseph. Joseph was sold into slavery so that he might be in Egypt and positioned to effect public policy and rescue the world from a famine. Joseph knew God had a purpose for him and he would be a great leader, but that seemed unlikely in his pit and in the dungeon after Potiphar’s wife made her false accusations, but, however unlikely it seemed, God was arranging Joseph’s life for the work that God ordained him to do.
Paul tells