Moses Tries it His Way: An Exposition of Exodus 2:11-25
How many times do we feel that God has a special calling on our lives, and we get into a rush trying to fulfill it? When we became Christians, we received the Holy Spirit in our lives. God has a purpose for every one of us. He has distributed spiritual gifts to add to and build up His church. So we have a tendency to rush out and begin. I have seen many feel called to the ministry in a church service. In some of these cases, the newly called minister is sent to the pulpit the very next Sunday. This baptism by fire has not proven to be a very effective way to prepare a candidate for ministry. I realize that the Holy Spirit will give us the words to say, at least under some circumstances. But I have seen a lot of awful first sermons preached by the “Holy Spirit.” Does God have a better way? Let us see.
Moses was born under difficult circumstances. By all expectations, he would have been thrown into the Nile to drown according to Pharaoh’s edict. But Moses’ mother saw something in the infant and protected it as long as she could. When that was no longer possible, she put him into a little boat and floated him on the Nile. Her hunch about Moses was right. He would be special in the sight of God. But little did she or anyone else know what Yahweh had planned for him.
Moses was rescued by Pharaoh’s daughter, who being unable to nurse him, gave Moses back to his own mother to nurse in Pharaoh’s house. Moses would be raised in the royal family and get the best learning available anywhere in the world. But beside his outwars identity as a member of the Egyptian royal family, his mother must have instilled the fact that he really was a Hebrew. This would lay dormant for the first 40 years of his life.
40 years is a long time. Surely Moses by this time should have been fully ready. But not in the sight of God. A circumstance arose which gave Moses pause to reflect on who he really was. He saw an Egyptian taskmaster grievously afflicting a Hebrew slave. As a member of the royal family of Egypt, he would have known of the edict of his “father” which stated that the Hebrews were to be treated this way. Instead of nodding approvingly at the scene, the unexpected happened. Moses was reminded that he was truly a Hebrew. He slew the taskmaster and hid his body in the sand. He thought he had gotten away with it. This tells us that more development was needed in Moses’ calling. He might have thought that he could reform the system from within quietly. This was the first instance of Moses acting on his new identity. This was Moses’ way of dealing with the situation. And although we probably would not kill someone who was wronging another person, we would at least act circumspectly under the circumstances. No one wants to lose one’s reputation in the world over a justice issue. In Moses’ case, it would have been far more serious if what he had done had been found out.
And he was found out. The irony was that he was not found out by an Egyptian, but by a fellow Hebrew. He had seen what Moses had done. As it happened, this man had gotten into a quarrel with another Hebrew. Moses tried to break it up. And as it I often tragically the case in domestic violence situations, the one who tries to intervene is often the recipient of the wrath. The person who had started the fight asked if Moses planned to kill him like he had killed the Egyptian the previous day. Moses had been found out. He was betrayed by his own people. Stephen, who was on trial for his life brings this out. Instead of the expected praise for killing a hated taskmaster, he was tattled on. This kind of betrayal was a type of the betrayal of Jesus by Judas as well as the betrayal of Stephen who was a Greek-speaking Jew was betrayed by fellow Greek-speaking Jews. But betrayal would not be the last word. God was not done with Moses. But Moses would have to go through yet another 40 years of schooling. Just having a lot of book smarts does not qualify one to be a minister. God can use this, of course, but we must learn obedience. Moses then fled into the desert to a well on the backside of the desert. His future looked bleak by human standards.
When we look at Stephen, we see the end of his earthly ministry with his being stoned. But it was not the end of his ministry. It would speak beyond the grave in the same way the blood of Abel cried out from the ground. One of the witnesses was a man named Saul of Tarsus. He did not know it that day, but soon he would pick up the mantle of Stephen who had won his crown at martyrdom. God would save this Paul miraculously on the road to Damascus. Like Moses, he was a man of considerable education. One would think him ready to preach out of the box. Not only did he have learning in the Greek universities, he was also a well-trained Pharisee. He tried ministry his way. He persecuted the Christians. God did use his wrongheaded approach to his persecution scattering the Christians who proceeded to preach the Gospel everywhere. But God had better plans, and miraculously saved him. It was his burning bush experience. Yet, even after an brief initial experience in ministry, he too had to flee to the back side of the desert. He still had lessons to learn, among them obedience. His escape to Arabia was the beginning of years of training and not exile to the uttermost part of the earth. Like Moses, Paul would return and have a magnificent ministry despite many hardships and trials.
When we look at Jesus, we at first tend to think that the fishermen he called were ignorant people. But all Hebrew men were taught from the Torah. They were not promising scholars like Paul, but God had at least prepared them with the ABC’s of Judaism. Jesus then taught them and other disciples like Levi the tax collector for three years. They went to the best seminary on earth. They practiced mentored ministry on at least two mission tours. But even with this, they still were not ready. They had failed Jesus at his arrest. Peter had denied Him three times. Even after the resurrection, they were not yet ready. They were told after the Ascension of Jesus to wait until they received the power of the Holy Spirit. No one can minister effectively for the Lord without the Spirit who guides our paths.
So we can see a pattern here in how God prepares and equips people in the church to do His work. Other Christians have been called to nurture us in the faith and bring us to acknowledge our Christian identity. This is so necessary as we are immersed into the culture of the world. At some point we need to make a choice whether to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season or to suffer with the people of God. We should be grateful that God gives us such grace to act as midwives in the birth of new believers of Christ. We need to form Jesus Christ into our converts. In many cases, this formation begins before formal confession of Christian identity.
God takes the preparations we have made and uses them in the calling to ministry. What I mean here is not necessarily calling into formal ordained ministry. All Christians are given their particular ministry and identity in the body of Christ. From Christian identity, God then continues to develop gifts and talents. Sometimes we get ahead of God. Sometimes we try to fulfill God’s calling our own way. But God is patient with us, even when we are not. We might wonder why we go through experiences that seem so remote to the call. Those who have seen Karate Kid can remember that the Sensei told him to put wax on the sensei’s car one way and then immediately remove it the other way. “Wax on! Wax off!” Of course Karate Kid thought this foolish and that the Sensei was only interested in his slave labor. It was only later that he learned that these were the motions required for basic self-defense.
Moses must have wondered how raising and watering sheep on the backside of the desert for his father-in-law was going to promote his purpose in life. It was a long way down the social ladder, especially when we remember that Egyptians despised shepherds. He is identified by Jethro’s daughter as an Egyptian man. What would an Egyptian be doing here? Not only this, his manner of dress showed him to be of the royal caste. This was most unusual. But Moses would have to spend 40 years having to learn to be a humble pastor before he was ready for the burning bush. Preparation plus the powerful call of God makes a difference. Ministerial success cannot be shortcutted. I might add that Moses acquired a wife and family there as well. These also helped prepare Moses for ministry.
So let us be patient and wait upon God to finish our development and not rush out willy-nilly. If Jesus took 3 years to prepare His Apostle’s, years for Paul, and even more years for Moses, He will complete His work in us as well. The first requirement of a disciple is to come under discipline. We must lean to trust God and be obedient. We have to take his yoke upon us and learn of Him.
Perhaps Moses was distressed those 40 years over the plight of his fellow Hebrews. But God knew what was going on. A certain Pharaoh had to die. The Children of Israel needed to learn to cry out to God in their distress. God, who works all things out for our good, was setting the table for deliverance. He was there all the time. He is there for us also. We see the plight the world is in. We see the bondage of the people in our communities. We see pain in our families. We must pray and cry out to the LORD. We must trust Him. He will create the circumstances. If we rush ahead, we might even make things worse.
