The Problem With
Moses
“Then, at
this saying, Moses fled and became a sojourner in
the land of Midian, where he had two sons. And when
forty years had passed, an Angel of the Lord
appeared to him in a flame of fire in a bush, in the
wilderness of Mount Sinai” (Acts 7:30)
The man destined to be the human
deliverer of Israel was named Moses, which was not a
name of the sons of Israel at all, but instead it
was an Egyptian word, meaning “drawn
out.” When he was born, he, like all the
other male babies of Israel, was marked for death by
the Egyptians – it was an official attempt to
control the population of the nation Israel, a
people who lived within the borders of Egypt (Exodus
1:16 & context). Moses’ mother hid him for three
months, then built a crude, but effective “ark,”
launching him with it into the Nile River. He was
seen by Pharaoh’s daughter, who felt sorry for the
child, had him drawn out of the water by a servant,
and adopted him (Exodus 2:1-10). The Egyptians, who
wanted to kill all the male children of the Hebrew
(Israeli) nation, unknowingly saved the life of the
man intended by God to lead all Israel out of
slavery.
As an adopted son of the house of
Pharaoh, Moses was literally a prince of Egypt.
Members of that family were thought to have
descended from the “gods” and were considered to be
above human law. He was educated in Egyptian wisdom
(Acts 7:22), which is an interesting statement about
him because even though education was offered to
very few in that land, what they did offer was
excellent for the time, especially in the areas of
mathematics and science. For instance, the Egyptian
scholars knew, within a million miles, that the sun
is approximately 93 million miles from the earth.
Their engineering skills were incredible. His
education contained the best and most sophisticated
knowledge of the time. Very few in Egypt and
essentially none in Israel had such training, making
him a most unusual man, a fact that he recognized
and understood.
At a critical point, when he was in
the prime of life at approximately 40 years of age,
Moses, who had been surrounded by information that
he was a Hebrew (Israeli) at birth (Exodus 2:6-10),
decided to travel north to Goshen, where the people
of Israel existed as slaves to those who ruled Egypt
(Acts 7:23). It was there he saw an Egyptian
mistreating a Hebrew slave. Moses looked around,
deciding they were alone, and then killed the
Egyptian, burying him in the sand (Exodus 2:11-12,
Acts 7:24). On the next day, Moses went out again
and seeing two of the Hebrews fighting with each
other, he intervened, reminding them they were “brethren”
(Exodus 2:13, Acts 7:26). He had not been raised
with his own family and may not have realized that
brothers OFTEN don’t get along. He would later
learn much more about what it means to have
siblings.
The problem with Moses is that he
wanted to do the work that would deliver his people,
but in his own strength and on his own terms. He
looked to his education, his training, his station
in life, his verbal abilities, his strength and no
doubt his good looks, feeling that God had blessed
him so much that he could pretty much do anything,
and he especially knew he was the one who would
deliver the nation Israel.
We know these were Moses’ thoughts
because Stephen, in the power of the Holy Spirit,
not only said, “Moses was
learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was
mighty in words and deeds” (Acts 7:22), but
he also said Moses “supposed
that his brethren would have understood that God
would have delivered them by HIS
(Moses’) hand”
(Acts 7:25). At the age of 40 (Acts 7:23), Moses
was ready, willing and able to bring Israel from
slavery to freedom. He KNEW he was the one who
could do the job.
That seemed to be the truth from his
perspective, but it was also a problem, for we all
need to recognize that it is GOD who delivers,
heals, saves, encourages, and teaches. If we are
privileged to be a part of His process in bringing
deliverance to a person or persons within this
world; praise the Lord! But note that it is not you
and me who can do it – ever!
The problem with Moses was that he
had to learn precisely the lesson we ALL need, and
sadly we must hear it many times. We need GOD’S
abilities, for our own are insufficient. And so,
since Moses acted in his own strength, his Hebrew “brethren”
rejected him, and out of fear, he “fled”
to the neighboring land of Midian, where he married,
had two sons, and became a herder of sheep for the
next forty years (Exodus 2:14-22, Acts 7:27-29).
Note that he had gone, in his own eyes, from the
highest-of-the-high to the lowest-of-the-low,
because he had been raised with the information that
“every shepherd is an
abomination to the Egyptians” (Genesis 46:34)
– he suddenly went from pride to shame.
God does not need us. We are
instead PRIVILEGED to be used by him. Forty years
passed and Moses was eighty years of age and he had
been CHANGED by the events of those years. Moses
was still very curious and God appealed to his
previous education in natural science, by appearing
to the man in a “bush
(that) burned with fire,
but… was not
consumed” (Exodus 3:2). Moses said, “I
will now turn aside and see this great sight, why
the bush does not burn” (Exodus 3:3). God
wants our attention, just like He wanted his, and He
will appeal to you through the uniqueness of your
background and life.
The publication, “Our
Daily Bread,” for October 24, 2005, observed
that Moses asked God who He was, and got the
somewhat odd answer: “I AM.”
He said to Moses, “Say to
the children of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you…
This is My name forever”
(Exodus 3:14-15). The author of the “Daily
Bread” article continued, “I
have long wondered why God would call Himself by
such a name, but slowly I am learning its
significance. A sentence needs only two things to be
complete: a subject and a verb. So when God says
His name is ‘I AM,’
it conveys the concept that He is complete in
Himself. He is subject and verb. He is everything
we could possibly need.” Moses, you, and the
rest of us have a problem in that we have not
understood that when God “calls” us, He also offers
us His Holy Spirit, who through us, does what we
cannot do. HE accomplishes His call.
Many are called and most indeed do
not understand they are. You are called to minister
to your spouse and children, and when they came into
your life, God’s Holy Spirit came also, to enable
you to reach out to them in HIS love. You have been
in that workplace because God called you to be
there. As a patient or worker in a hospital, God
called you to that place. Look to the Lord, and
pray – He IS “I AM” –
for you (John 8:58).
Father, when I am honest, I see that
I am insufficient. Help and save me, Lord. I ask
for Your Holy Spirit to do, in and through me, what
I cannot do alone. In Jesus Name. Amen.
