Moses
– Freeing
Yourself to Know God
·
Is
it possible to be sincere and self-centered at the same time? Is being
'self-confident' and 'believing in ourselves' inherently wrong? But is there a
difference between being 'self-confident' and 'self-centered'?
·
Somewhere,
Moses must have become aware that God had plans for him. (See Acts 7:25)
·
Last
week we saw how Moses chose to leave his life of luxury behind, and follow
God's will for him. But Moses still had some things to learn…
·
Moses
had experienced only success to this point. From the brutal life as a slave, he
was taken to Pharaoh's household. He had a lot going for him (position,
education, charisma) But as we'll see, Moses still had a few things to learn
about God's ways…
·
Perhaps
after deciding to sever his relationships with the Egyptians, Moses began to
notice just how the Hebrews were being treated. When Moses saw someone being
beaten, Moses killed the Egyptian (Exod. 2:11,12)
·
But
the reaction from the other Israelites was not what Moses expected. They pushed
Moses aside, and questioned Moses' authority (Acts 7:26-27) Moses thought the
Israelites would appreciate what Moses had given up for them (Acts 7:25)
·
Moses
worried since that these two knew about Moses' crime, others must know (Exod.
2:14)
·
What's
more, Pharaoh was looking for Moses (Exod. 2:15) It was bad enough Moses chose
to leave Pharaoh's household (Heb. 11:24) Now, Moses has killed an Egyptian
·
Where
could Moses go? He'd already burned his bridges with the Egyptians by rejecting
Pharaoh and his daughter and killing an Egyptian. He couldn't stay with the
Israelites. They wouldn't risk the wrath they would incur by harboring a
murdered Pharaoh was looking for
·
Where
did it go wrong, Moses must have thought. He'd given up so much for God, his
motivation was to help the Israelites, even to the point of violence, and they
rejected him, and he was now a hunted man. This is not how things were supposed
to go!
·
Moses'
first mistake was to act out of emotion. He was angry at what he saw, he was
moved to compassion, and he acted in the heat of the moment.
·
Moses
was doing things in his own strength. There's no hint of Moses consulting God.
Moses thought by going through with his choice, by acting as he saw fit, God's
plan would happen.
#1) Decisions that are more
emotional than rational often can get us into trouble
#2) God wants us to tackle
challenges in His strength, but at the same time use our talents and abilities
#3) Christians will experience
rejection for doing the will of God, but sometimes it's due to our mistakes
For
next week read Exodus 2:15-25; 3:1-22; 4:1-20
