From the time of Joseph to the beginning of the story of\nMoses there was a lapse of over 300 years. The preparation for the Exodus to\nfollow eighty years later begins in chapter one where we are told that Amram\nand Jochebed decided to hide Moses from a likely death at the hands of\nPharaoh\u2019s men. That act was in a direct violation of Pharaoh\u2019s edict to have\nall male Hebrew babies killed at birth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
(Ex. 1; Acts 7:20; Heb. 11:23)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
God used two women to assure the continuation of the nation\nof Israel. For Shiphrah and Puah, Hebrew midwives it was more important for\nthem to fear God and obey Him than it was to follow the dictates of the king of\nEgypt. God had already commanded the Israelites not to take a human life. Those\ntwo women understood to kill the babies was a sin against God. Because of their\nfaithfulness God blessed each one of them. (Ex.1:17, 20-21)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When we come to the life of Moses and the role he would play\nin the history of Israel, there are three events or periods of time that should\nbe considered defining moments for him. He could not have orchestrated them,\nbut God used each of them to shape the man he became. The ones I reference in\nwhat follows are prior to his confrontation with Pharaoh. That discussion will\ncome later. What I am talking about here begins with his murder of the Egyptian\nand ends with the encounter he had with God in the desert. The last of the\nthree would have never taken place without the first two. The first shows us\nGod uses even our failures to grow us <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The path Moses took to becoming the leader of the Israelites\nis an important part of his life and must never forgotten. A defining moment\ncame when he tried to develop a relationship with his people. What began in his\nmind as a good idea actually ended in disaster. On one of his visits he saw and\nEgyptian mistreating an Israelites. In his eagerness to help the man he killed the\nEgyptian. Of course, that kind of act cannot be hidden from others. When he\ntried to break up an argument between two Jews one of them confronted him with the\nwhat he had done the day before. Moses had assumed that they would understand\nthat because of his position he would be able to help them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
(Ex. 2:11-14)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Because he killed an Egyptian, even though he was the\nadopted son of Pharaoh\u2019s daughter, he would not be exempt from being punished by\nthe Pharaoh for his crime. This was especially true since he was a Hebrew. The\nvictim was a citizen of Egypt. At that point Moses had no choice but to flee\nfor his life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
(Ex. 2:15)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
His flight into Midian turned out to the benefit of Moses. Although\nhe had to leave Egypt for all the wrong reasons, what happened to him over the\nnext forty years would prepare him for leading the Israelites out of Egypt. In\nways that Moses could not understand God was working out the future of His\npeople in precise detail. It was no\naccident, but God\u2019s ordained plan, that he would meet the daughters of Jethro,\na priest in Midian. From his father-in-law, he would come understand the role\nthat humility in one\u2019s life and the skills that would be needed if he was going\nto accepted as a servant leader by his people. Gone were the self-confidence and\narrogance that had led him to using brute force to prove what an important man\nhe was. He would find the way back to Egypt in front of a flock of sheep. Here\nwas a one-time prince of Egypt doing one the lowest dirtiest jobs that could be\nperformed in society. Shepherds were looked down upon as unclean people in culture.\nOne of the things that would be discovered is that it took a great deal of\npatience to take care of a bunch of dumb animals that have a mind of their own.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
(Ex. 2:15-4:19)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Although a shepherd may be held in\ncontempt by others it was to such men to whom the announcement came that a\nSavior had been born into the world. The lowly shepherds of Bethlehem became\nthe first to proclaim the Good News to others. In fact, the most famous\nancestor of our Lord began as a shepherd boy before becoming a king. One of the\ntitles often used in the New Testament spoke of that king. Jesus was called the\nSon of David by Bartimaeus and even used the description for Himself. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
(Matt. 20:29-34, 22:41-45; Luke 2:8-20)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In was while performing his duties as a\nshepherd that the encounter with God took place. That meeting would forever\nchange the direction of his life. He would go from being a shepherd to the man\nGod called to lead the people out of Egypt. Even here we see a process taking\nplace that was needed to remove from Moses the mindset of a failure to one with\nGod\u2019s help could accomplish great things. Part of the defining moment was the\nhonest dialog that Moses had with God. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
It is not always an easy thing to move a\nperson from acceptance of the status quo to one of a totally new direction of\nbeing willing to take risks. The former is always going to be comfortable while\naccomplishing little. The latter brings with it all kinds of exciting\npossibilities. For Moses fear of going back to the place from which he had fled\nwas in a way paralyzing. To go where God was going to send him would take real\nfaith, but in the meantime would free him from his past. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
It might appear from what has been\nwritten that the defining moments just pop up out of no- where. Just the\nopposite is true. I discovered that quite often there is a process that occurs that\nbrings a person to the fork in the road where decisions really do affect one\u2019s\ndestiny. In the case of Moses, we must not forget there, would have been no\ntrip to the back side of the wilderness or burning bush without all of the\nchallenges He face in the forty years preceding that moment when God met him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In all of our lives where are today is\ndependent on all the steps we have taken along the way. Most of us do not even\ntake the take to consider how even what appear to be baby steps have impacted who\nwe are. Many of you may not be familiar with a tool called a \u201cSpiritual ProfiIe\u201d\noriginally developed by Rick Warren, pastor of Saddleback Church in California. It is used in conjunction with discovering a\nperson\u2019s SHAPE, which is an acrostic for Spiritual Gifts, Heart, Abilities,\nPersonality, and how Experiences good or bad play a part in one\u2019s spiritual\ngrowth. One of the exercises the participant is asked to do related to\nexperiences is to go back to his\/her earliest years and write down all the\nthings that can be remembered. Those recollections are to be of those things in\nwhich he or she believes were done well. Taking those experiences, I would like\nto suggest another way of looking at them. Let\u2019s view them from the perspective\nof what they would look like them if viewed as encounters with God. It is those encounters we have through His\nword, prayer, events, or associations with others that truly shape us to be\nwhat God desires for each of us, <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Moses did not find the encounter easy\nbecause quite often the expression comes with personal risks. We have already mentioned that Moses to do\nwhat God asked his to do might end with rejection by his people to death at the\nhands of Pharaoh. We truly need to be prepared for the consequences of\nfollowing him with full confidence that He will be with us every step of the\nway. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Let\u2019s take a journey back to that\nencounter with God. How did Moses react? \nIf you have gone through the exercise mentioned above, did you see God\u2019s\nhand in what has happened in your life? What was your reaction and response to\nHis calling? See if you can picture yourself in some of the arguments that\nMoses offered by to God. You might even\ncome up with some variations of the same struggle he had with venturing into\nthe future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As we shall see in one of Moses\u2019 most\nimportant moments, his encounter with God at the burning bush there was a\ncertain process in play. I view it with four words beginning the letter E.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
They are:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Equip
\nTo be equipped or prepared for the encounter or experience with God, what\ncriteria is to be used to judge equipping?
\n
\n1. What has been your preparation for worship God this week?
\na. Bible reading
\nb. Prayer
\nc. Or has it been to put the family in the car and show up at the front door\nwearing your church face.
\n
\n2. Even though it may appear that the experience is spontaneous God never\nsprings it on someone who He has not prepared for that special time. We\nmay see it as unexpected but there are years of growing, suffering, learning\netc. behind that encounter.
\n
\nFor example Moses, like David, had many hours to reflect on all of the events\nsurrounding his life as he shepherded the sheep during those forty years in the\ndesert.. How could he forget the way in which he was saved by the courage\nand wisdom of his mother from certain death after his birth as was the fate of\nso many of the Hebrew boys by order of Pharaoh. Then to have Pharaoh’s\ndaughter find him and for his own mother to nurture him during the formative\nyears had to make a great impact on his life. She possibly was his nurse\nand caregiver for the first seven or eight years of his life. His\nthoughts could have turned to the training he received in the courts of the\npalace only to have to flee because of the murder he committed. Now after\n40 years in the desert as a shepherd of his father-in-law’s sheep he was more\nready to do God’s bidding than he could comprehend.
\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Another way of looking at the\nway we have been prepared to meet God is a different acrostic. It pretty much\npresents the same criteria as was seen above in discovering one\u2019s SHAPE. Wayne Codeiro in his book, “Doing Church\nas a Team,” shares that each of us has a specific spiritual identity that\nuniquely equips us for our relationship with God and His Church.
\nHe calls it DESIGN.
\n
\n
\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Again, each letter refers to\nthe way God has wired us for His purpose. They are:
\n
\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Once the preparation has been\nmade then there is the experience itself and the lessons God wants us to learn.
\n
\nFrom Moses’ burning bush experience there are certain things that can be\ndiscovered.
\nIt is all about God
\n1. It is God’s agenda. It is He who sets the conditions. Moses was\ntold to take off his shoes.
\n2. God made the spot where Moses was standing holy. Can you imagine that\na sandy, hot, desolate place could be declared holy?
\n3. It is God who speaks. He spoke out of the burning bush
\n4. It is He who gives the instructions, the directions the challenges. I\nam going to send you to Egypt.
\n5. He does not have to listen to us any more than He would accept the\nsacrifices of the Israelites when their hearts were not committed to\nHim. Most of our responses are but weak excuses when we are in His\npresence. Moses said I cannot go because I do not speak well.
\n6. He determines the place and the time. Moses surely would have walked over\nthat same ground many, many times before, in his 40 years in the desert. \nIn all that time he had never seen a burning bush before. When the cries\nof the Israelites reached their peak, God said it is time.
\n
\nWhen God approaches us as we come into His presence, we discover worship is not\nabout us it is all about Him.
\n
\nDo we really think that this was a comfortable situation for Moses?
\n1. He was told to take his shoes off. Out there in the burning desert in\nthe heat of the day God says remove your shoes.
\n2. Would it not be disconcerting to realize that the God of the universe was\nactually talking with you?
\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Expectations.
\nGod has a plan and purpose and part of the experience must always be to try and\ndiscern what that purpose entails. This is the hardest part to understand\nabout experiencing God. He never allows the person to leave that time\nunchanged. He truly wants a\ntransformation to occur in each person\u2019s life. \nBecause this may all be new to us, He never expects anything but baby\nsteps at first. For those who have been\nin His service for a while He calls for greater commitment
\n
\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Moses was going to be no\ndifferent. He was going to leave that\ntime spent alone with God with a tremendous responsibility for the nation of\nIsrael. He was going to be God’s leader for that time and the next forty\nyears. Moses did not believe himself to\nbe equipped to face the uncertain future. God however did not allow Moses\nto escape his responsibilities with a false sense of humility and\ninadequacy. God held his feet to the fire.
\n
\nExpression.
\nGod has spoken since time began that to experience Him will always result in\nservice or sacrifice. There is a cost
\nIn Ephesians 2: 8-10 we are told. “For by grace you have been saved\nthrough faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a\nresult of works, so that no one may boast, for we are His workmanship, created\nin Christ Jesus for good works.
\n
\nPaul in Romans 12:1-2 says, “Therefore, I urge you, brethren, by the\nmercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable\nto God, which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be\nconformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so\nthat you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable\nand perfect.
\n
\nIn Phil 3: 10 he writes, “that I may know Him and the power of His\nresurrection and the fellowship of His suffering, being conformed to His death;\nIn order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.”
\n
\nWayne Codeiro writes, “that God is worthy of our very best.” He\ngoes on to say, “Because everything we do is for an audience of One,\neverything matters!” (Page 83)
\n
\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Moses responded by going to\nEgypt. This service did not come without pain and suffering. He had\nto deal with the same kinds of attitudes and situations we face.
\n
\nSo how do we equip ourselves for this experience?
\nThe first prerequisite is to come into that personal relationship with God\nthrough His Son Jesus Christ. Then and only then will you experience that\ntrue encounter.
\nLearn your SHAPE\/DESIGN
\nListen to God through His word
\nCome before Him with an attitude of service. Someone has written that\nthere is no such thing as a non-serving Christian.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
(Ex. 3:1-4:19)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There is one more incident\nthat occurred before Moses arrived in Egypt that must not be overlooked. It\ntook place on the trip back. Remember Moses had been in Midian for forty years.\nDuring that time to sons were born to him Being a Jew he was to follow the\ncovenant given to Abraham. All male children who were descendants of Abraham\nwere to be circumcised. Whether Moses forgot or did not believe it necessary to\ndo so since he was living in a foreign land we shall never know. One thing for\nsure God had not forgotten the covenant and it was important to Him. His\npeople, especially Moses who was to lead a whole nation out of Egypt, was to be\nobedient to God\u2019s commands. How could he be the leader of his people if he was\ndisobedient to God. Luke wrote something that applied to this situation. Jesus\nsaid, \u201cFrom everyone who has been much, much will be required; and to whom they\nentrusted much, of him they will ask all the more.\u201d (Luke 12:48) It was his\nresponsibility and his alone to circumcise his sons not his wife\u2019s. What almost\ntook place could have changed what God had planned. As a consequence of his disobedience, God was\nabout to kill him. If it had not been for quick action of Zipporah, Moses would\nhave died never carrying out the purpose of God for His people. Her rebuke of\nhim was necessary. She called him \u201ca bridegroom of blood.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
(Ex. 4:24-26)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Although he had been warned by God that\nPharaoh would not allow the people go except under duress, Moses was called off\nguard by his reaction. God had to intervene to keep Moses and Aaron from giving\nup the cause even before God begun to deal with the king and the Egyptians. How\neasy it is to quit when the going gets rough. The old saying that says, \u201cWhen\nthe going gets tough the tough get going.\u201d This certainly was going to true for\nMoses, so it was good that he learned that lesson well early in the process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
(Ex. 3:19-20; Ex. 5:1-2)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The moment everything changed in Pharaoh\u2019s\nlife did occur when he commanded the Egyptians to enslave and oppress the\nIsraelites. (Ex. 1:10) It also did not happen when he gave the order to have\nall of the male babies killed. (Ex. 1:16,22) When, however, he said to Moses,\n\u201cWho is the Lord that I should obey His voice to let Israel go? I do not know\nthe Lord, and I will not let Israel go,\u201d began his downfall. With that one\nstatement he set in motion the devastation of his nation and loss of his own\nfirstborn son. He reached, by his actions, the point of no return. We are told\nin Scripture that God hardened his heart. I believe what really took place was God\u2019s\nconfirmation of the condition of Pharaoh\u2019s heart that already existed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
(Ex. 5:2; 10:7; 12:29)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Each plague that took place in Egypt\nwhich were judgments against all of the gods of the Egyptian people\naccomplished two things. First in help to increase Moses\u2019 faith in God\u2019s\nability to carry out His plan. It also demonstrated God\u2019s power over false gods\nthat the people in the land worshipped. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
(Ex. 7:1-10:29)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Although all of the previous plaques did\nnot get the desired results for the Jews, the final one would break the will\nand spirit of the people. Because of his stubbornness Pharaoh would see all of\nthe first born of Egypt die on the night of the Passover. Egypt would never be\nthe same again but would always be a second-rate nation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
(Ex. 12:29-30)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Passover was to be a day of national\nidentity for the Israelites. It was a sign of salvation from the oppression of\nthe Egyptians and the beginning of their journey to the Promised Land.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
(Ex. 12:2, 11-14, 17,27,42, 51: Heb.\n11:28)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Pharaoh\u2019s continued stubbornness had cost\nhim everything. Now as a last act of defiance toward God he sent his entire\narmy to total destruction in the Red Sea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
(Ex. 14:2-31)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Aaron listened to the voices of the\npeople and gave into their demands for a god to lead them back to Egypt. He rather than proving he was a leader of men.\nIf was obvious that even if Moses did not return, he was not capable leading\nthe people forward into the Promised Land. He lacked the important attributes\nof courage, commitment to the goal or understanding of who God was. Instead his\nplace would be as a follower not a leader. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
There was another man Saul who listened\nto the demands of the people and lost a kingdom. (1 Sam.) Aaron certainly\nproved here that he could not be trusted with the responsibility given him.\nNever again he would have such an opportunity and always live in Moses\u2019 shadow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
(Ex. 32:1-5: Acts 7:39-41)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As a result of worshipping the golden\ncalf three thousand of the Israelites were killed by the sword at the hands of\nthe Levites. Many more had their names removed from the Book of Life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
(Ex. 32:27-28, 32-33)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It took the sin of the people to bring\nMoses to the point of understanding his purpose in what God was doing with the\nNation of Israel. His identity was now bound up in the future of his people in\na way that he had not allowed himself to be before this test. The first\nindication that a shift in his thoughts had taken place was his willingness to\nhave his name removed from the Book of Life if God did not forgive His people. We\nsee this same commitment in Romans 9:3 where Paul was willing to give up his\nown salvation for his brethren and kinsmen among the Jews.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Secondly, He was unwilling to leave Mt.\nSinai without the leadership and presence of God. Moses understood that he\ncould not lead the people unless the Lord was with him. When a person reaches a\nmoment of ultimate commitment there comes with it a different mindset. Moses\ndesired<\/p>\n\n\n\n
(Ex.\n32:32; 33:13, 15-16; 34:9<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
From the time of Joseph to the beginning of the story of Moses there was a lapse of over 300 years. The preparation for the Exodus to follow eighty years later begins in chapter one where we are told that Amram and Jochebed decided to hide Moses from a likely death at the hands of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-742","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-defining-moments"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblicalmastery.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/742","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblicalmastery.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblicalmastery.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblicalmastery.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblicalmastery.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=742"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/biblicalmastery.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/742\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":743,"href":"https:\/\/biblicalmastery.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/742\/revisions\/743"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblicalmastery.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=742"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblicalmastery.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=742"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblicalmastery.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=742"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}