Exodus 2:11-15 Now it came to pass in those days, when Moses was grown, that he went out to his brethren and looked at their burdens. And he saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his brethren. So he looked this way and that way, and when he saw no one, he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand. And when he went out the second day, behold, two Hebrew men were fighting, and he said to the one who did the wrong, “Why are you striking your companion?” Then he said, “Who made you a prince and a judge over us? Do you intend to kill me as you killed the Egyptian?” So Moses feared and said, “Surely this thing is known!” When Pharaoh heard of this matter, he sought to kill Moses. But Moses fled from the face of Pharaoh and dwelt in the land of Midian; and he sat down by a well.
Exodus 4:10-14 Then Moses said to the Lord, “O my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither before nor since You have spoken to Your servant; but I am slow of speech and slow of tongue.” So the Lord said to him, “Who has made man’s mouth? Or who makes the mute, the deaf, the seeing, or the blind? Have not I, the Lord? Now therefore, go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall say.” But he said, “O my Lord, please send by the hand of whomever else You may send.” So the anger of the Lord was kindled against Moses, and He said: “Is not Aaron the Levite your brother? I know that he can speak well. And look, he is also coming out to meet you. When he sees you, he will be glad in his heart.
O: First, Moses was filled with zeal an indignation at the mistreatment of his people, but then he took the law into his own hands and had to flee -- human anger does not produce the righteousness God desires. He then spent many years a beaten man, quietly in exile in Midian.
Then suddenly, God calls him from the burning bush. Moses balks, giving excuse after excuse, even when God gave him miracles to prove that He was backing him up. Finally, God gets angry with him and tells him that his brother Aaron will be his spokesman.
A: There are many lessons to learn from this.
- Human anger does not produce the righteousness God desires. (James 1:20) Sometimes when I see injustice, I am tempted to use unrighteous means to deal with it. I must not do that.
- When God calls us to action, we must obey. Stop giving excuses.
- Even a great man of God like Moses was imperfect. Therefore, we should not let our imperfections prevent us from following God.
Incidentally, there is this curious passage in Exodus 4:24-26. Why did God try to kill Moses after He had appointed him? And why did Zipporah's circumcision of their sun stop it? A popular theory is that Moses had given in to his Midianite in-laws' pressure not to circumcise his son, in spite of knowing that God wanted it. So before he could be God's representative, he had to take care of this, but he resisted, so God had to discipline him.
Note: this is using the SOAP method. For more information, see this page (not written by me.)
No comments:
Post a Comment