Moments With God

Exodus 2:11-25

Our Lord wants us to be totally dependent on Him for strength to get through each and every day and each and every moment. So often we are tempted to run to the Lord only in a major crisis and to think we can handle most of life in our own strength. The truth is we are totally dependent on the Lord for everything. Conversely, we can do anything the Lord asks us to do in His strength. Philippians 4:13 says, "I can do everything through Him who gives me strength."

In Exodus chapter two starting at verse eleven the Old Testament character, Moses, can be viewed as an impulsive, self-willed person who was relying on himself to get through life. Before Moses could be used by God to lead God's Old Testament people out of slavery, Moses had to be changed. Moses had to be broken of self-reliance, and it was vital for Moses to understand that he needed to be dependent on the Lord alone.

As a baby Moses had been protected by God from the Egyptian Pharaoh's wicked edict. Pharaoh had made a law saying that all the Israelite baby boys had to be thrown into the Nile River. Through God's love and protection Moses had been spared. Through a series of events described in Exodus chapters one and two Moses had first been raised by his own mother for a few years, and then for most of his early childhood and early adulthood Moses had been raised in the Pharaoh's palace as the son of the princess.

One day after Moses had become a man Moses decided to go out to where his fellow Israelite were working as slaves. While there Moses saw an Egyptian beating an Israelite, one of Moses' own people. "Glancing this way and that and seeing no one, he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand." (Exodus 2:12) Although it was sinful what the Egyptian was doing to the Israelite man, Moses did not have the right to take things into his own hands and kill the Egyptian. Moses should not have tried to take things into his own hands and run ahead of God and His perfect plan. God would use Moses some day to free God's people from slavery, but this needed to happen in God's perfect way and time. So we too must not run ahead of the Lord. We must wait for the Lord's guidance, timing, and strength to accomplish His will successfully as His servants.

Because of this impulsive, self-directed act on the part of Moses he had to run for his life. The Egyptian Pharaoh heard what Moses had done. Therefore Pharaoh "tried to kill Moses, but Moses fled from Pharaoh and went to live in Midian." (Exodus 2:15) Midian was a dry and barren desert, and it was a stark contrast from the previous home of Moses in the palace of the Pharaoh. Moses lived in Midian for forty years. He married, had a son named Gershom and tended his father-in-law, Jethro's flock of sheep. More than likely Moses felt this would be his place in life for the rest of his life. God had other plans for Moses, however. Moses was going to lead God's people away from slavery in Egypt in God's perfect timing, but first God had to change the heart of Moses. Moses had to be taught humility and reliance on God alone. This could only happen in the desert land of Midian.

Sometimes God has to take us through desert-like experiences in our lives also. Sometimes like Moses only through trials in our lives do we learn to wait and depend on the Lord God alone. Sometimes only through deep trials do we learn patience and humility. Then and only then can God use us in His kingdom to accomplish His will. So when we are going through the desert-like experiences of life let us be patient and submissive to His will. The Lord may be using these experiences to mold us to become better reflections of Himself. The Lord may be using these experiences to better equip us to serve Him in wonderful ways in the future!