The Way of Moses

When Moses murdered an Egyptian, it was an example of good intentions gone wrong. Moses witnessed one of his fellow Israelites being abused by an Egyptian overseer. Appalled at the injustice of it all, he sought to right the wrong himself and killed the abusive Egyptian. Rather than being greeted as a liberator by his people, the next day when Moses sought to break up a fight between two Israelites, one of them asked him, “Who made you ruler and judge over us? Are you thinking of killing me as you killed the Egyptian?” (Exodus 2:14)

Terrified, Moses realized that what he’d done was now public knowledge; his fears were confirmed when the Pharaoh sought to have him caught and executed. Running for his life, he fled to Midian, married a local girl, and spent the next forty years tending sheep.

Moses was right to be concerned about the Israelites. God was concerned too–and he had a plan. But just because Moses was concerned and had tried to rectify an injustice, didn’t mean that God endorsed his approach. Moses was right to want to see justice done. Moses was even right that God wanted Moses to be the one to do something about it. But: Moses was wrong about the method and timing. He had to wait 40 years for God’s plans to come to fruition.

Good intentions are not enough. The rightness of our cause is not enough. We must learn God’s way and then act, when he let’s us know the method and timing are right. There is sometimes a big difference between our way and God’s way, even when both are aiming for the same destination.