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you may feel unqualified, uneducated, untrained, under-gifted, or even unworthy. Yet, as
we will see in the coming chapters, those are excellent qualifications for God to do a mighty work.
Among all the biblical heroes, only Daniel (and possibly Joseph and Joshua) makes it to the pages of holy writ without recorded lapses and failures.
Long after most of us would be riding a rocking chair or pushing up daisies, Moses began his spiritual career. And guess what? God used him mightily.
Dwight L. Moody gave his own spin on this remarkable biography. “Moses,” Moody observed, “spent his first forty years thinking he was somebody. He spent his second forty years learning he was a nobody. He spent his third forty years discovering what God can do with a nobody.”1
You and I, though we may never achieve the age of one hundred and twenty, live in one of those three stages at this very moment. We either think we’re somebody,
or we have advanced enough to realize we are nobody, or we have finally discovered what God can do with a nobody! It’s kind of encouraging, isn’t it? God never gives up on us!
That is the hand of God. Scripture tells us, “When a man’s ways are pleasing to the LORD, he makes even his enemies live at peace with him” (Proverbs 16:7, NIV). Never
To walk by faith does not mean you stop thinking.
Acting foolishly or thoughtlessly, expecting God to bail you out if things go amiss, isn’t faith at all. It is presumption. Wisdom says, do all you can within your strength, then trust Him to do what you cannot do, to accomplish what you cannot accomplish.
Faith and careful planning go hand-in-hand. They always have.
A deep sea of emotions surges beneath these two verses. The boy Moses suddenly had a new home. And what a change of scene! From the security of his own loving family to a lonely and unfamiliar place of strangers. From slave quarters to a palace. From the simple and the familiar to the strange and overwhelming.
You were not an accident.
The Temple of the Sun has been called by some “the Oxford of the ancient world.” The course of study at Sun Temple U began with what we would call Hieroglyphics 101. Some have said that this language is the most difficult ever put into writing. It does not use characters; it uses pictographs— highly stylized symbols that represent complex ideas.
One scholar of antiquities says it takes some people a lifetime to master hieroglyphics.
The Bible also tells us that Moses’ diligent study and preparation made him into a man “mighty in words and deeds.” He made a name for himself and earned the Egyptians’ respect.
By the time he reached thirty, extrabiblical historians tell us, he had already led the Egyptian army to a smashing victory over the
Some teachers suggest Moses did not know the will of God for his life until his encounter at the burning bush, at age eighty. That’s what I heard all through my growing-up years, and I believed it. Everyone assumed that Moses first realized he was to deliver Israel at that amazing moment in the desert of Midian when the voice of God called to
I believe Scripture strongly implies Moses had begun to understand his destiny while still a young man being educated in the Egyptian court. Before he reached the age of forty, I am convinced God had already put it into Moses’ mind that he would one day, through some as-yet-unrevealed manner, lead his people out of bondage.
He knew God’s will. But the problem was, he did not bother to
seek God’s way and God...
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Somewhere along the line, Scripture doesn’t say when, a plan began to form in this powerful young man’s mind. The trouble is, when you know the ultimate will of God for your life and things aren’t happening fast enough to
suit you, you become anxious. You begin looking for ways to jumpstart the process. You will not read in Acts or Exodus or in any other portion of Scripture that God led Moses to kill an Egyptian. Moses was strictly a freelance murderer. Verse 23 tells us, “It entered his mind to visit his brethren, the sons of Israel” (italics mine).
Without realizing it, Moses entered a vulnerable, dangerous time of life. While I’m convinced he knew he was to redeem Israel, I also believe he grew ants...
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state of mind, he launched a premature strike that resulted in disaster . . . and a forty-year setback. Desiring to carry out the will of God, eager to do great things for God, he forced a situation, which led to personal disaster. Notice again what it says in ...
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Moses acted deliberately according to plan. His plan. Verse 12 tells us that “he looked this way and that.” Picture that in your mind. In that moment, Moses became man-conscious. He saw abuse going on and he thought, Now’s my chance to make my move. So he rolled up his sleeves and took on the inequity. Enough of all this unfair treatment!
Nowhere do you read where God said to Moses, “Move into this situation and make it right.” Moses made that decision on his own. He looked this way, and he looked that way . . . then reacted swiftly, viciously.
He dedicated himself to the will of God, but not to the God whose will it was.
Let that thought sink in. You and I can become so dedicated to the will of God, we can be so driven by a false sense of purpose, that we might inadvertently take matters into our own hands and leave God completely out of the loop.
when Moses stepped in and began his own Operation Deliverance, he was energized by the flesh, not the Spirit.
You may truly sense that God has something for you to accomplish in a certain area. But if you aren’t vigilant, if you aren’t daily humbling yourself before Him, seeking His face, discerning His timing, operating under the Spirit’s control, you may push and shove and force your way prematurely into that place where God wanted you, but you will not have arrived in His own time.
Moses looked this way, and he looked that way. Isn’t it interesting? He didn’t look up, did he? He looked in both directions horizontally, but left the vertical completely out of it. And what did he do with the results of his murderous anger? Scripture says “he hid the Egyptian in the sand.”
Bottom line: If you are moving in the energy of the flesh, you’re doomed to fail.
Remember, by this time in his career, he was “educated in all the learning of the Egyptians.” You see, our impressive
flesh to get a job done, you don’t need more schooling. You don’t need another degree. You don’t need more training seminars. Plain and simple, you need wisdom.
But discerning wisdom takes time. It takes some major bumps in the road. It takes enduring some failures and swallowing big and bitter doses of humility. FROM THE PALACE TO THE WILDERNESS
Did he take off on foot, throw himself on the back of a horse, or borrow a royal chariot and ride it until the
And with every step, he probably groaned within himself over his untimely deed, saying things like, “Life is over. God can never, never use me. I’m absolutely finished.”
When the self-life finally sits down, the well of a new life lies near.
Moses finally slumped to the ground at the end of a self-driven life, fresh, cool drinking water was available right next to him.
You have run far enough. You have stood long enough. You have fought, pushed, and manipulated your way for too many years. God has finally grabbed your attention. He is saying, “Quit! Stop! Let Me handle it! Sit there on the hot sands of the desert where you have brought yourself. Look at what lies next to you. It is a well, full of fresh water.” Soon it will be God’s delight to bring that bucket up and refresh your soul. Sit still. Stay there. Be quiet.
“Cease striving and know that I am God” (Psalm 46:10).
Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I keep Your word. (v. 67) It is good for me that I was afflicted, that I may learn Your statutes. The law of your mouth is better to me than thousands of gold and silver pieces. (vv. 71–72)
“I used to wander off until you punished me; now I closely follow all you say. . . . The punishment you gave me was the best thing that could have happened to me, for it taught me to pay attention to your laws. They are more valuable to me than millions in silver and gold!”
When I emerge from dark passages of walking and acting in the flesh and (finally) come to the end of that ugly scene, my heart cries out for purity. For light. I hunger for it! I am disgusted with my selfishness, more determined than ever to stay on the right path, walking closer than ever to Christ. Times of failure bring me to a place of wanting to live in uncompromising obedience.
SPIRITUAL ENDS ARE NEVER ACHIEVED BY CARNAL MEANS
Moses may have thought he was following God’s plan in that moment, but he never bothered to check signals. He certainly never prayed before he struck the blow. We have no record that he sought God’s face before taking that significant step. As a result, the bottom fell out of Moses’ dreams like a soggy cardboard box. It was the biggest setback of his life.
Sometimes I think it’s more important. How many times have I done the right thing at the wrong time . . . and had it blow up in my face? I’m embarrassed to think back and remember how often that’s happened. The fact is, God not only plans what we are to do, He has arranged the right time for us to do it.
he could have written one word over the entire carnal experience: premature. He jumped into that scene. He vaulted into rebellion. He pushed his way in. He forced the door. And everything backfired.
When God’s in something, it flows.
