Self-Centered Humanity
As Exodus 2 begins, we are reminded of the Hebrew’s plea for
help. Moses is born and had to be
hidden. As Exodus 2 ends, we are clearly
reminded of the Hebrew people’s cry for help.
But here’s the question: Why was God waiting so long? What purpose was being served by keeping the
Hebrew folks under oppression in Egypt?
I hate to say it but that question ultimately points to our
human self-centeredness. I am guilty
because I ask the question myself. But
think about it for a second. Where does
the focus of that question reside?
To ask that question implies that the only thing in the
world that matters is the Hebrew people.
The Hebrew folks are important for sure, but they are clearly not the
only ones in the world who matter. While
the Hebrew folks are in Egypt, God is giving the Egyptians and opportunity to
see Him through the Hebrew people.
Before the Hebrew people come to claim Canaan as their inheritance, God
is giving the Canaanites one last opportunity – a few hundred years of
opportunity – to turn from their ways.
Yes, it is a shame the Hebrew people had to be in oppression
as long as they were, but do not think that God was simply ignoring them or that
He was waiting for the “proscribed amount of time” as we heard in Genesis
15. God was at work in the world, and
the Hebrew folks had to wait for God’s work to be satisfied elsewhere in the
world before their own freedom could be brought about to teach the world even
more about God’s salvation.
Moses’ Early Years
Now let’s focus on Moses.
First, notice how Moses’ mother fears for him and cares for him. She does all that she can to hide him from
being noticed. She even appoints his
sister to watch over him and make sure that he is cared for. It may seem strange for a mother to abandon
her baby to the Nile River, but in a day and age where babies were being
actively sought out and killed this action cannot be judged. Moses’ mother was just trying to do whatever
she could to get him through the current hardship. All that Moses’ mother does here is out of
her love and compassion – love and compassion that she no doubt received from
God.
Moses grows up in the palace, and he no doubt learns the
lessons of how to be a good leader and take charge. In him here we see a little bit of
Joseph. Joseph was clearly a gifted man
and filled with God’s Spirit. But in the
beginning Joseph was impulsive as he told his dreams to his brothers and
brought their ire against him. Here we
see Moses being impulsive as well. Moses
sees a Hebrew being beaten and Moses checks to make sure nobody is
looking. Then Moses kills the
Egyptian.
Now, I can understand Moses’ desire to help. Certainly that is coming from a good
root. But Moses’ impulsiveness leads him
to kill the Egyptian, which is a bad thing.
Moses’ impulsiveness led him to act before consulting with God. Not that Moses is a bad man, but like Joseph
he could stand to learn a few more lessons about patience and waiting upon the
Lord. Well, like me, too. I am just as guilty as Moses in this regard.
Moses’ Middle Life
Moses then flees Egypt while also fleeing his own people since
both the Hebrews and Egyptians have cause to reject him. Moses goes out and meets Jethro and ends up
marrying one of Jethro’s daughters, Zipporah.
Jethro will prove to be a tremendous advantage to Moses as
he teaches Moses how to lead and how to refine his impulsiveness. More than once in Exodus and the books to
follow we shall see Moses consulting with Jethro in order to glean some
wisdom. We are reminded of the lesson
with which we opened this blog post. When
Moses’ impulsiveness forces him out of Egypt, God does not abandon the
plan. God tweaks the plan and delivers
Moses into the hands of someone who can show Moses what God is doing in his life.
We have a great story here about how our own sinfulness
cannot interrupt God’s plan. God always
has a way to overcome our sinfulness rather than let our sinfulness destroy His
plans. Of course, this doesn’t give us
permission to sin. It does give us
permission to live boldly and trust that a living God will forgive us when we
make mistakes and work with us to bring about His ways for this world.
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