Today I would like to share something with you that I have never shared with you before. It’s about my own life and it is a little awkward to talk about. It wasn’t until I became an adult that I discovered that the parents that raised me were not my real biological parents. I grew up thinking that I was someone, only to find out that I was someone else. You can imagine the shock and confusion I felt when I also discovered that I had an older brother and sister that I never knew about.
By the time I found out about all of this, my real parents had already passed away, but at least I was able to find out about them. I learned that they were both brick makers. They worked very hard every day, but their boss treated poorly and they never made very much money. When I came along, my parents already had my older brother and sister, and they never knew if there would be enough food to feed their family. It was a difficult time for everyone, but they continued to pray to God day after day.
Even though my parents were poor, they loved our all of us very much. I guess that’s why my mother cried so much. You see, not long after I was born, they thought I was going to die. My mother had to keep me in seclusion for the first three months of my life, and every time she nursed me, her tears rolled off her cheeks and dripped onto mine. She never knew if this was going to be the day she would lose me, but she constantly prayed that God would spare my life.
I don’t know if we ever fully understand why things happen in our lives the way they do—my mother certainly didn’t understand why this was happening to me. But the fact that I lived showed her that God had a special plan for my life! Even though she didn’t raise me, she always wondered how God was going to use me!
You must understand, when I was born, I didn’t have any disease or deformity. What threatened my life was a great act of cruelty. It didn’t only threaten my life; it threatened and took the lives of all the newborn boys in the land of Goshen. Pharaoh, king of Egypt, saw that my people, the Hebrew people, had become quite numerous. He was afraid that if war broke, we would join with Egypt’s enemies and overpower them. He didn’t want to lose his slave labor which made the bricks and built the great storehouses of Egypt.
So, to fix this population problem, he dealt with our people shrewdly and commanded our midwives to kill all the newborn boys. But they feared God more than Pharaoh and they refused to participate in this genocide. Then Pharaoh ordered that every boy must be thrown into the Nile River. In this way, thousands of little Hebrew boys were snatched from their mother’s arms and drowned to death. To this very day, our whole nation still mourns this tragedy in our history!
God Saves Moses at Birth (1:1-2:10)
This is why my mother kept me in seclusion for three months. She protected me as long as she could, but when she realized that she couldn’t keep me hidden any longer, she left me to the mercy of the Nile. Instead of casting me into the water to drown, she made me a little boat out of a papyrus basket and set me adrift down the river. My older sister Miriam was so heartbroken that she walked along the bank of the river to see what would happen to her beloved baby brother, and I am so glad she did.
With a stroke of divine providence, my basket boat got caught in the reeds. Now it just happened that Pharaoh’s daughter, the princess of Egypt, had gone to that area of the river to bathe that day. And it just happened that she saw my basket floating on the water. And when she opened it and saw me inside, even though I was a Hebrew baby, she felt sorry for me. As she was figuring out what to do with me, my sister appeared and asked her if she wanted her to get one of the Hebrew women to nurse him for her. And when she said yes, the most ironic thing of all happened. Pharaoh’s daughter actually paid my biological mother to nurse and take care of me. The princess named me Moses, which means “I drew him out of the water.”
Even though my biological mother nursed me for the first few years of my life, I have no memory of her. When I got a little older, I went to live in Pharaoh’s house and was raised by the princess. I grew up with all of the privileges of a prince of Egypt. For all those years, I had no idea that my true identity had been hidden.
When I finally found out who I was and heard the story of how my life had been spared, somehow I knew that it was the God of my ancestors who orchestrated these events. I knew that he delivered me from death because he had a special purpose for my life.
This is true of you also! God is always working behind the scenes of your life. He is always orchestrating the events of your life to accomplish his special purposes. You may not understand why things have happened the way they have, but someday you will. I didn’t understand why I was born to Hebrew slaves but was raised by Egyptian royalty until I was 80 years old. When God finally revealed his ultimate plan for my life, everything made perfect sense.
I think we all have questions about our lives! Why was I born where and when I was? Why did God give me the family he gave me? Why have I experienced the trials that I have? One day, you too will understand! But until that day comes, keep trusting the Lord.
Moses Flees to Midian (2:11-25)
When I found out that I was actually a Hebrew, I finally met my sister Miriam and my brother Aaron. As I started spending time with my people and I became more and more disturbed by the way the Egyptians treated them. My people were forced to work the fields of Egypt. Their bodies were broken from carrying bricks and their backs were bludgeoned by the slave master’s whips. A sense of injustice that was bubbling in my heart and it ran over one day when I saw an Egyptian brutally beating one of my people. After I looked around and saw no one, I took justice into my own hands and killed the Egyptian. I knew it was wrong, but my anger overtook me!
I covered up the murder by burying the man’s body in the sand. I thought that no one else knew about it, until the next day when I broke up a fight between two Hebrews. With all of the abuse they received from the slave masters, I couldn’t understand why these two were fighting. When I asked the one who was in the wrong, I was shocked by his response when he said, “Who made you ruler and judge over us? Are you thinking of killing me as you killed the Egyptian?” I got scared when I realized that my crime was known.
When Pharaoh found out what happened, he got scared too. He wasn’t overly concerned about the man I killed, but he was concerned about my growing sympathy for the Hebrews. Now that I knew my true identity, he knew that I was a threat to his regime of oppression, so he tried to kill me. Just like when I was three months old, my life was no longer safe in Egypt. So, I fled across the desert to Midian.
When I arrived in Midian I found shelter under the tents of a priest named Reuel. I married his daughter Zipporah and she bore my firstborn son Gershom. Now don’t misunderstand me, my father-in-law was a good man, he treated me kindly and gave me his daughter, but as it is with most father-in-laws, he wanted something in return. So, I became his chief shepherd and tended his sheep for the next forty years.
The pastures of Midian were a lot different than the palaces of Egypt. My first forty years were spent in royalty; my second forty years were spent as a refugee. As I tended the flocks day after day and year after year, I began to wonder about God’s plan for my life again. Did God save me from the mouth of the Nile just to tend sheep in the desert? My life wasn’t turning out like I had planned or hoped!
Has that ever happened to you? Do you ever feel like your life isn’t turning out like you planned or hoped? Have you ever fallen from the peak to the pit? Have you ever been kicked from the palace to the pasture? It is a humbling experience, but sometimes that is exactly what we need!
I didn’t know it at the time but the Lord was using these years to prepare me for his ultimate purpose. Back then, I had no idea that he was planning to use me to confront Pharaoh and deliver the Hebrew people from slavery, but he used forty years of learning how to lead sheep to teach me how to lead people. The best place in the world to get an MPA (Masters of People Administration) is at Shepherd University.
The Lord may be doing the same thing in your life! He may be using your past mistakes or your present struggles to prepare you for his future purposes!
Moses and the Burning Bush (3:1-22)
On one very average day, I was out tending the flocks on the back side of the desert at the foot of Mt. Horeb. As I looked up at its tall and jagged face, I saw something very strange. There was a bush on fire, and yet, it did not burn up. Ordinarily, I never would have climbed that dangerous mountain, but I was so intrigued that I started up. When I got to the top and stepped forward to look at this sight, the voice of the Lord called out to me from the bush and said, “Moses! Moses! Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.” I turned my head because I was afraid to look at God.
Then he told me that he saw the misery of his people and heard their cries. He assured me that he was concerned about their suffering and that he had a plan to bring about their deliverance. Then he gave me the biggest surprise of my life. He said, “I am sending you to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt.”
I was overwhelmed and confused! I immediately protested, saying, “Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh and deliver the Israelites. Don’t you know who I am? Don’t you know about my past? I’m a murderer! Don’t you know what I am now? I’m a simple shepherd, not an eloquent spokesman! Don’t you know that I have a speech impediment? Pharaoh will laugh at me. You can’t use someone like me! Surely there must be someone more qualified than me!”
But God said to me, “Don’t you know who I am? I am who I am! Don’t you know about my past? I am the God of your Father, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob! Don’t you know that I made a covenant with them long ago? Don’t you know that I promised that I would always be with them and bless them and give them the Promised Land? I intend to keep my promise and I will use you to do it!” At that moment, I understood why all of the events in my life happened the way they did. I was 80 years old and God finally revealed his ultimate purpose for my life!
I learned something about God that day! I learned that he really is all-powerful. If he can use stuttering murderer to deliver a whole people from slavery, he can do anything! Maybe you look at your past sins, present disabilities, or even your age and think, “God could never use me.” Well, I am living proof that he can!
Moses Delivers a Nation (4-15)
Well, God kept his promise! It wasn’t easy, but he used me to free my people from slavery. Pharaoh didn’t listen to me at first, but God wore him down with a series of ten plagues. And they were bad ones too—frogs, gnats, flies, locusts, etc. But it was the plague of the firstborn son that finally made him listen. I told Pharaoh that if he didn’t let my people go, the spirit of death would come upon Egypt and all the firstborn sons would die. I guess it was a little divine retribution for what Pharaoh did to the Hebrew boys years before.
So, I led our people through the Red Sea and to the brink of the Promised Land. God also used me to deliver his Ten Commandments, establish his laws, and to this day I still serve as judge over the people. It is amazing to think about how God can transform someone from a common criminal into a community leader—a murderer into a minister!
Now that I am old and think back over my life, I see that God was with me from the beginning. I now understand why I was spared from the Nile, raised by Egyptian parents, and spent forty years as a lowly shepherd. Even though I didn’t understand any of it at the time, he orchestrated all of the events of my life perfectly. You may not understand the events of your life now, but someday you will!
As my own day of death now draws near, there is still one question that I have. God used me to deliver his people from slavery, but I wonder if he will ever raise up other unlikely person to deliver his people from slavery to sin? I bet he will!