Reading Plan: Exodus 2:11-25
Author: Austin Sines Fleeing Failure
Years have passed and Moses is now a man. One day Moses visits the Hebrew people. He sees an Egyptian slavedriver beating a Hebrew and decides to kill the Egyptian and bury his body in the sand. Pharoah hears of this and then tries to kill Moses, but Moses flees to Egypt and comes to a town called Midian. Moses is invited in and eventually marries Zipporah. They have a son named Gershom which means “I was a stranger there.”
Have you ever found yourself somewhere that made you feel like a stranger? Maybe it's at work, a football game, Disney World, Walmart, etc. This is probably how Moses felt in Egypt. As a Christian, sometimes it feels like the rest of the world is our Egypt. Sometimes I feel like a stranger in my own generation and culture. Moses was in Pharaoh’s house and knew he didn’t belong there. The same goes for us. No matter how much we desire to succeed, to fit in, to do well, and make it, there is the underlying truth that as Christians we are strangers here in this world. We need to embrace our strangeness rather than suppress or camouflage it, or else we might lose it and treat each other with the violence of Egyptians. We need Moses-type identities and we need to know who we are and where we came from.
Moses did not lose his identity even through his failures.
It's safe to call murder a failure, right? In fact, it even seems like somewhat of an understatement. Anyway, when Moses murders the Egyptian, do you think God had to formulate a different rescue plan for Israel and use someone else? No. God uses flawed people for things they never thought they could do. We see in verse 24 that God remembered His covenant made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Can I tell you something? Abraham lied about Sarah being his wife. Isaac lies about Rebecca being his wife. Jacob lied to his father. They all failed at some point, yet God used them.
We don’t hold God up, so there is nothing we can do to let Him down.
If this wasn’t true, this would be a very bad rescue story. God isn’t done with Moses because he failed. God is going to work through Moses and use him to free Moses’ people and fulfill his covenant. If Moses disqualified himself from being a person of Israel, we would be reading a different story. Moses was not forsaken because he messed up. God used Moses’ failure to teach him invaluable lessons to prepare him for his mission. Likewise, God has a purpose for all of us. Even though we make mistakes God can still use us and our mistakes for His glory.
Reflection & Response:
- What mistakes have you made in the past?
- How has God’s grace made a difference in your own life?
- Prayer: God, I know you have a plan for my life. I know I’m not perfect, but your grace cleanses me of my shame and guilt. There is nothing I can do to stop Your love for me. Make clear the things in my life that you are calling me to do. Convict me of my sins so I can grow closer to you. Thank you, God, for everything I don’t deserve. Amen
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