Everyone born has a calling, a gift, a talent, a purpose. If you breached your mother’s womb and gasped your first breath of air, you were chosen to do, to be, to impact lives. The volume of lives doesn’t matter…many or few, you were chosen to grace the lives of those particular people. But what happens when nothing pans out the way you’ve mapped it? Your initial thoughts of grandeur and mission seem to have stalled over time. Is there hope? Can you rebound? I’ll answer that by looking at Moses who was chosen yet his ideals dried out in a desert place until God showed up. I will venture to draw parallels between Moses’ journey from a desert place to destiny and the journey we are yet traveling to reach our end goal. Perhaps we can extract some lessons of encouragement to push forward.

Moses the HuMan

We all know Moses’ exploits as told in the book of Exodus.  The demonstration of God’s power performed through him has not been replicated since. What we don’t have is a perspective of the mental anguish he must have experienced from childhood until he was summoned by God through a burning bush (Exodus Chapter 3). This perspective is worth exploring to see Moses, a hero of the Bible, in the light of his humanity.

Exploring his inner workings gives us insight into the common denominators we all share in working through seasons in our lives. At times, we will find that we all feel less than, overlooked, unappreciated, on the outside looking in or unworthy. If you will allow me license to speculate Moses’ inner turmoil, we will see that the composition of the heroes of faith is the same stuff we are made of, no more, no less. We will find that nothing of significance separates us from them. Our good deeds, our mess-ups, personality traits may be the sum total of what we’ve done in the past and indeed what we have a tendency to do but it is not the aggregate total of who we are meant to be in Christ. We are constantly being molded and transformed into a more perfect reflection of Christ season by season.

Two Perspectives

Let’s look at Moses from two perspectives,

1) how Moses experienced inner struggles despite being chosen and,

2) how God’s original intentions for Moses remained intact despite having to endure the circuitous route inflicted by Moses’ very human decisions.

We will look at Moses from the time of birth to the time God spoke to him in the Midian desert.

Hiding in the Desert

When God spoke to Moses out of the burning bush, the first thing Moses did was to hide his face as if he didn’t want God to see him. Much like Adam and Eve did when they hid themselves because they ventured where they weren’t supposed to be. Having felt the hint of a calling since he was a young man, he was now 80 years old and not where he was supposed to be.

He hid the nakedness of his shame and disappointment, not by covering himself with leaves as Adam and Eve did, but by fleeing to Midian. He hid himself in the desert away from all that was to be but wasn’t. As we will discover, Moses had a history of hiding.

Hiding in the River

When he was just a young boy, Moses’ mother told him how the river he was set to die in just after birth (Exodus 1:22) was the very river that hid him and carried him to live in Pharaoh’s palace. During the short time she was blessed to raise him, every waking moment she drilled into him all that he could understand about this God that would someday raise someone up to take them back to the land of Canaan.

Moses had witnessed the treachery of Egypt on his people. He grew up in Pharaoh’s house yet his heart was enflamed against those that held his people captive. Thoughts of his mother’s stories of the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob who would one day raise a savior to bring his people out of Egypt grew stronger and more prominent. Maybe, just maybe he thought, he might be that savior.

Hiding in Pharaoh’s House

Then the day came when he could no longer sit on his mother’s lap. She held him by the hand and took him to the palace. There his Hebrew identity was discarded as his Hebrew garments were upon entrance into the palace.  Replaced with princely garb from that day forward he became only a subset of the person the palace was grooming him to become.  He learned to speak Coptic, was educated in their sciences, culture and polytheistic religion. In spite of the intense immersion, Moses’ heart remained true to his people and his God.

Parallel Truth #1:

Moses spent many more years under the tutelage of Pharaoh than he did his mother. However, in the end, mother’s teachings prevailed. This gives parents hope that no matter what entanglements this world has presented to ensnare our children we trust that the biblical foundation we have instilled will sustain them and prevail.

Parallel Truth #2:

When the child Moses lived in the palace, there were no parental visits on weekends; that life was gone. I know from working with foster children how traumatic it is for a child to be separated from their parents and everything with which they are familiar. It is clear, under these circumstances, Moses suffered separation anxiety as a child.

As he grew, imagine the many times he would go out for a stroll with his Egyptian mother. He would stretch his neck hoping he would by chance see his mother or sissy not knowing if it was worse to not see them at all or to see them and not be able to go with them.

As hard as it is when we are written out of the picture of our children’s lives because a different path has swept them away, we can’t stop believing in the foundation that we erected in them. That foundation being Jesus Christ and our unconditional love for them. That love will come up against any tactic the enemy of our soul proffers up. Against abandonment, against separation, against misunderstandings, against hurtful words, against the sirens¹ of this world, against the deadening silence of not knowing what’s going on with your child.

The Egyptian Savior

Moses grew into an Egyptian prince. However, his Hebrew nature drove him to kill an Egyptian guard in defense of a fellow Hebrew. The next day he happens upon two Hebrews in conflict with each other and Moses tries to intervene. But they come back at him retorting “Are you going to kill us like you killed that Egyptian guard?”

These words reminded him that he was still abandoned, now as a man as he was when he was a child.  Moses knew he was alone. He killed an Egyptian and no Egyptian would justify his actions. Neither did the act elevate him in the eyes of his own people.

Parallel Truth #3:

What happens when you find yourself defending your own and they don’t have your back? What happens when there is nowhere, no one to turn to? What happens when you can neither identify as an Egyptian or a Hebrew?

Moses was prepared for his enemies’ response but he was not prepared for the response of his people. As it turned out, nothing of the God his mother told him about seem to point to him as deliverer.

So, Moses did what was safe for him, he went into hiding. He fled to Midian.

From Desert to Destiny

In Midian Moses finds he has to take on yet another identity, prince to sheepherder, new language, new family. It was here he gained comfort in a wife, Zipporah but still he was restless as told by the name of his firstborn son, Gershom which means ‘wanderer’.

I’m sure Moses reflected on his life. Thoughts of his mother, his siblings, the elaborate meals at the palace. His soft, manicured hands had grown calloused from manual labor. He tried not to remember what could have been. It was hard to run away from his thoughts when he was alone like he was now.

But look! What a strange sight. A bush is burning but is not being consumed? He walks closer and God calls his name. “Moses! Moses!”

Forty years Moses spent in Egypt. For another forty years he spent shepherding. Now here’s this burning bush phenomenon and it’s calling his name. What!?

 When the voice identified himself as the God of Abraham, Issacs and Jacob, Moses did what he’s done his whole life, he hid. He hid from death in the river, he hid from his identity in the palace, he hid from Pharaoh’s wrath in Midian and now he’s hiding his face from God.

Did he hide because he had not mentioned his God since Egypt?  For 80 years there had been silence between him and God.  Now God sought him, finding him in a place he’s not supposed to be. Finding him in a place where he’s made other life choices, a wife, a family, an occupation, some semblance of peace….

Yet to Moses his life had been uninspiring. Yes, his God will send a savior for his people as his mother had told him but he would only stand on the sidelines and watch it happen if it happened during his life time.

And now God wanted him to go where and do what? Free his people? Surely there was a better candidate. In all actuality he had failed in life. He had no bragging rights about anything. Surely there had to be a better choice for the task so Moses began to make an excuse, “I am slow of speech.”

You know Moses might have been slow of speech but Acts 7:22 says,

²²Moses was educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and was powerful in speech and action.

What Moses lacked in speech; God made up in demonstration of His power.

Parallel Truth #4:

If nature can produce idiot-savants² then cannot God who created nature take your shortcomings, your disabilities and endow them with His power rendering them of no impact to the glory that will be revealed in you if you are obedient?

Could the events or lack thereof over the last 50 years have eroded Moses’ confidence? Has your confidence waned over the years?

If God called you, He equipped you. The seasons of life trains and tests our endurance, character and trust in the Lord. Had Moses reached a place of contentment with his life in Midian or had Moses settled?

Contentment vs Settling

Paul attests that whatsoever state he is in he has learned to be content (Philippians 4:11). This is a good quality to have. Reaching a place of contentment is when you know you have exhausted the opportunities God presents in your life and God has given you rest. However, settling is accepting less than what is available to you. Settling in the Midian desert was easy and required no effort. Up until this point Moses was settling. Have you?

Experiment vs Experience

Growing up in the church, much of our praise and worship of God was based on the ideation of God and routed in the testimonies of others. We learned through imitating worship, imitating praise. But there came a time in our lives where God was no longer an imposed thought or someone else’s testimony. God became an experience. We went from experimenting with the concept of a sovereign God…”is it okay to do this, why can’t I do that, do I worship him this way or that way?” We’ve moved from practicing a religion to allowing the very embodiment of His Spirit to reign in our mortal bodies. We’ve grown from experimenting to experiencing.

To set you up for experience, God will allow you to go through desert places. Moses’ life was spared from the river but he was taken from his mother and family. His people turned on him. He lost his prince-hood. He became a hunted man. Resigned to assume a life as a shepherd he knew it was not his calling. It was more like a consolation prize. Prior to the burning bush, nothing is recorded of Moses interacting with God at all. Until now, was he merely sustained by the ideation of God?

But now God was calling Moses to return to Egypt. This call was assurance that the life he lived before that moment was not a waste. God prepared Moses through each season of his life.

Could he have led Israel out when he was a prince in Egypt? Probably not. He was too young, socially inexperienced.

Maybe at 40 after he settled down a bit? Not then either. He was impulsive with pent-up anger, and didn’t know how to channel it.

God came for Moses long after he left Egypt. Why? Because he now had the skills to shepherd 3-million plus people. But he’s 80. Yes, but he is ready.

On My Way to Destiny

You microfiche through your life to evaluate where you are now. You may conclude you’re not where you had imagined you’d be. Instead, you feel less than accomplished and you only mimic wholeness. But like Moses with triumphs and failures, you never get to a place where God can’t reach you, use you. God uses each triumph, each failure to bring you to a place where you are ready to hear Him.  

Our confidence is this, if He can call Moses when he is struggling with self-image issues, if He can call Peter who when times got tough, he didn’t hold up, if He can call Saul on his way to persecute Christians, all of whom are heroes of faith, surely, He is still calling you. So, listen.

The impetus behind this study is that we will never feel ready or worthy to represent God’s will on this earth. But you don’t get to make that call, God does. That makes the outcome glorious. He takes wretched souls like we are and make us heroes among the people that we live and work among. He did then, He can now.

Finally, we know Moses went on to lead the children of Israel to the Promised Land. Every experience he gathered during the first 80 years of his life was a tool he exercised during the last 40 years of his life. He died a great man; his name is still spoken thousands of years later.

Now it’s your time for greatness. Look for your burning bush, it’s right there. Listen and do.

God’s Calling You

 

Notes:

¹In Greek mythology, the Sirens were dangerous creatures, who lured nearby sailors with their enchanting music and singing to shipwreck on the rocky coast of their island. It is also said that they can even charm the winds. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siren_(mythology)

² idiot savant – a person who has a mental or learning disability but is extremely gifted in a particular way, such as the performing of feats of memory or calculation.