Many years later, when Moses had grown up, he went out to visit his own people, the Hebrews, and he saw how hard they were forced to work. Exodus 2:11a
This week we are looking at the life of Moses, a man in Scripture who must have often looked at his circumstances and said, "What is happening?" Talking a look at his life, it seems that monsoon after monsoon came over him. When one trial ended, it appeared that another began. Today, we are going to look at yet another monsoon that occurred in his life because of his own sinful actions, and see that even in his darkest place, God was still with him. The same is true for us.
In Exodus 2, we learn that when Moses was a baby boy, he was hidden in a basket that would float along the Nile River. This was done to save his life since the king of Egypt, Pharaoh, had ordered that all of the Hebrew baby boys be killed. It happened, according to God's plan, that the king's daughter found him in the river. She ultimately raised him as her son.
As Moses grew up and became an adult, he watched the treatment of the people of Israel by the Egyptians and grew angry. Eventually, as he watched an Egyptian beating a Hebrew slave, he grew so angry and killed that Egyptian. Both the Israelite people and the Egyptian people were angry and terrified, so to protect his own life, he fled to the land of Midian. He left all people he knew and any life that he had ever known and fled. Praise God that this is not the end of the story. You see, God provided Moses a wife, children, and a new home in Midian. He did not abandon Moses, and continued to provide and protect him. The same is true in whatever storm you are facing, God will not abandon you, and He will continue to provide for you and protect you.
Maybe today, your situation seems so bleak and so dark that you feel completely abandoned. Let me assure you, my friend, that you are not abandoned. God is still with you. The dark place you are in is not the end of your story. God is going to provide protection and provision for you. Even in your darkest storm, you have this hope.
Today, your call is to spend some time in prayer. Thank God for protecting you and working in your life, even when your own sinful actions led you to a dark place. Thank Him for never giving up on you. He is still working, despite our own situations and inadequacies.
About this time, a man and woman from the tribe of Levi got married. The woman became pregnant and gave birth to a son. She saw that he was a special baby and kept him hidden for three months. But when she could no longer hide him, she got a basket made of papyrus reeds and waterproofed it with tar and pitch. She put the baby in the basket and laid it among the reeds along the bank of the Nile River. The baby’s sister then stood at a distance, watching to see what would happen to him.
Soon Pharaoh’s daughter came down to bathe in the river, and her attendants walked along the riverbank. When the princess saw the basket among the reeds, she sent her maid to get it for her. When the princess opened it, she saw the baby. The little boy was crying, and she felt sorry for him. “This must be one of the Hebrew children,” she said.
Then the baby’s sister approached the princess. “Should I go and find one of the Hebrew women to nurse the baby for you?” she asked.
“Yes, do!” the princess replied. So the girl went and called the baby’s mother.
“Take this baby and nurse him for me,” the princess told the baby’s mother. “I will pay you for your help.” So the woman took her baby home and nursed him.
Later, when the boy was older, his mother brought him back to Pharaoh’s daughter, who adopted him as her own son. The princess named him Moses, for she explained, “I lifted him out of the water.”
Many years later, when Moses had grown up, he went out to visit his own people, the Hebrews, and he saw how hard they were forced to work. During his visit, he saw an Egyptian beating one of his fellow Hebrews. After looking in all directions to make sure no one was watching, Moses killed the Egyptian and hid the body in the sand.
The next day, when Moses went out to visit his people again, he saw two Hebrew men fighting. “Why are you beating up your friend?” Moses said to the one who had started the fight.
The man replied, “Who appointed you to be our prince and judge? Are you going to kill me as you killed that Egyptian yesterday?”
Then Moses was afraid, thinking, “Everyone knows what I did.” And sure enough, Pharaoh heard what had happened, and he tried to kill Moses. But Moses fled from Pharaoh and went to live in the land of Midian.
When Moses arrived in Midian, he sat down beside a well. Now the priest of Midian had seven daughters who came as usual to draw water and fill the water troughs for their father’s flocks. But some other shepherds came and chased them away. So Moses jumped up and rescued the girls from the shepherds. Then he drew water for their flocks.
When the girls returned to Reuel, their father, he asked, “Why are you back so soon today?”
“An Egyptian rescued us from the shepherds,” they answered. “And then he drew water for us and watered our flocks.”
“Then where is he?” their father asked. “Why did you leave him there? Invite him to come and eat with us.”
Moses accepted the invitation, and he settled there with him. In time, Reuel gave Moses his daughter Zipporah to be his wife. Later she gave birth to a son, and Moses named him Gershom, for he explained, “I have been a foreigner in a foreign land.”
Years passed, and the king of Egypt died. But the Israelites continued to groan under their burden of slavery. They cried out for help, and their cry rose up to God. God heard their groaning, and he remembered his covenant promise to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He looked down on the people of Israel and knew it was time to act.
