By Tyler Warner
We find the story of Moses in the book of Exodus, of course, but the book of Acts gives us a few extra details. He was drawn from the water and brought up in the court of Pharaoh, “mighty in all his words and deeds,” as Stephen tells us in Acts 7:22. Now, most film adaptations of the Exodus story have a dramatic reveal where Moses discovers his Hebrew heritage, but the Bible does not tell it that way. It is very likely that Moses would have known where he came from (I doubt the other courtiers would have let him forget it!), and at age 40 he visits his people, the slaves of Egypt.
He sees a Hebrew being abused by an Egyptian and he kills the man, hiding the body. Doubtless there was simple compassion here, but Stephen gives us his main motivation: “He supposed that his brothers would understand that God was giving them salvation by his hand” (Acts 7:25). Moses was not just doing a good deed, he was trying to effect the liberation of his people. In short, he was trying to win their loyalty so he could lead an uprising! He had plans to lead a slave revolt and thereby free his people – with himself at the head, of course.
But when he returned the next day, the Hebrews refused his leadership and let on that they knew what had transpired the day before. Moses is shocked, and when Pharaoh finds out, he is forced to flee. This makes much more sense when you realize Moses was fomenting insurrection, not just murdering a single Egyptian slave driver. He goes to the wilderness and spends 40 years in obscurity, herding sheep.
He probably looked back on his impetuous youth from time to time and was ashamed of himself. The dreams of freedom for his people never died, but he must have believed that it would not be by his hand. And then God appeared to him in a burning bush and sent him back. This time, Moses protested his own insufficiency for such a task – he was ready for God to use him.
When we know what needs to be done for the Lord, we often assume (always a dangerous thing) that the obvious way is the best way. But God is sovereign enough to work his own plan, and His plan is always better. Rather than putting yourself forward to accomplish what you think God wants done, seek Him in prayer and humble yourself before Him. He uses clean vessels, humble people that will not take credit for themselves, but give all glory to Him. God is full of surprises, so don’t jump ahead of His plan, you just might miss something.
Tyler Warner is the senior pastor of Calvary Chapel Trussville. CCT meets on Sunday mornings at 9:30am, at 5239 Old Springville Rd. Listen to Tyler’s verse-by-verse Bible teaching at CalvaryChapelTrussville.com or Sundays at 8:30am on 101.1 FM.