Failures and God’s Training

Ex 2:11 One day, after Moses had grown up, he went out to where his own people were and watched them at their hard labor. He saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his own people. 12 Looking this way and that and seeing no one, he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand.13 The next day he went out and saw two Hebrews fighting. He asked the one in the wrong, “Why are you hitting your fellow Hebrew?”

14 The man said, “Who made you ruler and judge over us? Are you thinking of killing me as you killed the Egyptian?” Then Moses was afraid and thought, “What I did must have become known.”

15 When Pharaoh heard of this, he tried to kill Moses, but Moses fled from Pharaoh and went to live in Midian, where he sat down by a well. 16 Now a priest of Midian had seven daughters, and they came to draw water and fill the troughs to water their father’s flock. 17 Some shepherds came along and drove them away, but Moses got up and came to their rescue and watered their flock.

18 When the girls returned to Reuel their father, he asked them, “Why have you returned so early today?”

19 They answered, “An Egyptian rescued us from the shepherds. He even drew water for us and watered the flock.”

20 “And where is he?” Reuel asked his daughters. “Why did you leave him? Invite him to have something to eat.”

21 Moses agreed to stay with the man, who gave his daughter Zipporah to Moses in marriage. 22 Zipporah gave birth to a son, and Moses named him Gershom, saying, “I have become a foreigner in a foreign land.”

23 During that long period, the king of Egypt died. The Israelites groaned in their slavery and cried out, and their cry for help because of their slavery went up to God. 24 God heard their groaning and he remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac and with Jacob. 25 So God looked on the Israelites and was concerned about them.

Wanted to be a hero but ended up fleeing.

1) Man cannot be a deliverer by his own strength.

2) Beware of right motivation, wrong methods.

3) Beware of excessive but not God-driven zeal.

• Paradox: Zealous to serve, yet human zeal made him unfit for service.
• <Acts 7:25> “Moses thought that his own people would realize that God was using him to rescue them, but they did not.”

4) Beware of being too reactive without consulting God first.

• Fallacy: When we can reason well, we think we don’t need God’s inputs.
• Don’t let common sense prevent us from seeking God.

Tension will soon arise between the God-fearing and the godless.

• <Heb 11> “24 By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh’s daughter. 25 He chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin.”
• Are we willing to forfeit worldly comforts, status, etc, in order to identify with Christ?

Moses still not ready as Israel’s deliverer 》 Need training.

1) Don’t lose heart when being trained.

2) Moses had been “too big” for God to use, so God must humble him.

• <Ex 2:21> “Moses was content to dwell with the man (in Midian)” [ESV]

Importance of prayers and hope of answers.

1) Israel cried out to God in their slavery <v23>.

• Actually it is a good thing when a person who used to enjoy the world now starts to be weighed down by it.

2) The God who “hears” (shama), “remembers” (zakar), “sees” (raah) and “knows” (yada) <v24-25>.

Reflection:

1. Have you been “over-zealous” before? What was the result the last time you acted without seeking God’s guidance? How can you resist being reactive and self-dependent?
2. Moses made the choice to associate with God’s people and be mistreated rather than being the son of Pharaoh’s daughter. Is it difficult for you to choose God over the world? Why?
3. Share how God trains you in spite of your past failures and molds you into a better person to serve His purpose.