Wed.’s Devo - Moses’ Mission

Read: Exodus 2:11-3:22; Matthew 17:10-27; Psalm 22:1-18; Proverbs 5:7-14 Moses grew up in Pharoah’s palace but always knew he was an Israelite. One day he went out to visit his own people and saw how oppressed they were being treated. He witnessed an Egyptian beating an Israelite and when he thought no one was looking, he killed the Egyptian and hid his body in the sand. When Moses went back to visit the Hebrews the next day he found that everyone knew what he had done. News quickly made it to the palace so Moses had to flee for his life. He ended up in Midian which means “strife and contention”. He saw that in his first encounter at the well. The contention was between the women shepherds and the men shepherds. Moses stepped in and rescued the women and drew water for their flocks. When the women who were seven daughters of the priest of Midian reported why they were back so quickly, their father told them to go back and bring Moses home. The fathers name was Reuel whose name means “friend of God”. Moses came and lived with Reuel and eventually was given his daughter Zipporah to be his wife. They had a son named Gershom which means “a stranger desolate” which was how Moses felt. One day Moses took Reuel’s sheep to pasture on Mt. Sinai. Reuel was also called Jethro which means “excellent remnant”. One of those names might have been his official title since he was the priest. Both names give us a great picture of who this man was and why God would choose him to nurture Moses and prepare him for his assignment. While on Mt. Sinai, God appeared to Moses in a bush that continued to burn. He told him to take off his sandals because he was standing on holy ground. God introduced himself as the God his father, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. God told Moses that he had seen the oppression of his people in Egypt and wanted to rescue them from Egypt and give them their own land where the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites now lived. Then he gave him the kicker…he was sending him to go lead them out. Moses protested but God told him he would be with him and bring him back to this very mountain to worship him. Not only did God bring Moses back to this mountain but he showed all of Israel his power through this mountain called Sinai. Here God would speak to them then give them his law and call them his people. When Moses asked God what to call him, God said his name was I AM. God told Moses to meet with the leaders of Israel first and tell them His plan. They would accept him but then they were to go to the Pharaoh who would not accept them. God would have to use his hand to strike the Egyptians with all kinds of miracles before they let them go. Eventually they would leave with the wealth of Egypt. In Matthew, Jesus was asked about the scriptures pertaining Elijah. The scriptures said that Elijah must return before the coming of the Messiah. The people actually thought that Jesus might be Elijah. Elijah did return on the Mt.of Transfiguration and Jesus explained that he did come through John the Baptist. In this we know that it was the spirit of Elijah that would come before the Messiah. Elijah in the Old Testament arrived on the scene during the reign of Ahab and Jezebel. He confronted them and God’s people over their sin of idolatry. John the Baptist arrived on the scene during the days of the evil Herod’s. He exposed their sin and the sin of the nation also. He came to prepare the people’s hearts to receive salvation and the Savior. Jesus was brought a boy who was demon-possessed and the disciples had not been able to help him. Jesus rebuked the whole generation for not having faith. He wasn’t just talking about delivering the boy, he was talking about accepting him as the Messiah. Jesus had an interesting discussion with Peter over taxes. The discussion really had to do with living in this world with its rules when you are really a part of another kingdom where those things don’t apply. Jesus told Peter not to offend them and he provided the tax miraculously and had him pay it. We live in this world where we are bound to many of its regulations but our citizenship is in heaven where we are not slaves, don’t pay taxes and everything is free. It is tricky navigating through that matrix. The key is love. If we do everything out of a heart of love then we will bend when we need to bend and stand up when we need to stand. Lord, give us discernment and great wisdom to be in this world but not of it.