Moses (Pt. I): The Wound, The Will, & The Wilderness Series

I want to begin with story a S.S. teacher shared¡K

Asked her class of five-year-olds where God lives, and got a variety of answers. One little girl said, ¡§God lives in heaven.¡¨ Another said: ¡§God lives in church.¡¨ She was surprised, however, when little Johnny said, ¡§God lives in our bathroom.¡¨ ¡§What makes you say that, Johnny?¡¨ He answered: ¡§Every morning my dad stands at the door of the bathroom and shouts, ¡¥My God, are you still in there?¡¦¡¨

-There is bad and the good we can learn from others.

Our focus in this series is the good we can learn. As God is involved in our lives we can learn from others¡¦ experiences¡Xboth the struggles and the successes.

- Biblical calling to ¡§remember.¡¨

- Our lives are part of a timeless, ongoing work of an unchanging God.

- God has laid down some of His initial unchanging involvement for us to build upon

- ¡§We are like dwarfs, seated on the shoulders of giants. We see more things than the Ancients and things more distant, but it is due neither to the sharpness of our sight nor the greatness of our stature. It is simply because they have lent us their own.¡¨ (Bernard of Chartres)

When we ask ¡¥How does God want to work in my life?¡¦¡K Moses¡¦ shoulders are among the greatest to stand upon.

- Book of Genesis provides FOUR main lives in our history (Adam, Noah, Abraham, Joseph) whereas the next four Books (Ex, Lev, Numb, Duet.) chronicle one life (Moses)

- He is the one brought face to face with God¡¦s glory, given the 10 Commandments, leads what scholars estimate may have been 2 million people thru the desert, and at the transfiguration of Christ, he is one of two, with Elijah.

- He receives more commendation in Hebrews chapter 11 than any other

He¡¦s a character we think only Charlton Hesston could play.

„« Yet we find that he is the most human of all; that in all his greatness he faced the hardest lessons of life along the way.

- I believe the most fundamental & formative lesson came earliest in his life. (and I want to express indebtedness to Jim Dethmer¡Xwho helped bring this out to a pastor¡¦s conference)

- I want to follow the wonderful description Stephan gives in the Book of Acts of this early part of Moses¡¦ life. (¡K and you¡¦ll note the corresponding verses from Exodus are referenced as well.)

- We ended last week¡K thru Joseph¡K all his heritage¡K the Israelites come to live in the land of Egypt.

„« ¡§As the time drew near for God to fulfill his promise to Abraham, the number of our people in Egypt greatly increased. Then another king, who knew nothing about Joseph, became ruler of Egypt. He dealt treacherously with our people and oppressed our forefathers by forcing them to throw out their newborn babies so that they would die.¡¨ (Acts 7:17-19)

- New King recognized that these Israelites, who had been given choice land, were becoming a powerful people. Joseph had long since passed on and there is no sense of indebtedness¡K just a sense of threat.

- Oppressed & Enslaved

- Orders Egyptian midwives¡K they refuse

- Finally orders all the people to throw any newborn Hebrew boys into the Nile

¡K the account picks up with Moses entry into the world

1. THE WOUND

¡§At that time Moses was born, and he was no ordinary child. For three months he was cared for in his father¡¦s house. When he was placed outside, Pharaoh¡¦s daughter took him and brought him up as her own son. Moses was educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and was powerful in speech and in action.¡¨ (Acts 7:20-22)

His mother senses something special about this child, tries to hide him, but after 3 months she concludes to do the only thing she can think to save his life¡K places him in a basket¡K and places him on the reed-filled edge of the Nile (the enormous tho slow moving river)¡K His sister follows¡K and finds, he is discovered by none other than the Pharaoh¡¦s daughter.

¡K too often we capture the wonderful providence of what took place, and miss the accompanying pain that is so much a part.

Moses¡¦ mother had been forced to make the best decision she could amid bad circumstances.

¡K But for Moses, only an infant, it would leave a wound of separation.

Perhaps no words capture it more powerfully than those simple words in v. 21¡K ¡§He was PLACED OUTSIDE¡¨

Other translations translate this ¡¥He was abandoned¡¦

„_ HE WAS CUT OFF FROM THE NATURAL PLACE OF BELONGING HE WAS INTENDED TO KNOW;¡K ABANDONED FROM HIS VERY SOURCE OF LIFE & IDENTITY.

- Not many of us may have been sent down a river, but I believe every human soul knows something of the wound of separation.