All That And A Bag Of Chips Series

“One day, when Moses had grown up, he went out to his people and looked on their burdens, and he saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his people. He looked this way and that, and seeing no one, he struck down the Egyptian and hid him in the sand. When he went out the next day, behold, two Hebrews were struggling together. And he said to the man in the wrong, ‘Why do you strike your companion?’ He answered, ‘Who made you a prince and a judge over us? Do you mean to kill me as you killed the Egyptian?’ Then Moses was afraid, and thought, ‘Surely the thing is known.’ When Pharaoh heard of it, he sought to kill Moses. But Moses fled from Pharaoh and stayed in the land of Midian. And he sat down by a well.” [1]

God makes room for misfits! People imagine that they must clean up their lives, making themselves acceptable by setting aside every flaw and cleansing their lives so that God will accept them. Let me say that if you wait until you have perfected your life, you will never come to the Saviour. With this series of messages, I want to convince all who listen to this message that the Living God will receive them, even with all their flaws, even laden with all the blemishes on their lives. God is in the business of making bad people good, and that means receiving the misfits and transforming them into people of character that glorify the Name of the Living God.

When I speak of misfits, I’m sure you have some idea of what I mean. A misfit is someone who doesn’t align his or her life with the precepts assumed by polite society. I serve as a spokesman for the Risen Saviour, so when I speak of failing to order one’s life with society, I’m speaking in particular of aligning one’s life to godly principles. To be certain, some socially acceptable attitudes are opposed to righteousness. It is ungodly to harbour antisemitic views, regardless of society’s approval. It is a transgression of divine law to hold views that are racist, whether culture approves or not. It is against the will of God to approve of unrighteousness, even though your culture may approve.

The first misfit thought he was all that and a bag of chips. Many people wouldn’t think of Moses as a misfit; but make no mistake, he was an egomaniac. What we must acknowledge is that an egomaniac does not glorify the Lord. And yet, God makes room for egomaniacs. I feel qualified to speak in this situation, having considerable experience in the condition featured. Perhaps some who listen recognize that they are qualified to provide guidance in identifying the condition. Leaders tend to be self-confident; however, if they will ever become great leaders, they must learn to follow, and following can be a very difficult ability to cultivate in the life of an egomaniac.

The egomaniac in question became one of the greatest leaders ever produced by the nation Israel. Moses is honoured to this day, perhaps excessively so. The honour is well deserved in that Moses was the great Law-giver. And he was God’s instrument to deliver the people from slavery before leading them through the trackless wilderness and leading them up to the edge of the land God had promised they would possess.

MOSES – THE FIRST FORTY YEARS — Moses was not born into royalty; he found his way into Egyptian royalty through deceit. It wasn’t his deceit that obtained entrance into the royal family; rather, it was deceit that originated in the court of Pharaoh himself. Pharaoh had enslaved the people of Israel. Nevertheless, the LORD was blessing this people, and despite their slavery, they were prospering. The continued growth of the slaves prompted the pharaoh to issue a dastardly order that was born out of fear—kill all the male children born to any Israelite! This is the biblical account.

“There arose a new king over Egypt, who did not know Joseph. And he said to his people, ‘Behold, the people of Israel are too many and too mighty for us. Come, let us deal shrewdly with them, lest they multiply, and, if war breaks out, they join our enemies and fight against us and escape from the land.’ Therefore they set taskmasters over them to afflict them with heavy burdens. They built for Pharaoh store cities, Pithom and Raamses. But the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and the more they spread abroad. And the Egyptians were in dread of the people of Israel. So they ruthlessly made the people of Israel work as slaves and made their lives bitter with hard service, in mortar and brick, and in all kinds of work in the field. In all their work they ruthlessly made them work as slaves.