Learning From Moses Series

Vision Quest, Learning From Men Of Vision

Part 3 – Moses

June 2, 2002

Have you ever sensed God leading you to do something but you hesitated to follow through because you knew it would upset your routine, confuse your schedule even change your life? Maybe you heard God speaking to your heart but you knew deep inside that following the Spirit’s lead would likely bring you pain and misery. Consider Hosea who heard God calling him to marry a prostitute. Or what about Jonah who heard God calling him to go to a foreign land, to a very large city, full of pagan sinners to preach the message of repentance. Now that would put a damper on your day. I can just hear the conversation between God and Jonah:

“Pssst, Jonah, here’s what I want you to do. Go down to the docks in Joppa and catch the first ship you can to the city of Nineveh.”

“Nineveh! I’ve never even heard of Nineveh! What? Why me Lord?”

“Never mind that. Now when you get there I want you to preach against the people of that city because their wickedness has finally driven me to anger.”

“God, excuse me but… ARE YOU CRAZY! You want me to jump a ship to Nineveh, a city full of people I’ve never met, and quite frankly, couldn’t care less about, and to ice the cake, You want me to preach to them! Tell them all that they’re bad, bad people who must turn from their sins or be destroyed! Is that all you want me to do!”

Now Jonah had a pretty peaceful life. He was the president of the lions club. He was very popular among his neighbors. You really couldn’t ask for a better life than Jonah had. Then suddenly, without notice, enters God.

Isn’t that just like God? I mean we live our lives in peace and harmony. We obey the law, we look both ways before crossing the street, we even buy our share of Girl Scout Cookies every year. We go to church. We faithfully give a percentage of our income back to the Lord, we pray and read our Bibles. By and large we have pretty safe and peaceful lives and then God breaks in.

Hey Jason Paulin, I want you to share My Gospel with that guy who sits in front of you in Statistics class. Uh-hum, excuse me Penny Martin, I’d like you to tell your co-workers that I love them. Mr. Kauffman, yes you in the back, I’d like you to take a little trip to AFRICA and demonstrate My love to as many Liberians as you possibly can.

Ladies and Gentlemen, God is no respecter of our comfort. It just never fails, as soon as one of His children settle into a peaceful rhythm of life, all of a sudden we hear this… [create feedback with the mics]. Kind of gets your attention in a nerve-wracking way doesn’t it?

If you have your Bibles turn with me to the book of Exodus. Let’s watch how God interrupts the peaceful life of Moses, the shepherd. Now Moses wasn’t always a shepherd mind you. In fact, Moses was about as prestigious as one could get in his day. You see, he had been adopted by the daughter of pharaoh into the royal family. Moses grew up as a prince. So how did he end up herding sheep in the deserts of Midian? Good question.

Turn to Exodus 2:11-12 & 15

Now it came about in those days, when Moses had grown up, that he went out to his brethren and looked on their hard labors; and he saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his brethren. [12] So he looked this way and that, and when he saw there was no one around, he struck down the Egyptian and hid him in the sand.

[15] When Pharaoh heard of this matter, he tried to kill Moses. But Moses fled from the presence of Pharaoh and settled in the land of Midian, and he sat down by a well.

Hard to believe. Moses a well-respected prince of Egypt became a murderer. As a result, pharaoh sought to kill Moses and thus Moses fled into the wilderness until he finally decided to rest at a well in the land of Midian.

Before he knows it, Moses is married to a fine girl by the name of Zipporah and becomes a father. Yeah, right about this point in his life the ex-prince kind of figures life is good. After all, better to be a simple shepherd in Midian than a corpse in Egypt. Reasonable thinking. However, God has a plan for Moses and forty years later, God interrupts the shepherd with a vision. Turn over to Exodus 3:7-8: