The Midian Well
EXODUS CHAPTER 2 :11-25
INTRODUCTION
It’s strange some time how an obscure piece of scripture hidden away in an epic story such as this can come to the aid of a sad old sinner like me but I guess at that time, the most challenging time of my Christian walk, it helped me get back on the narrow path to Glory.
“One day, after Moses had grown up, he went out to where his people were and watched them at hard labour. He saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his own people. Glancing this way and that and seeing no-one, he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand.”
Moses had been caught out in his desperate attempt to hide a great sin. He had killed a man. Looking around to see if anyone had seen him He thought that he had got away with it so he buried the body in the sand and went about his business. How wrong he had been.
Attempt to cover up
One of the hardest things to do when we are caught up in sin is to bring it out into the open. We want to cover it up, hide it from our family and friends. Why?
That’s easy to answer.
We are so ashamed at what we have done and riddled with guilt all we want to do is hide it in the sand. We don’t want anyone to know. Just like Moses we glance this way and that hoping no-one as noticed our behaviour. We tell ourselves what the eye doesn’t see the heart does not grieve.
The truth is that when we are caught out we end up often in situations where integrity is hard to get back. Instead of truth we hide in a tangled web of deceit and a tissue of lies.
We often make excuses “The pressures of work etc, etc.” but up until that point we were caught out we were prepared to go on with it.
The World tells you that a little bit of what you fancy does you good. Sin feels good....Well for a time anyway. Then BANG your whole world comes tumbling down when the consequences of your actions become public knowledge. We know from experience the inescapable reminders of our guilt. The emotional entanglements brought about by the consequences of our own sin can be devastating that we become physically sick
Moses life was about to take a turn for the worst. The Prince of Egypt was about to have a major career change.
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?”
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 have done must have become known.”
Confronting the Truth
The realisation that you have been caught out is the worst feeling in the world. It leaves you feeling absolutely sick and can make you extremely ill. Sin may feel good whilst we are engaged in it but the consequences of our actions are severe. Like Moses it can take a very long time to recover. He was about to set out on a very long and lonely road.
My sin was a common one. I had an affair. When I was found out it felt so wrong. I ended it immediately but like Moses the damage had already been done. There is nothing the Devil likes more than to split up families and I had become a victim. It was about to take me on my long and lonely road to recovery too.
The Midian well is set deep in the Sinai Desert, a dry, arid place under the watchful eye of the Mountain of God, Mount Sinai. It would have taken Moses a good while to have reached it. When you have time and space you do a lot of thinking and Moses would have been no different, I can imagine just how he felt has he journeyed towards his final resting place......Well for a while any way.
He would have been thinking about the past and weighing up his life. He would have been feeling very low and probably wandered aimlessly not knowing where he was going to end up. He would be thinking about all those people that he had hurt through his actions, enough to send any person into a time of deep depression. All his family and friends gone and only the whisper of the Enemy in his ear telling him what a waste of space and let down he was.
Those of us that have been there know that feeling all too well. Our mind becomes a battle field and we find it difficult to gain any foot holds on life. In fact we wish it had been us that had found their final resting place in that red sand of the Sinai. Like Moses though we move aimlessly deeper into the desert of despair but this is what God wants you to know (See I am doing a new thing now it springs up do you not perceive it? I am making away in the desert and streams in the waste land. Isaiah 43:19 )
It’s worth taking a moment here though to explain what’s actually happening back at home. All though we cannot see our friends and Brothers/Sisters in the Lord, it’s worth noting that they don’t give up on us and in fact they; unbeknown to us, are right there, getting involved in the battle through intercession. (Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The pray of a Righteous man is power full and effective. James 5:15) that’s what keeps us going although we have no thought of that at the time. Moses family were holding him up with prayer. I have a wonderful picture of His sister prostrate before God crying out to him for his protection and guidance. Eh! She loved her brother and had been there all through his life. It’s no different for us either. Our Brothers and Sister in Christ are doing just that; standing in the gap for us. God has already made it possible for us to stay in him by prompting people to intercede for us. Although we have maybe even given up and let go of the Lord be reassured that he never let’s go of us and is leading us to a place of recovery. Friends he will NEVER give up on you. This is the absolute truth. God went to extreme measures so that you and I might live and in the wonderful words of that hymn.
“He took all my guilt and shame so that I might live again.”
Whether we like it or not; Christ died for our sins. Oh I know only too well, it does not excuse our wrongful actions and we live with those consequences forever but our sins are covered by the same promise and blood of Christ (and God is indeed leading us, as he did Moses, to the place of recovery.
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 .Now a priest of Midian had seven daughters, and they came to draw water and fill the troughs to water their father’s flocks. Some shepherds came along and drove them away, but Moses got up and came to their rescue and watered their flock.
Stop running and Regroup
Moses finally reaches a place where he sits down and rests. No doubt by this time he would be exhausted both mental and physically. Pharaoh tried to kill him.
When you are caught up in this kind of thing people will try to kill you too, oh maybe not in the physical sense but there will be those people who have been so hurt by the whole mess of the situation, they want to hurt you back. Gossip and pointing of the finger (I guess it’s a natural human response.)Destroying your character in whatever way they can. Some people will endeavour to cut you off from Church. Maybe, If you were like me you won’t want to go there anyway but some day you will sit down at the Well too, then remember that the Church is not the physical building but the people who attend it.
Me, I chose to sit down and take stock of my life and started to drink from the Well. I got back into reading my bible again and drank in the very words. Yes I had cut myself off from those people who I considered friends and Spiritual family but it was time needed to reflect. (There is a time for everything and a season for every activity under heaven. Ecclesiastes 3 and verse seven says; A time to be silent and a time to speak.) This might be a time to get your head around the situation and come to terms with your problem. Yes YOUR problem. It belongs to you and the truth is you will have to deal with it. No-one is going to pretend it’s easy far from it. It is and will be the hardest time of your life getting to know yourself again. You need a kick off point so time is the only answer. You will only start to recover when you surrender you and yourself back to Christ. Then you will start your life’s walk all over again. This time you will be stronger and certainly wiser about the way to go. Faith will take on a new meaning and you will be that much stronger. You will indeed be able to put your foot into the mist and know that it will land on a rock.
God will remain faithful to you and when you look back over those recovery days you will see just how much.
Moses finally sat down and his time of recovery was just about to start. He had been walking in a barren land for far too long and he needed some kind of human companionship whether he believed that or not. God had brought him here for a reason. He needed some kind of reassurance as we do. God will not let you hide in self pity forever. One day you too will be called back into some kind of work for the Lord, no matter how little or great, it all adds up.
Moses starts his recovery by intervening in a situation involving some wrong doing. A group of woman were trying to gain access to drinking water but were being bullied by a few Shepherds. This shows us a glimpse of his heart. Moses cares about injustice no matter how small it is. Just because we have fallen into sin does not mean that our heart has changed. His clearly has not. Yes it means we have to regain some of the lost integrity. That goes without saying. Don’t just stand by and watch whilst others are mistreated. If it once was important to you then so should it be now.
In fact Moses act regains some of his lost integrity and it leads him in an invitation.
Now comes the hard part. You are finally able to lay all your sins to bed by confession. There is no other way of cleansing your soul. God already knows what you have done; He just wants you to tell him about it. Talk to him and have it out. Hold nothing back, get it all out there. He delights in the truth and by putting it all before him it’s dealt with, final.
When the girls returned to Reuel their father, he asked them “why have you returned so early today”
They answered “An Egyptian rescued us from the shepherds. He even drew water for us and watered the flock.”
“And where is he?”
“Why did you leave him?” Invite him for something to eat.
Moses agreed to stay with the man who gave his daughter Zipporah to Moses in marriage. Zipporah gave birth to a son, and Moses named him Gershom, saying “I have become an alien in a foreign land.”
Life moves on
Moses finally starts to rebuild his life. He finds a new home and starts a family of his own. Part of Gods provision for him. Whilst being restored and indeed being groomed for the task ahead he has companionship and human contact. We were never created to spend life on our own so Gods plan for Moses was marriage and a new family. This might not be the case for everyone but some kind of friendship will always part of it. When everything is stable then your mindset is stable and you can start to learn again. The ideal solution we dream about in our minds might not be the answer so don’t expect for things to return to normal straight away. A broken relationship may not be restored. You may have to change your job just like Moses. Whatever the outcome trust everything to the Lord and remember that he knows the plans he has for you. By all means be expectant and in time you will be shown the way to go. Don’t rush things just remember God only gives us grace for one day at a time. Build bridges and be obedient to the word of God. Learn to walk again with tiny steps at first but don’t be scared to grow. You will probably find it the most educating time of your life. Some of the most talented people in our times have fallen but risen again. The biblical History shows us that because we are human that we all have a thorn in our side. David; a man after Gods own heart, fell under the spell of lust, Peter cut off another man’s ear and denied the Lord three times. Paul persecuted the early church. The bible never hides the true facts from us. Life does go on. I love the verses in (Psalm 103: He does treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth so great is His love for those who fears him. As far as the east is from the west so far has he removed our transgressions from us. As a father has compassion on his Children so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him.)
God is so gracious and will indeed restore us.
Learn to take capture all thoughts and then discard the rubbish. Learn scripture and in particular the promises of God. Pray earnestly, about all things big or small. Get back into fellowship and regain integrity with old colleagues and friends. Return the compliment for people and stand in the gap for them. You will never fully forget the things of the past and you will have good and bad days but with time you will be able to face up to life again. GOD STILL HAS YOUR NAME WRITTEN ON THE PALM OF HIS HAND. He will never leave you or forsake you and the best thing of all he will never stop LOVING YOU.
