Introduction:
A. Has anyone here ever made a mistake?
1. Probably a better question for us is there anyone where who has never made a mistake.
2. Have you ever made a really foolish mistake? Like this boy sawing off the branch he was sitting on! That’s really dumb and painful!
3. Have you ever made a really silly mistake? Like misspelling something for the whole world to see! How embarrassing.
4. Have you ever made a really big, painful, and tragic mistake and need a big eraser?
5. I like the story about something that happened at a certain university.
a. Most universities have a rule that if the professor does not arrive in the classroom by 15 minutes past the time the class is to begin, then the class was considered a "walk" and the students are free to leave - with no penalties for missing the class.
b. Well, at this certain university the rooms were equipped with the type wall clocks that "jumped" ahead each minute, in a very noticeable fashion.
c. As it were, these clocks were also not of the most sophisticated construction.
d. Some enterprising student discovered that if one were to hit the clock with chalkboard erasers, it would cause the clock to "jump" ahead 1 minute.
e. There was a certain professor who was not very punctual – kind of an absent-minded professor.
f. So it became almost a daily practice for these students to take target practice at the clock and a few well aimed erasers later, and lo, 15 minutes were passed, and class dismissed itself.
g. Well, when the day for the next exam rolled around, the professor strolled into the room, passed out the exams, and told them “You have 1 hour to complete the test.”
h. The professor then proceeded to collect the erasers from around the room, and gleefully took aim at the clock.
i. When he had successfully "jumped" the clock forward 1 hour in a matter of minutes, he announced that the hour was over and collected the exam papers.
6. Some of us have to learn things the hard way.
B. Truth is – we all make our share of mistakes.
1. We are all sinners. No one is perfect. We are broken.
2. Guess what? God knows this.
3. The God we worship and serve is perfect in every aspect of His being.
4. God is certainly perfect and He makes no mistakes, but God is also realistic – He not only expects us to make mistakes, He forgives us and uses our failures to teach us.
5. The great theologian, Al Franken said: “Mistakes are a part of being human. Appreciate your mistakes for what they are - precious life lessons that can only be learned the hard way. Unless it's a fatal mistake, which, at least, others can learn from.”
C. Moses was a man who made his share of mistakes.
1. God not only didn’t give up on Moses, He used Moses mistakes to teach and train him.
2. In our story today, we are going to see Moses go to school – Moses is going to attend the school of hard knocks.
3. Have you ever attended that school? Personally, I’ve taken quite a few courses there.
4. I’m guessing that I am probably not done taking courses at the school of hard knocks.
I. The Story
A. Last week in the story of Moses, we witnessed his birth into a very difficult time in the history of the Hebrew people.
1. His family hid him for three months, and then carried out a plan that they hoped would save his life.
2. Unfortunately, the plan meant that he would eventually be raised by Pharaoh’s daughter as her own son.
3. So when he was old enough, Moses’ mother, Jochebed, marched him up to the palace and turned him over to his new mother, Pharaoh’s daughter.
B. In the New Testament book of Acts, Stephen, one of the servants of the early church, gave a inspired account of the story of Moses, as he gave his defense before the Sanhedrin.
1. Stephen said: 20 “At that time Moses was born, and he was no ordinary child. For three months he was cared for in his father’s house. 21 When he was placed outside, Pharaoh’s daughter took him and brought him up as her own son. 22 Moses was educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and was powerful in speech and action. (Acts 7:20-22)
2. After Pharaoh’s daughter adopted Moses, she immediately began to prepare him for a proper life in Pharaoh’s court.
3. The historian Josephus tells us that because the Pharaoh had no son and heir, Moses was being nurtured for the throne.
4. As I mentioned last week, this transition must have been quite a shock to young Moses.
5. He likely not only got his own room, but a suite of rooms.
6. He was placed in the hands of the most polished Egyptian tutors and they immediately began to instruct Moses in the protocol, lifestyle and culture of the Egyptians.
7. Moses likely attended the Temple of the Sun which was the premier educational center of Egypt – It has been called “the Oxford of the ancient world.”
8. Moses likely studied sciences, medicine, astronomy, philosophy and law.
9. Moses most certainly took the Egyptian equivalent of ROTC – studying battles and combat tactics.
C. Stephen’s conclusion there in Acts 7 said that Moses grew into a man who was “powerful in speech and action.
1. Extrabiblical historians tell us that by the time Moses reached 30 years old, he had already led the Egyptian army to a convincing victory over the Ethiopians.
2. So look at our little Moses all grown up – he’s a bold military strategist; he’s wise in worldly matters; he’s competent as a leader; he’s primed for the throne; he’s the pride of Egypt.
D. Let’s see what happens next in the story.
1. The Bible says: 11 One day, after Moses had grown up, he went out to where his own people were and watched them at their hard labor. He saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his own people. 12 Glancing this way and that and seeing no one, he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand. (Ex. 2:11-12)
2. Look at Stephen’s account: 23 “When Moses was forty years old, he decided to visit his fellow Israelites. 24 He saw one of them being mistreated by an Egyptian, so he went to his defense and avenged him by killing the Egyptian.” (Acts 7:23-24)
3. This couldn’t have been the first time Moses had thought to visit his brethren – he had certainly been around Hebrews before – they were hard to miss – they were all over the place working: building, carrying, chopping, sweeping, and shoveling.
4. In short, they were doing all the Egyptian’s dirty work – afterall, they were slaves of Egypt.
E. Somewhere along the line, Scripture doesn’t say when, a plan must have begun to form in Moses’ mind.
1. I’m convinced that he knew that he was supposed to redeem Israel even before God appeared to him in the burning bush when he was 80 years old.
2. He must have begun to have a sense that his destiny would include helping God’s people – kind of like Esther – “God has put you here in this position for such a time as this.”
3. But Moses got a little ahead of God. He got antsy and impatient.
4. Desiring to carry out the will of God, eager to do great things for God, Moses took matters into his own hands and forced the situation, which led to disaster.
5. God did not instruct Moses to kill the Egyptian. Moses was strictly a freelance murderer.
6. Did you catch that – Moses murdered the Egyptian.
7. It would be easy to say that something in Moses suddenly snapped and he couldn’t help himself, but that’s not how Scripture explains it.
8. Verse 12 tells us that Moses knew what he was doing, and that he “looked this way and that and that” to be sure no one was looking, and then he acted swiftly and viciously.
9. Isn’t it interesting that he looked this way and that way, but he didn’t look up?
10. He looked horizontally, but not vertically. That always gets us into trouble doesn’t it?
F. But let’s not be too hard on Moses, I believe he was absolutely sincere and wanted to do what was right.
1. He didn’t see himself as murdering a cruel slave-driver as much as courageously striking a blow for God’s people.
2. Moses believed he was to be the deliverer and assumed that everyone else would think the same.
3. Maybe he thought that all he had to do was start the ball rolling and the Hebrews would rally around him, hailing him as their champion, but that’s not what happened.
4. The Bible says: 13 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?”
14 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 did must have become known.” (Ex. 2:13-14)
5. Again, let’s notice Stephen’s account: 25 Moses thought that his own people would realize that God was using him to rescue them, but they did not. 26 The next day Moses came upon two Israelites who were fighting. He tried to reconcile them by saying, ‘Men, you are brothers; why do you want to hurt each other?’ 27 “But the man who was mistreating the other pushed Moses aside and said, ‘Who made you ruler and judge over us? 28 Do you want to kill me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday?’ (Acts 7:25-28)
G. One wonders why Moses went back to the scene of the crime.
1. Perhaps he returned to pick up with his plan to be the deliverer.
2. As he arrived, he came upon two Hebrews who were fighting.
3. He tried to stop them saying, “Hey guys, this shouldn’t be happening. We’ve got to work together!”
4. But they didn’t want to listen to him. They actually insulted him.
5. The one basically said, “Hey, Fancy Boy, back off. Who died and left you in charge? Are you going to kill us like you killed the Egyptian?”
H. Can you imagine how this must have hit Moses?
1. Was his reaction shock or anger, then confusion, and then fear?
2. Stephen’s account says: 29 When Moses heard this, he fled to Midian, where he settled as a foreigner and had two sons. (Acts 7:29)
3. The Exodus account says: 15 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.”
4. Now that Moses had tipped his hand and shown his true loyalties, Pharaoh had to try to eliminate him.
5. In the king’s eyes, a disloyal and out-of-control prince was better off dead.
6. So Moses tucked up his royal robes and ran like a scared rabbit.
I. And where did he run? To Midian.
1. Midian was in Northwest Saudi Arabia, near the Gulf of Aqaba, approximately 285 miles from the Egyptian city of Ramses from which it is believed Moses fled.
2. That distance would be like going from Syracuse to Boston, Cleveland, or Washington, DC.
3. Let me tell you, Midian was a bleak, and desolate place – it looks a bit like the surface of Mars.
4. The area was incredibly barren, hot, arid, sandy, with an occasional scraggly bush somehow clinging to life.
J. So what happened to Moses when he arrived in Midian?
1. The Bible says: 16 Now a priest of Midian had seven daughters, and they came to draw water and fill the troughs to water their father’s flock. 17 Some shepherds came along and drove them away, but Moses got up and came to their rescue and watered their flock.
18 When the girls returned to Reuel their father, he asked them, “Why have you returned so early today?” 19 They answered, “An Egyptian rescued us from the shepherds. He even drew water for us and watered the flock.”
20 “And where is he?” he asked his daughters. “Why did you leave him? Invite him to have something to eat.”
21 Moses agreed to stay with the man, who gave his daughter Zipporah to Moses in marriage. 22 Zipporah gave birth to a son, and Moses named him Gershom, saying, “I have become an alien in a foreign land.”
23 During that long period, the king of Egypt died. The Israelites groaned in their slavery and cried out, and their cry for help because of their slavery went up to God. 24 God heard their groaning and he remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac and with Jacob. 25 So God looked on the Israelites and was concerned about them.
2. What we have in these brief 9 or 10 verses is a description of 40 years of Moses’ life.
3. Moses’ life nicely divides into three 40 year segments.
a. He spent his first 40 years in Egypt in training and luxury.
b. He spent his second 40 years in the desert of obscurity - shepherding.
c. He spent his third 40 years in the desert leading God’s people.
4. D.L. Moody gave his own spin on Moses’ life: “Moses spent his first forty years thinking he was somebody. He spent his second forty years learning he was nobody. He spent his last forty years discovering what God can do with a nobody.”
5. What a shocking and humbling experience this must have been for Moses – He went from the top of the pyramid to the backside of Zipville.
6. He came to Midian not knowing anyone, not knowing the ropes, and not even knowing where he was going to live.
7. But he rescued and served the seven daughters of a man Moses had never met, and the man offered Moses a home and a wife.
8. And Moses who would have been the next Pharaoh and would have been in line to marry an exotic Cleopatra-type beauty, settled down with a shepherdess and became a shepherd.
9. Like the name he gave his son, Moses was a sojourner in a distant land, forgotten and obscure.
II. The Application
A. So what was it that Moses needed to learn from his failure in Egypt?
1. What was it that Moses needed to learn during his 40 years of desert obscurity?
B. Let’s begin by acknowledging that although we aim for perfection, we will never achieve it.
1. We are going to experience failure, and so we must learn how to learn from seasons of failure and loss, or we will keep repeating those failures.
2. Our Scripture reading today came from Psalm 119.
a. Verse 67 reads: Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I obey your word.
b. A few verses later, we read: It was good for me to be afflicted so that I might learn your decrees. The law from your mouth is more precious to me than thousands of pieces of silver and gold. (vs. 71-72)
3. The Psalmist had been hurting for some period of time.
a. He doesn’t tell us what caused the pain, nor does he tell us how long he has endured it.
b. He simply tells us that it happened.
c. He describes to us the dark and dismal backwash of failure, and the serious affliction he experienced at the hands of the Lord.
d. But he describes how thankful he is for the things his failure taught him.
e. His failure has promoted an obedient life and a teachable spirit.
4. I trust that Moses’ failure promoted a more obedient life and teachable spirit in him.
5. How about you? Has the suffering of your failures softened your heart, or hardened it?
6. When we find ourselves in the desert of discipline, the school of hard knocks, we are prone to three responses.
a. First, we might declare: “I don’t need this!” – My spouse may need this, my sibling may need this, my neighbor may need this, but I don’t need it. Guess what? We need it!
b. Second, we might declare: “I’m tired of this!” No matter how long we may have been suffering it seems too long.
c. The final response, the one God is waiting to hear is: “Here I am Lord, what is it you want me to learn?” This is the place of acceptance and openness.
C. Let’s consider several lessons Moses was willing to learn in the school of hard knocks:
1. He learned that God always provides a well.
a. In my mind’s eye I can see Moses searching for water. He is wind-burned, and sun-burned, and his lips are dry and cracked; he’s so thirsty.
b. In the middle of the desert, God led Moses to a well, and it became the open door for meeting Moses’ needs.
c. Just as it was for Moses, it is for us. God provides the wells we need.
d. God’s wells supply our needs both physically and spiritually.
e. God’s most important well overflows with grace and life and peace.
2. He learned that God never does anything without a purpose.
a. God put Moses through 40 years in the wilderness and then had him turn right around and lead the children of Israel for forty more years in the desert.
b. Moses’ 40 years learning desert survival skills came in handy when asked to lead God’s people in the desert.
c. We never know how God can use our failures, and hardships, but we know He will.
3. He learned that God trains and employs imperfect people.
a. God doesn’t have any other kind of people to work with.
b. Our failure is never the end of God’s love for us nor our usefulness in His plans.
c. Like Moses, let’s learn our lessons from the school of hard knocks and be ready for our next assignment.
Resources: Moses: A Man of Selfless Dedication, by Charles Swindoll, Word Publishing, 1999
