Trust God’s Timing
Exodus 2:11-25
- We’re continuing our study through the book of Exodus, and we’re asking the question, “What can I learn about honoring God from this passage?”
- Last week, we looked at God our Protector.
- We saw Him protect Jochebed and her husband as they defied Pharaoh’s orders and hid baby Moses for three months, then made a basket and sent him floating down the Nile River.
- We saw Him protect Moses’ sister Miriam as she followed the basket down the river and then stepped forth to speak with Pharaoh’s daughter.
- And we saw Him protect the baby Moses, as Pharaoh’s daughter chose to adopt him instead of following her father’s orders to kill him.
- Today, we’re going to look at what we can learn from Moses about trusting God’s timing.
- There’s a funny skit on YouTube that pokes fun of Daylight Savings Time.
- This group of people at a church is gathered together, and the leader singles out one man named Jacob.
- He says, “Okay, Jacob, this is a trust fall, and all you need to do is close your eyes.”
- Then he tells the rest of the group to get in place.
- The idea is to have Jacob fall backward and trust that the group will safely catch him.
- The leader continues, “Okay, Jacob, on the count of 3, you’re going to fall and they’re going to catch you.”
- Then he counts down…”3,2,1…”
- At that point, Jacob starts to fall forward…
- The group gasps, and the leader shouts, “Wait!” but it’s too late…
- Jacob falls forward where there’s no one to catch him.
- As he falls forward, the picture fades and the words on the screen say, “Don’t forget to fall back, not spring forward!”
- That’s a little silly, and you might be thinking, “Okay, what does Daylight Savings Time have to do with this sermon?”
- Well, absolutely nothing…
- But just like Jacob trusted his group, but then fell in the wrong direction because he misunderstood the leader’s directions, so too did Moses “fall” in the wrong direction.
- He trusted in God, but he misunderstood God’s timing, and as we’ll see in the passage today, he had to flee.
- So what do we learn about trusting God’s timing from this passage this morning?
I.) Don’t Rush- Vs 11-15
- When I was a kid, I was a little competitive, but not in sports.
- I was competitive in my schoolwork.
- I wanted to have the highest score in class, or I wanted to be the first one done with the test…
- I remember one of the ways the teachers taught us how to remember our multiplication table was by giving us speed quizzes…
- We’d have a sheet of paper full of multiplication problems, and we’d have 3 or 4 minutes to complete as many of the questions as possible.
- So I’d rush through, trying to get the most done so I’d beat everyone else.
- Then, there were the times when I’d spend too much time on one question, and then rush through the rest, just so I could finish on time.
- Unfortunately, this meant that many times, I’d guess on some answers, and skip over others, all so that I could get done faster than anyone else.
- Well, when it came to school, rushing through an assignment or a test was never a good thing.
- I’d usually get a lower score than I had hoped.
- If I had taken my time, I probably would have gotten better grades.
- There are many times when we need to just take our time.
- Unfortunately, Moses learned that the hard way, but it was all part of God’s plan for him.
- In between vs 10 and 11, there’s a time-period of about 40 years, and during those 40 years, he grew up in the palace as the son of Pharaoh’s daughter.
- And he wasn’t just some royal spoiled brat.
- No…in Acts 7:22, Stephen tells us that, “Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and was mighty in words and deeds.”
- So during that first 40 years of Moses’ life, God was teaching him leadership skills, military skills, and of course religious skills, which his mother Jochebed taught him about the One True God…
- He probably learned some of the Egyptian pagan practices too, but it’s clear that he rejected those, and instead, chose to follow God.
- This was no small thing because, according to Jewish historian Josephus, Moses was being trained to be the next Pharaoh of Egypt!
- But that wasn’t what Moses wanted…his heart was with his people, not the Egyptians.
- Let me stop there for a moment, and let’s think about that first 40 years of his life.
- Moses knew that he was not born an Egyptian…he knew he was a Hebrew.
- Put yourself in his shoes for a moment.
- Let’s say that you got to grow up somewhere nice, like the White House for example.
- The President’s family has taken you in as one of their own.
- You can have anything in the world you want…money’s no barrier because the person who took you in is the most powerful man in the world.
- But you also know who your birth parents are and who your brothers and sisters are.
- You know that your family is living in a run-down house, not even making ends meet, starving, working 3 or 4 different jobs, never able to move forward.
- Would you be able to live in the White House in complete peace and perfectly content?
- Of course, not…you’d be thinking about your family, and the horrible situation they’re in.
- You’d probably be very unhappy.
- I think that’s where Moses was…
- For 40 years now, he’s known that he is a Hebrew.
- For 40 years now, he’s watched his people multiply, and he’s watched Pharaoh increase their burdens, and try to work them to death.
- I’m sure he wanted to do something about it early on but couldn’t.
- Vs 11 tells us that when he was grown, he went out to his brethren and looked at their burdens.
- I’m sure that he already knew that the conditions they were working and living in were not good at all.
- But to leave the comfort of the palace and go see for himself the burden his people were facing…that shows you that he truly cared.
- It might look something like if you and I visited a third world country, and saw the living and working conditions of some of the poorest of the poor…
- It would be heartbreaking, and I’m sure we’d want to do something about it to help those people.
- Well, that must be how Moses was feeling as he saw the sad condition his own people were in.
- As he was walking around, watching his brethren, he noticed one of the Egyptian taskmasters beating one of his Hebrew brothers…
- Acts 7 tells us that he saw the Hebrew suffer wrong and that the taskmaster was oppressing him.
- At this point, in his heart, Moses wanted freedom for his people…
- Seeing that taskmaster beat one of his own people angered him, so he killed him and hid his body in the sand.
- This is when Moses hit the point of no return, and it’s not like he killed the taskmaster only because he was angry and then immediately regretted it…
- No, Acts 7 once again gives us more detail.
- It says that Moses “…supposed that his brethren would have understood that God would deliver them by his hand, but they did not understand.”
- This is evident on the next day when he sees 2 of them fighting and tries to stop them…
- One of them responded by saying, “Who made you a prince and judge over us? Are you going to kill me too, just like the Egyptian from yesterday?”
- So Moses believed that it was time to lead his people into freedom.
- I’m not faulting Moses here…he genuinely wanted to save his people from their bondage…
- His heart was in the right place, but it was the wrong timing…
- He was in a rush to deliver his people, but he wasn’t ready, and apparently the people weren’t ready either…
- After all, one of them must have reported him to Pharaoh, because there weren’t any Egyptians around when he killed the man.
- So Moses fled because he knew Pharaoh would execute him for killing an Egyptian officer.
- What about you? Is there something you’re trying to rush God on?
- We do it all the time…“God, I really want to do this, and I want to do it now!”
- And then we expect God’s blessing, especially if it’s something we consider to be “spiritual” or “really important.”
- And then we get impatient, and we try to open doors ourselves, or make things happen on our own.
- But Scripture is clear that it’s better to wait for the Lord, than to rush into things.
- Psalm 27:14 says, “Wait for the Lord; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the Lord!”
- Lamentations 3:25-26 says, “The Lord is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him. It is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord.”
- I remember years ago when I first felt the call to be a pastor, and I wanted to jump right in!
- I’ll never forget returning from Iraq, and then looking up job posting after job posting of pastor positions, and I hadn’t even finished my degree yet!
- I’d write emails to search committees, and send my resume…
- But you know what…I was trying to rush things, and I definitely wasn’t ready.
- God knew better, and in His timing, He opened the door here at Baring, which just so happens to be the church I dreamed of pastoring when I was still a child and watched my father preach from this pulpit.
- God’s timing is always best!
II.) Don’t Give Up- Vs 16-22
- When things don’t go our way, it’s easy to just give up and stop trying.
- I remember as a child, when I watched my dad preach, I’d think in my mind, “How would I preach that passage he’s preaching? What would I say instead?”
- I used to imagine myself up at the pulpit, getting really excited and enthusiastic, using all sorts of hand motions, and walking back and forth, kind of how my dad did it.
- Well, preaching is a whole lot harder than I pictured it in my imagination.
- I remember when Pastor John Ledford was pastoring here, and he sort of took me under his wing, one day, he asked me if I’d like to preach a sermon on a Wednesday or Sunday night.
- I of course said yes and was so excited!
- I’ll never forget preparing the sermon and being super nervous when it came time to preach.
- Well, as some of you might remember, I kept making you turn in your Bibles from one place to another with reference after reference, trying to fill up the time.
- I don’t even remember what I preached, I just remember my face being red, and realizing that I didn’t have a clue what I was doing!
- At that point, I could have given up, and I could have decided to never become a pastor.
- And for a while, I didn’t go back behind the pulpit…I left Maine and joined the Army, and didn’t think of it again for quite some time.
- Thankfully, God later reminded me of the calling He had placed on my heart, and He has me here today.
- Moses could very well have given up as well, as he ran away from Egypt, and left his people behind…the farthest thing from his mind was going back and attempting to deliver his people from slavery.
- Thankfully, God had other plans, but it was going to take some time, and Moses needed to trust God.
- It was no coincidence that God sent Moses to sit by a certain well where the 7 daughters of a very important man were drawing water for their father’s flock.
- We’re told that man’s name was Reuel, the priest of Midian.
- Don’t let that title fool you into thinking that the priest of Midian was a pagan priest that worshipped false idols.
- No, I don’t believe God would have sent Moses to him if that were the case.
- The Midianites were more than likely descendants of Abraham, through his marriage to Keturah…
- One of the children born to her was named Midian.
- So it’s very likely that Reuel was a priest of the One True God to his family, the Midianites.
- So God sent Moses to that well on that day because He wanted Moses to meet Reuel.
- It’s funny how the encounter happens…
- A bunch of mean-hearted shepherds came to the well and tried to chase the girls off.
- Moses of course was a man of honor, and he didn’t take too kindly to people acting in an unjust manner…
- So he stands up for the girls, and sends the wicked shepherds running…
- My guess is that he probably gave those men a good beating…
- After all, according to the Jewish historian Josephus, Moses had been a General who led the Egyptians to victory against the Ethiopians.
- And remember, he was strong enough to kill an Egyptian taskmaster, so it wouldn’t surprise me if he forcefully removed these men from the well.
- In any case, this was part of God’s plan, and the daughters informed their father, who immediately sent for Moses to come to him.
- Before this happened, Moses could very well have just given up on life and chosen to die in the wilderness.
- He had nowhere to go…
- He couldn’t go back to his adoptive mother because Pharaoh would kill him…
- He couldn’t go back to his own people because they didn’t want him to deliver them, so they would have just handed him over to Pharaoh.
- But I believe that Moses trusted God, even as he was walking in the desert, unsure of what was next.
- After the girls went back to bring Moses to their father, God blessed him with favor in Reuel’s eyes
- Then God blessed him with a wife and allowed him to become part of Reuel’s family by marrying Zipporah.
- What was so great about this?
- Well, for one thing, since Reuel was a priest of the One True God, Moses no longer had to be exposed to the false idols of Egypt, and all the wicked practices that went into worshipping them.
- He could learn more about God by being with the Midianites and could grow in his relationship with Him.
- Another benefit is that for 40 years, Moses would get to work as a shepherd.
- Remember, God was going to make him a spiritual shepherd of Israel, as he would be their leader in the wilderness…
- What better way to learn how to be a spiritual shepherd than by first being an actual physical shepherd?
- While in Midian, Moses and Zipporah had a son.
- This was a good thing for Moses as well because he would learn a lot as a father.
- So not only did he have his experience in Egypt, but now he had his experience in Midian, and when combined, these 2 experiences would come in handy as he led God’s people through the wilderness.
- So, were the years Moses was in Midian considered to be waiting years?
- Perhaps in a way they were…
- But I like the way Pastor David Guzik explains it…
- He says, “…the years in Midian were…working years; he had never worked this hard in his life! God trained him, shaping him for his future calling, but Moses was certainly not “on the shelf.” In Egypt Moses learned how to be somebody. In Midian he learned how to be nobody.”
- So Moses trusted God and didn’t give up, knowing that God was in complete control.
- What about us?
- It’s not easy to keep going when things don’t go the way we expected.
- It’s not easy to keep going when it seems like we’re facing one trial after another after another…
- There will be times when God closes certain doors, and there will be times when He opens certain doors that we weren’t planning to go through…
- It’s easy to just give up and throw in the towel.
- We might think something like, “God, this is way too hard for me! I can’t handle it. I give up!”
- That’s when we need God the most, and oftentimes, that’s when we grow closer to Him.
- I like the way the Apostle Paul explains it in 2 Corinthians 12:9-10.
- “And God said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”
- He also puts it well in Galatians 6:9, where he says, “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.”
- Don’t give up…trust God and His timing…keep moving forward in His strength.
III.) Don’t Lose Your Faith- Vs 23-25
- One night a house caught fire and a young boy was forced to flee to the roof.
- The father stood on the ground below with outstretched arms, calling to his son, "Jump! I'll catch you."
- He knew the boy had to jump to save his life. All the boy could see, however, was flame, smoke, and blackness.
- As can be imagined, he was afraid to leave the roof.
- His father kept yelling: "Jump! I will catch you."
- But the boy protested, "Daddy, I can't see you."
- The father replied, "But I can see you and that's all that matters."
- So the boy jumped because he trusted his father.
- Even though that boy couldn’t see his father through the flames and smoke, he needed to have faith in his father, and believe that he could see him, and would catch him.
- If he lost his faith in his father, he would perish in the flames.
- But he had faith, and jumped…
- The Children of Israel were in a similar situation in Egypt…
- There seemed to be no way out, but God could see them even when they couldn’t see Him.
- It definitely was hard for the Israelites to see God at work while facing such hardships at the hands of the Egyptians, but God never stopped loving them or watching over them.
- Vs 23 tells us that the king of Egypt died.
- All those years of being Pharaoh, and as far as we know, not once did he lighten the load for the Israelites.
- As they grew in number, he actually made their burdens heavier.
- Now that he is dead, the Israelites have a sliver of hope.
- They “groaned because of the bondage, they cried out, and their cry came up to God…”
- I believe that the majority of them were at this point, and that their groanings and cries were directed at God.
- After all those years in bondage, the Children of Israel had not lost their faith in God.
- And now, as they cry out to God, He is already working to bring them deliverance.
- He’d actually been working on their deliverance for almost 80 years now, from the day that Moses was born…
- Some might ask, “But why so long? Why didn’t He just snap His fingers and deliver them, or let Moses do it when he was 40?”
- The answer is because God’s timing is not our timing.
- Scripture tells us in 2 Peter 3:8 that with the Lord, a thousand years is as one day and one day is as a thousand years.
- Remember, God created time, so He’s outside the bounds of time…
- He’s God, and He can work as fast or as slow as He wants to…
- And it’s always the right timing, because He knows better than we do…
- He can see what we can’t…
- In vs 24, it says that God remembered His Covenant with Abraham…
- Does that mean He forgot it?
- Of course not.
- The Hebrew word used for “remember” is “Zakar”…
- It refers not just to the thought process of recalling something, but also vigorous and aggressive follow-up action.
- What Moses means when he writes this is that the time has now come for God to act on His plan according to His divine schedule, not man’s.
- I like the way one commentator explained it.
- “Metaphorically speaking, what God did with Israel was bake a loaf of bread.
- He started by carefully choosing the necessary ingredients in the proper amount needed.
- He then blended everything together, threw it in an oven and set the timer.
- In this case, the oven was Egypt.
- God knew that in order for the loaf of bread of to be eatable, it would take time for it to harden.
- Although it may seem otherwise, God never forgot about the loaf of bread He threw in the oven.
- His ever-watchful eye was always monitoring the baking process.
- And then, when the timing was right, he opened the oven door and out came Israel.”
- You see, even when we think God is not hearing or working in our lives, He is…
- And instead of losing our faith in Him when the going is tough, you and I need to cling even tighter to Him, because He’s got it under control.
- In closing, I’d like to encourage you in the week ahead to focus on trusting God and His timing.
- Don’t try to rush Him, don’t give up on whatever the situation is, and don’t lose faith in Him.
- Our Heavenly Father is always with us, He’s always watching over us, and He’ll always love us.
- Honor God by trusting Him, even when it seems too hard to do so.
- Let’s take a moment now to reflect on God’s Word from this morning.
