Moses was once again wondering whether or not he had been a failure. God had given him a chance to start over but it wasn’t going as he had expected...again.
Forty years earlier he had tried to deliver the Israelites from Egyptian bondage through his own devices. Humbled and made wiser on the backside of the desert he returns to Egypt to deliver the Hebrews according to God’s instructions at the burning bush.
This time he is sure he is on the right track. This leads us to the most important principle for success in the eyes of God, or, the primary guideline for starting over:
Success is doing what God tells you to do.
Various definitions of success hammer us every day. Success is "living your life in the limelight" like the stars of Hollywood. Success is "amassing great wealth and living an opulent lifestyle". Success is "climbing to the top of your occupational ladder". Yada, yada, yada.
The definition of success that really counts is God’s definition. To God, success is obedience. Success is doing what God tells you to do regardless of the response of other people.
God instructed Moses to confront the most powerful monarch in the world and tell him to let His people go. (Exodus 5:1; 7:16; 8:1,20; 9:1,13)
God didn’t say that Pharoah would like the message.
Our job as believers is to share God’s message. We ought to try and make it as palatable as possible, but we must still share it even if it isn’t accepted.
Consider the last time the message, "Let my people go" was delivered to Pharoah:
Exodus 9:13 - "And the LORD said to Moses, Rise up early in the morning, and stand before Pharoah, and say unto him, Thus saith the LORD God of the Hebrews, Let my people go that they may serve me."
14 - "For I will at this time send all my plagues upon thine heart, and upon thy servants, and upon thy people; THAT THOU MAYEST KNOW THAT THERE IS NONE LIKE ME IN ALL THE EARTH." (Emphasis added)
15 - "For now I will stretch out my hand, that I may smite thee and thy people with pestilence; and thou shalt be cut off from the earth."
16 - "And in very deed FOR THIS CAUSE I HAVE RAISED THEE UP, FOR TO SHEW IN THEE MY POWER; AND THAT MY NAME MAY BE DECLARED THROUGHOUT ALL THE EARTH." (Emphasis added)
This scripture passage makes something very clear that we cannot afford to overlook. God was USING PHAROAH to bring GLOBAL ATTENTION to His name. God knew Pharoah wouldn’t cooperate with Moses - but that was not what God was initially after.
He began with a man called Abraham. He blessed the descendants of Abraham so that they grew into a thriving nation and through that people God blessed all the nations of the earth. (Genesis 12)
He wanted everyone in Egypt (and in the world) to know that there was absolutely no god except the only living God. He wanted the world to observe a mob of slaves marching in procession to worship Him.
God was establishing His reputation as the only true God. He was unique in comparison to every deity dreamed up by man’s imagination. He is holy, exquisite, Almighty, and resplendent.
The Exodus was to be one of many reference points to the world of His character, His holiness, His power, and His involvement in the affairs of men.
God knew Pharoah wouldn’t agree to the message. That was all right - for God had bigger plans!
Often we believe we have failed in life because we are looking at life from our perspective. We thought we knew how everything was supposed to turn out. When it turned out differently than we envisioned, we threw our hands up in desperation, believing we’d been a failure.
We only see what’s in front of us but God sees the whole panorama. Like the coach on the sidelines with the headset on - listening to the observers in the booth high above the playing field - he’s wisely taking instructions from someone with a much better perspective.
God sees the big picture. We succeed when we trust His Word, follow His instructions and plug into His plan.
Since success is obeying God we can’t be fooled into alternate plans. Moses had tried to deliver the Hebrews by his set of plans - that failed miserably. Starting over, he was learning to follow God’s instructions and not be so self-sufficient.
When Pharoah started getting the picture about God’s plan he suggested a compromise: let the adult Israelites go, but have the children and animals stay behind. (Exodus 10:24-26)
The water had turned to blood, the Egyptian landscape had been littered with frogs, lice, boils, hail, locusts, etc. Every idol of the Egyptians had been proven fake because God struck down every object the Egyptians worshipped and every thing the false gods were supposed to protect.
The tenth and final plague of the death of the firstborn had not yet been unleashed so the ruler of Egypt was trying to keep his wordly pride intact. He offers a compromise.
Moses didn’t take the bait. He knew that total obedience to God was essential. Who would leave a hostile country without their children anyway?
Pharoah knew that if they left the kids they wouldn’t be gone long. And if they left the animals they had no property with which to sustain themselves. Moses knew that with no animals, they had nothing to sacrifice to God in worship.
Pharoah was the pawn of Satan. The devil always tries to get God’s people to compromise their worship.
We can’t leave our families and our possessions behind when we worship God. That kind of compromise makes worship useless. Building our marriage and raising our children on solid biblical principles honors God as much as singing praise to God or teaching a Bible study.
Honoring God in how we spend our money is also a clear indication of our priorities. We may be a "success" in making money, but if we aren’t handling money according to God’s principles we are dancing to Pharoah’s tune and not a success in the eyes of God.
Jesus said more about material things than He did about heaven and hell combined. He knew that the level of our spirituality was intricately tied to our bank accounts. "Where your treasure is, there will our heart be also." (Matthew 6:21)
But perhaps the greatest dark cloud over Moses’ head that made him wonder whether or not he was successful, was not whether the enemies of God like Pharoah opposed him, but the opposition of the people of God. This is often our greatest hurdle when starting over again for God.
When God started working on deliverance for the Hebrews, Pharoah’s heart got harder and he made life on the Israelites more difficult. This discouraged them and they weren’t inclined to listen to Moses any longer. (Exodus 6:9)
Moses’ first attempt at delivering a fellow Hebrew was met with contempt and scorn - but not just from the Egyptians. It was another Israelite who questioned Moses’ right to lead. Exodus 2:14 - "Who made you ruler and judge over us?"
Well the answer to that question was - God did!
Problem was, it took Moses forty years to answer that question in his own heart and mind. Actually, he was still having trouble with it on his encore appearance in the Nile theatre. He still doubted himself when he returned to Egypt. He constantly whined about his inability at public speaking. He kept repeating the same question from his past - "WHO AM I to play the role of leader?" (Ex. 3:11)
His mood swings took him from self-sufficient pride to self-debasing fear. Neither attitude is usable by God. It wasn’t until Moses learned that starting over was not based on the whims of men that he succeeded at getting the job done.
If we wait until everyone without and within the work of God is in favor of God using us - we will never start over.
If we are convinced God has a job for us to do - even if we failed at the job in the past as Moses did - let us roll up our sleeves, fall to our knees, and offer ourselves for service.
True success and the right to start over is in the hands of God - not other people.
