MOSES: FROM DOUBT TO DELIVERANCE
WILDERNESS UNIVERSITY
Sunday September 22, 2002
Scripture Reference: Exodus 2:15-25
Intro.
A. Today is a special day for us at Cornerstone. We have just dedicated ____ children. As young as these children are it may seem difficult to think of the time when they will graduate from high school and then begin their search for a college. I have been through that process once and now this year Sue and I will go through it again as our youngest daughter completes her senior year and begins to look towards college. It is both an exciting and frightening experience, for both the child and the parent.
B. Did you know that God also has a school? God’s college does not have dormitories or computer labs. It doesn’t have a choir or a baseball team. There are no fancy four-color brochures that advertise God’s college. You cannot expect for one of His campus recruiters to come to you and try and persuade you to attend his school. You are not going to see professional videos introducing you to campus life.
1. God’s college is in the desert, and I don’t mean Palm Springs or UNLV. God’s college is a desolate place. It is a place where the temperature soars and shade is hard to come by. It is a place where the ground is parched and dry and water is a rare commodity. ** I should also point out something that is very important about God’s school, which in case you haven’t noticed I have decided to call “Wilderness University”. Wilderness University is not a school that you can opt out of. When it comes to colleges around the country we pick and chose where it is that we might like to go, but we cannot do that with Wilderness University. If you are going to be a follower of Jesus Christ, if you are going to be a true “Disciple” then the Wilderness University is mandatory.
2. There is another strange thing about this university. You never finish all the courses, at least not in this life. There are no semesters or quarters. Your time at Wilderness University may last from a few days to a few years. Acts 7:30 tells us that Moses spent 40 years in the Wilderness University. Can you imagine that, 40 years in school? [] It reminds me of a guy I knew when I was going to bible college. At that time the college program was for three years. It took this guy seven years to graduate.
Trans. I would like to take a few minutes an introduce you to the Wilderness University. Let me first of all introduce you to:
I. WILDERNESS 101
A. The Desert Speaks.
1. I learned something very interesting about this “desert” school. Did you know that the word “desert” in the original Hebrew language means, “to speak”? I find that not only very interesting but very enlightening. When we normally think of the desert we do not think of it as a place with much to say. We normally think of the desert as something that is barren and desolate (although I know there are those who see great beauty in the desert). [] I for one enjoy the ocean (as if you didn’t already know that). I love to go to sleep listening to the crashing of the waves on the seashore, but I am also familiar with the desert. When I grew up my parents owned property at the Salton Sea. We had motorcycles and I would often ride out into the desert by myself. After a while I would stop the bike and get off to rest. I can still remember how quiet the desert seemed to be. It made you feel very isolated.
2. Isn’t this the way we normally feel about God’s desert classes? When we go through those times in the wilderness everything seems deathly quiet. Rather than God speaking it seem s as though God has abandoned us. After all why would He want to be in a place like this? Could I make a suggestion that might hurt a little? Could it be possible that at times the seeming silence is of our own making? What I mean by that is that there are times when we are in the desert and we think God is not there or God is not speaking when in fact He can’t get in a word edge wise. We are so busy complaining, we are so busy trying to get a “pass” on this class that we can’t hear what God is try to say.
Trans. I do not have the time to share everything that I would like but let me show what I want to call:
B. God’s Campus Security.
1. Campus security is a big deal now especially with all the things that have gone on in our schools in past years. The desert can be a frightening place sometimes. I remember one night at the Salton Sea when my grandmother came in from her trailer and she had been stung by a scorpion. One of the things we can discover as we make our way through these desert classes is that God is there to shield and protect us. Listen to the words of Moses in Deut. 32:10 “In a desert land he found him, in a barren and howling waste. He shielded him and cared for him; he guarded him as the apple of his eye,” I want to remind you that these are the words of Moses as he comes to the end of his life. As he reflects back on all the things he has learned through TWO trips through the desert here is what he says.
a) God Shields Us. God has a hedge of protection built around our lives. It reminds me of the words God spoke through the prophet Jeremiah in 29:11. God tells us that he has plans for us. Plans to prosper and not to harm us. I think I need to remind you that a shield does us no good unless we stay behind it. Once you come out from around that shield you are immediately vulnerable to attack and injury. I think there are a lot of times that I have blamed God for getting hurt when the fault was mine. I did not allow myself to stay protected by obeying His word and by following the instruction of godly people He had placed in my life.
b) God Cares For us. The word “care” that is used in this verse is a little deceiving. The word actually means, “to instruct or to inform”. That is the very purpose of the Wilderness University. It is to be a place of learning and instruction in our lives. It is to be a place that equips us to better serve the Lord in this world of ours. Again I would suggest that often the problem lies with us. We can become quite resistant in the desert, can’t we? We look at those places and we see nothing but desolation and waste and we say to ourselves, “What can I possibly learn from this? There is absolutely nothing here.” Be patient, as we will soon see one of the majors in this university is time.
c) God Guards Us. Notice how God guards us, “as the apple of his eye”. That of course refers to the pupil of the eye. Do I need to convince any of you of the sensitive nature of the pupil? What happens when you get even the tiniest speck of dust in your eye? You will immediately shield your eye and try whatever you can to remove that object. Now imagine this, this is exactly how God watches over you and I. I think this expresses the great compassion and mercy that god has towards us, even when we are trying to get out of class, so to speak.
d) God Guides Us. Look at what it Moses says in Deut. V.12 “The LORD alone led him; no foreign god was with him.” What I find so important in these words is not that God guided Moses. We can see that attested to through out his life. It is what he says at the beginning of this verse. “The LORD alone led him…” Anyone that knows me knows that I am big on the church and the fellowship, accountability and instruction it provides. But I also know there are some lessons that only God can teach me. There are times in our lives like with Moses when we are not sure where we are going or how we are going to get there but we put our hand in Gods’ and walk by faith. It is in those times when we learn some of our greatest lessons.
Trans. The Bible also shows us that Moses learned some valuable lessons while in the desert. We find those lessons in Deut. 8:2 “Remember how the LORD your God led you all the way in the desert these forty years, to humble you and to test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands.” Notice with me three desert lessons.
C. Desert Lessons.
1. Humility. Isn’t that one of your favorite lessons? I know I sure enjoy the lessons in humility. You would think my favorite desert is humble pie. Why does God need to humble us? Because we always think we know what is best for us, but in reality Father knows best, our heavenly Father. If you are learning any lessons in your Wilderness University classes then I can guarantee you that you are being humbled. God is revealing your weaknesses in order to get us to trust in Him more.
2. Test. What would college life be like without tests? And don’t we all just love a test? Do you know what I have found about most of God’s wilderness tests? They are just about all pop quizzes. You don’t; even know they are coming. That is why we have to be ready. Remember what Paul said about the armor of God in Eph. 6:16? He said that we are put on the readiness of the gospel. Would it be fair to say that we fail most tests because we do not know the material? That is why Psalm 119:11 say, “I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.”
3. To Know Your Heart. In case you were unaware (but I am sure you are) the desert experiences have a wonderful way of reveal who we really are. We may wear a nice suit or dress to church. We might put a lot of money in the offering plate when it is passed. We may even seem to have all the answers to he bible study questions, but what does our heart look like? Who are we REALLY? When we are in the wilderness we will experience trials and struggles. When they come will we still be singing God’s praises or will we be cursing his name? Only your heart knows for sure.
Trans. If you have ever looked through a college brochure you know that most colleges offer a long list of possible majors. There are quite a few majors that God’s Wilderness University offers as well, but I want to show just four of the majors Moses had to take. I think they are majors most all of us will face some time as well.
II. WILDERNESS UNIVERSITY MAJORS.
A. Obscurity.
1. Look at 3:1. Now why is this verse so important? To answer that we have to go back to Acts 7:21-22 “When he was placed outside, Pharaoh’s daughter took him and brought him up as her own son. Moses was educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and was powerful in speech and action.” The way we like to look at people today, Moses was not a NOBODY. He was raised in Pharaoh’s palace. He was trained in all the wisdom of Egypt, the greatest nation of the day. But now look at 3:1 again. Here is a man who by all rights should be leading the nation of Egypt but here he is on the backside of the desert. I like to say, “It was not the end of the world but you could see it from there.”
2. Are you majoring in obscurity right now? Maybe there was a time when you felt like you were on top of the world. Everything was going your way. You had a great job, a nice home, a nice car and money in your pocket. But all of a sudden you lost your job, you might have lost your home, and now a night out is a trip to Macdonald’s. You are learning the major of obscurity.
B. Time.
1. Maybe a better word for this major is patience. Can I confess that this is probably my least favorite major? Moses spent forty years in the wilderness before he was at the place where God could use him. That is one long class. I have never been a wilderness class that I thought ought to last just a little longer, have you? I doubt it.
2. We live in a microwave society. We are use to getting what we want right away. There is very little in our world that trains us to wait. Last week we learned that God’s ways are not ours. He has lessons to teach us that will make our lives filled with his abundance but those lessons are usually not one-hour lessons.
C. Solitude.
1. Moses learned the importance of solitude during those forty years n the desert. I think that is a major most everyone could use. We are not much for silence or solitude. [] I know that for me whenever I go home I almost instantly turn on the TV. It’s not that I want to watch TV so much as it is that I want to have noise in the house. I think that all of us need a time and place for solitude and silence where there is nothing to distract us from hearing God’s voice.
2. At the risk of being misunderstood I think we need a time and place to get away from radio preachers and even Christian music. I am not saying that there is something wrong with any of those things themselves. I just believe that there are times when we need nothing but silence and solitude. It probably will require some diligence on our part if we are going to create it. It may be that God will create it for us.
D. Discomfort.
1. Here is a major you will certainly not find in any college catalog that I
know of. Can you imagine a major in discomfort? I wonder what the classes would be like that you had to take. Maybe they would be things like, sleeping on the floor for a semester, or being yelled at by your boss for a week. Maybe a class might be, coming to the first of the month with bills to pay but no money. Well I guess we have all had that class.
2. What could have been more uncomfortable that spending forty years in
the desert without running water or air conditioning? The fact is though that God has to often make us uncomfortable where we are so that we will move on to where he wants us to be. When things are comfortable I am not to inclined to move. [] My cat can get very comfortable and no matter how much I tell him to move he won’t. It’s just too comfortable. But you make him uncomfortable and he will be up in a flash. I think we would all have to confess that we are much the same as that cat. It is our discomfort that often gets us moving onward.
LIFE LESSONS:
A. Learn All You Can.
B. Graduate With Honors.
C. Use Your Education.
1. God is preparing you for what he has prepared for you.
