Background: A panorama of Moses’ life breaks nicely into three forty year segments (Acts 7:23; Deut.34:7). Our focus today will be on the second forty year segment of his life for it was in this time of life that God did His greatest work in Moses. In Stephen’s speech just prior to his martyrdom in Acts 7, he does a fantastic job summarizing the life of Moses.
The First Forty Years – Moses Learned that he was a Somebody.
Text: Acts 7:20-22 At that time Moses was born, and he was beautiful to God. For three months he was brought up in his father’s house, 7:21 and when he had been abandoned, Pharaoh’s daughter adopted him and brought him up as her own son. 7:22 So Moses was trained in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and was powerful in his words and deeds.
Explanation: Because of Jacob’s family growing rapidly in Goshen, the Egyptians, not only persecuted God’s people, they also implemented a policy of infanticide for all male Jewish boys. They were to be thrown into the Nile River. Not knowing what to do, one family made a waterproof basket, and floated their new born baby boy, Moses, down the river. Pharaoh’s daughter found him and Moses’ biological mother was hired to nurture him. After that, Moses received one of the finest Egyptian educations one could receive (Acts 7:22) and was privileged to Egyptian royalty.
The Second Forty Years – Moses Learned he was a Nobody.
Text: Acts 7:23 But when he was about forty years old… 7:29 …Moses fled and became a foreigner in the land of Midian, where he became the father of two sons.
Explanation: Several years later, sensing that God had a purpose for all of this, he actually murdered an Egyptian who was abusing one of God’s people. Fearing for his life, he ran into the desert.
During this forty years, Moses was in a period of forced obscurity. Oh, he married, and was a part of a family, but God used this time to shape him. And without this forty year segment of life, we would not have the next forty years.
The Third Forty Years – Moses Learned that God can do great things with a Nobody
Text: 7:36 This man led them out, performing wonders and miraculous signs in the land of Egypt, at the Red Sea, and in the wilderness for forty years.
Explanation: The third forty year segment, Moses led God’s people out of Egypt, performed many miracles at God’s bidding, delivered the Law to the Israelites, and brought them up to the edge of the Promised Land.
The Life Story of Moses Argues for an Obscure Place
Explanation: I’m arguing this morning that the most critical time in the life story of Moses was that period of forced obscurity in the desert where he was alone and broken, discouraged and defeated. The wilderness humbled him and made him sensitive to God.
Definition: Obscurity - the quality or condition of being unknown. It’s life outside the limelight. It’s serving without recognition. It’s having something to offer, but having to offer it on a smaller stage.
Application: Can I tenderly exhort you today to learn lessons well in the schoolroom of obscurity?
1. Do I address one here today who is a gifted, capable, qualified leader deserving of so much more – and yet God has you and your life sidelined. Are you a motivated employee that’s caught in the middle? In obscurity, God shapes your character so that you can lead his people. Moses wasn’t ready to lead before his obscure place and you won’t be either. Oh, he was educated and trained, but he was full of self-will. The word Moses has for you is “surrender.” You need obscurity to build your character.
Explanation: There is a breaking and remaking process that every leader must go through – where our character is hammered out on the anvil of obscurity. Until we experience that, we are loose canons, and we hurt a lot of people needlessly. In self-will, Moses murdered before his obscure place. After his forty years of obscurity, he let God call the shots.
Question: How many of you have had a situation in your work experience where someone was very bright, talented, competent and good, but there was something about who he or she was as a person that somehow got in the way of all that ability (Cloud, Integrity, 6)? That was Moses. And it’s you and me unless we surrender to God’s obscure place.
Quotation: Swindoll writes to leaders: “God is preparing you as His chosen arrow. As yet your shaft is hidden in His quiver, in the shadows…but at the precise moment at which it will tell with the greatest effect, He will reach for you and launch you to that place of His appointment (Growing Strong…531).”
2. Are you anxious to get on with your life? In obscurity, God teaches us to wait on His timing so that we can be in His will. The word Moses has for you is “wait.” In his period of obscurity, Moses was simply father, husband, and shepherd. Do your best at these primary roles and let God take care of the open doors. He will arrive at the right time, the best time. He will not abandon you. You don’t have to elbow your way through the system or through life. So often, we demand immediate results and resort to any measure to produce them. It took Moses forty years of waiting and it may take you a while, but God is faithful.
3. Are you all about false pretenses and masks? In obscurity, God peels off the pretense and shows you who you really are. The word Moses has for you is “authenticity.” God reveals our hearts in the desert of delay. He makes us real.
Illustration: I read the story of Leroy who on his sixth birthday announced that he wanted a bicycle for his birthday. He wasn’t exactly a model child, so his mother suggested that he go to his room and write a letter to God and tell him why he though he deserved a bike for his birthday. His letter went through several revisions: “Dear God, I have been a very good boy this year and I would like a bike for my birthday. I want a red one. Your Friend, Leroy.” He knew it wasn’t true and that God knew it too. “Dear God, I have been an OK boy this year. I still want that red bike.” Still questioning his own honesty, he wrote, “Dear God, I know I haven’t been a very good boy this year. I am sorry. I will be good if you send me that red bike. Thanks, Leroy.” The delay was killing him so he walked down to the church on the corner, sneaked inside, made sure no one was looking, and slipped a small statue of the Virgin Mary under his shirt and left. He went back to his room and his final letter went like this: “Dear God, I’ve got your mama. If you want to see her again, send the bike! Signed, You Know Who (Pivotal, 84-85).”
Application: God reveals our hearts in the desert of delay. The most secure, humble and gracious people I know are those who have been through the desert and who have seen what their hearts are really like, and who have nothing to hide. This is one of the reasons why I give you an opportunity to publicly respond most weeks to our worship theme and my talk – authenticity.
4. Are you almost suffocating from loneliness? In obscurity, God nudges you closer so that you can really get to know Him and draw on His power. The word Moses has for you is “solitude.” God had reduced him to a simple love for Himself.
Explanation: “There are only two things to look at in the Sinai – sand and rocks. No plant life, no lakes or rivers. As a result, it’s a lonely place, a place where time stands still and where God began to stretch and strengthen Moses in ways he never imagined (Swindoll, Moses…study guide, 39).”
Quotation: Henri Nouwen called solitude “the furnace of transformation.” Solitude is a place where we see ourselves and our God in new ways. We get still and identify the clutter of our lives. Struggles occur and inner battles are fought as God opens our eyes to what’s important. I have a feeling that Moses had come to the place in his life story where he said, “God, if I never see Egypt again, loving you and knowing you is my one goal. And if it takes being on the backside of desert for the rest of my life, it’s worth it.”
5. Are you in need of a fresh God-encounter? In obscurity, God reveals himself to you in a life changing way. You can’t lead 2 million constantly complaining people around in the desert for 40 years without some kind of God encounter to sustain you. I’ll bet there were times Moses thought that God was never, ever going to use him. You may feel the same. But believe it or not, you may be closer than ever to the greatest spiritual breakthrough of your life. God may have a burning bush just ahead. The word Moses has for you is “intimacy.” You’re not designed to do life without a vital walk with God.
Quotation: Henry Blackaby shares: “Many people want God to call them to an assignment…but try to bypass the love relationship… Focus on the love relationship and stay there until the assignment comes (Experiencing, 46).”
Observation: Remember Exodus 3:14 when Moses got his assignment. God called Moses and Moses responded to this call from God with a series of objections. Moses asked God “Who am I?” You’ve got the wrong person. I’m not your man. Moses then asked God, “What is your name? Who are you?” Moses asked, “Well, what if they will not believe me?” And finally, Moses said, “I am not eloquent. I don’t do public speaking very well.” I am nobody. I have no authority. They won’t believe me. I am incapable. Ever used those excuses before? All of this seemed to be too much for Moses, but God gave him a promise. When people ask on what authority you come, you tell them that the “I Am” stands behind everything you say and do. What God was saying to Moses was that “I am the one you can always count on. I am the one who never fails. I am present to act. I will be there for you, Moses.” You’ve been like Moses. You’ve been on the backside of a spiritual desert for a long time. But now, this burning bush in front of you is calling you out to put your old life to rest and resurrect a new kind of life, empowered by Christ. The “I AM” is with you. God is saying to you today: “I am the one you can always count on. I am the one who never fails. I am present to act. I am with my covenant people. I am with you. Men fail. Systems fail. Economies collapse. Engines quiet, and computers crash. But I never, ever, fail. I will not change in my love for you. I will keep my promises.”
Quotation: I love this quote: “What was God’s larger message to Moses in that moment? Release your imagination for a few moments. It might have included some thoughts such as these: ‘Moses, forty years ago you were a fine looking bush, impressed with all your own foliage. You had long, strong branches and lush, green leaves. But when you bush started burning, it was gone in less than forty-eight hours. Your grand scheme went up in flames, charring your dreams and consuming your ambitions along with it. There was nothing left, was there? That was your life, Moses. And then you ran like a scared rabbit across the border to get away from the Egyptian lynch mob. You thought you were a choice, top-quality bush before that happened, and now you don’t think you’re worth much at all. Listen, man, any bush will do as long as I, the great God of all grace, am in the bush! I want to use you, Moses. Stand still, and let me set you on fire!’ (Swindoll, Great Days… 66).”
Illustration: Moses clip.
CONCLUSION
Conclusion: What did the period of obscurity do for Moses? Moses was never the same again. He had a new intimacy with God, he knew him as a friend. The experience provided him with new motivation; his past failures were forgotten. He received new power for his call to service. His character deepened as he learned to appreciate extended periods of solitude in a desert place. The same can be true for us.
Application: How do we often respond to the schoolroom of obscurity – the desert place (Moses Study Guide):
1. “I don’t need it.” Usually, pride stands in our way and we fight obscurity. What is it going to take for you to stop, turn aside, and consider what God might be saying to you?
2. “I’m tired of it.” We can start to resent it.
3. “I embrace it.” Settle into a pattern of self-discovery and seeking God and see what God does with that. Stop resisting and start resting. Today is the day for your God encounter.
Illustration: Annie Johnson Flint has captured another significant event in the Life Story of Moses in a poem that talks about the Red Sea. She asks,
Have you come to the Red Sea place in your life Where, in spite of all you can do, There is no way out, There is no way back, There is no other way but through? Then wait on the Lord with a trust serene, Till the night of your fear is gone. He will send the wind, He will send the floods. But He will say to your soul, "Go on." And His hand will lead you through -- clear through, Ere the watery wall roll down, No foe can reach you, No wave can touch, No mightiest sea can drown. The tossing billows may rear their crests, Their foam at your feet may break.
But over their bed, You may walk dryshod, In a path that your Lord will make.In the morning watch, ’neath the lifted cloud, You shall see but the Lord alone. Where He leads you on, From the place by the sea, To the land that you have not known. And your fears shall pass, as your foes have passed. You shall be no more afraid. You shall sing His praise In a better place, A place that His hand has made.
