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My apologies if you get this more than once - I tried sending this
earlier this morning and it seems to have lost its way or hit a delay in
which case it may arrive again.
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The LORD said, "I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I
have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am
concerned about their suffering. 8 So I have come down to rescue them
from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land
into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey--the
home of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and
Jebusites. 9 And now the cry of the Israelites has reached me, and I
have seen the way the Egyptians are oppressing them. 10 So now, go. I am
sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of
Egypt." Exodus3:7-10
Many problems can be fixed by what I call B.F.I. (Brute Force and
Ignorance). Suitcase won't close? No need to re-pack - just push harder.
Pickle bottle won't open? Just grip it harder and use more muscle! But
sometimes B.F.I. breaks things...
Moses tried B.F.I. when he saw his people being oppressed. In a fit of
passionate rage and zealous indignation he killed an Egyptian who was
beating an Israelite. This didn't gain him trust and respect with the
Israelites and it certainly didn't win him any points with the
Egyptians. The Israelites saw him as a dangerous loose cannon and
Pharoah wanted him dead.
Moses has to flee...
When he gets to Midian he uses B.F.I. to rescue Jethro's daughters from
shepherds who won't let them water their flocks (fortunately this didn't
backfire on him...) So he stays in Midian where he becomes a husband, a
father and a shepherd. After forty years it would seem that he is ready
to try another way and so God appears to him at the burning bush.
It is interesting how God identifies with Moses' passion. Notice the
verbs: "I have SEEN the misery... I have HEARD them crying out... I am
CONCERNED... I have COME DOWN to RESCUE them." (The heard and seen
elements are repeated in v.9...) God is showing Moses where his(Moses')
passion comes from.
This is Moses' new beginning: He was born with a passion to rescue. He
cares about the people, but now, instead of being a rebel without a
clue, he will become a missionary (in the sense that he is on God's
mission to rescue and deliver.)
God places passions, giftings and desires in our hearts. Sometimes, like
Moses, we don't have to change our mission, we just need to change how
we do it. We need to stop trying to do it in our own way and do it God's
way.
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Theo Groeneveld theo@emmanuel.org.za
You can see past EmmDevs at http://emmdev.blogspot.com/
