Emotional upheaval can be turned for good.

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Sermon Notes:

Emotional upheaval can be turned for good. e Gals 46.

Last time we noticed that 4 very different women were used by God in the life of Moses. First the midwives, then a mother, a princess and a sister.

The midwives feared God and saved the lives of the babies.
The mother nurtured her baby and then released him to God for protection.
The Princess had the resources to physically rescue the baby.
The sister was in position so as to speak the right words at the right time and get the baby into position.
4 different seasons in the life of Moses.
(1) Exodus 1:17 2:1-10 Drawn out of the Nile.
We are all individuals and we are all used by the Lord in different ways. God used all of these ladies to see His purposes carried out! The result “Moses” which means “he who draws out” was saved and taught all the Hebrews ways for the first 3-5 years of his life and so was prepared for the plan that God had for his life.
He who was drawn out of the Nile was later going to draw the Israelites out of the slavery of Egypt and out of the Red Sea! .
(2) Exodus 2:10 Growing up in the Palace.
Lets look at what life had been like for Moses. Historians tell us he was Educated at the Temple of the Sun which was the “Oxford of the ancient world” where he would have studied Hieroglyphics as well as Astronomy, chemistry philosophy etc The Egyptians knowledge of Astronomy was phenomenal - they knew the exact distance to the sun and that the earth was round and not flat!

In terms of chemistry - they could embalm- no process to equal it today.

Their colours were fantastic - no paint company today has anything to compare! Even after 4000 years colours remain bright beautiful and startling.

They had a great library and Moses was learned in words and deeds. He would have spoken three languages, brought up with all the palace protocol

and part of the royal household - possibly he was next in line to the throne. Historians tell us he had led an Egyptian army into victory against the Ethiopians and was a military strategist!

(3) Exodus 2:11-15 Facing a personal crises.

We are told that when Moses was 40 it came into his heart to visit his own people. Acts 7:20-28. And whilst we know he didn’t go about things in the right way nevertheless Hebrews 11:24-27 tells us he made a wise choice!

When Moses saw the Egyptian beating an Israelite he just could not stand it so he moved into action to sort the whole thing out! Note that (1) he moved out of emotion and not at the command of the Lord. (2) he looked this way and that - it was premeditated and he was depending on his own wits - not seeking the wisdom of God for the situation. James 1:5-6.
He tried to hide what he had done by burying the body in the sand!

Chuck Swindell says our strongest Adamic muscle is our “hiding muscle” - but a few inches of sand was not enough to cover up a body and anyway Moses fingerprints were all over the knife. Moses moved into the situation to help but he did it in the wrong way at the wrong time!

Then Moses went out the second day and saw two Israelites fighting each other but when he tried to intervene they said “who made you a prince and a judge over us?” They did not see the call of God on his life! Acts 7:25.

Have you ever felt misunderstood about the call of God on your life?
(4) Exodus 2:15-22 Time spent in the desert.

When Moses heard that Pharaoh wanted to kill him he took off to Midian - somewhere near the Sinai Peninsula and ended up by a well! Moses had left Egypt behind him with all it’s greatness but everything that he had learned in Egypt was not enough for him to be a deliverer for God’s people. God needed to train him! He needed the desert experience!

And here was his first test - was he is willing to serve a few girls and be their deliverer? It says he “helped or made room for them.”

When Jethro asked Moses to eat bread with them it wasn’t just to be hospitable - he was recruiting for marriage and so Moses married Zipporah meaning “little bird” and they had a son and called him Gershom meaning “a stranger here or driven or thrust out”. The child was well named for the situation because Moses was literally thrust out of his comfort zone and now he was going to have time alone with God. When he was an important Prince, life was full of action - issues could be put on hold - but not so in the desert!

What might his issues have been? What about separation anxiety and abandonment? (Remember he was separated from his mother when he was around 5 years old and taken to the palace.) What about possible identity issues, trauma, fear, rejection, being misunderstood, carrying guilt and the stigma of being a killer, disappointment, loss, poverty, feeling he was fatherless….if Pharaoh was a father figure he soon turned against him?

The word for desert is “midbaar” and it comes from the word “dahbaar” which means “to speak”. God speaks in the desert - so does the devil - remember the temptation of Christ! God was stripping Moses and giving him space to “hear God” and time to “go back” before he would be in a position to “go forward”.

Lessons for life.
Moses was drawn out of the Nile. Has there been a season in our lives when God brought us through impossible situations? It was for purpose.
Have we been in a “palace” situation where all seemed good but there were underlying issues? God wants us to face reality.
Have we tried to deal with difficulties in our own strength and wisdom? God uses crises to bring us to the place where we will trust Him.
Have we felt “thrust out” of our comfort zone? God wants to speak to us in the desert (or wilderness) experience so as to do His best work on us.
Read Hosea 2:14-16 & 19-20. God allures us into the wilderness because He loves us.