Day 5: When You Find Yourself on the Backside of the Desert

Read: Exodus 2

Exodus 2 | NIV Bible | YouVersion

After Joseph became Pharaoh’s prime minister and brought his family to Egypt, Jacob’s sons and their families became so numerous and their influence so powerful that the Egyptians began to fear them, and so they forced the Israelites into slavery. Four hundred long years of cruel servitude passed. But God had not forgotten Israel.  He had not forgotten the promises He had made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to make them into a great nation and to give them the land of Canaan as their own, to bless them so that they, in turn, could be a blessing to all the peoples of the world.  God heard the cries of His chosen people as prayed for deliverance.

When the Egyptians were so fearful of the potential strength of the Israelites that they were murdering all their baby boys, God miraculously spared the life of a little Levite boy.  His mother Jochebed hid him for as long as she could, but as her baby grew, she knew she wouldn’t be able to hide him for much longer.  So she wove a little basket and sealed it with tar and pitch, and hid her baby among the reeds along the banks of the Nile River.  God honored this daring and courageous act by placing her son in Pharaoh’s own house!

As he grew up in Pharaoh’s household, Moses received the best education Egypt had to offer.  God was grooming him for leadership.  God had already chosen Moses to deliver His people from their oppression.  As he grew, he was poised for this task.

But Moses made a critical mistake.  When he saw an Egyptian task master cruelly beating an Israelite slave, he killed the man.  He tried to make sure no one was watching, but soon discovered that his wrongdoing would quickly catch up to him. In a moment, Moses went from prince of Egypt to a wanted man. He fled and found himself on the back side of the desert, living as a fugitive among nomadic shepherds.

Sometimes we mistakenly think we can get away with doing something wrong if no one sees it, or if no one catches us.  But God always see what is done in secret, and will bring our actions to light.  It may not be now, but one day we will all face God’s judgment.

Do you feel like you’ve messed up?  Have you allowed your sin to disqualify you from the plans and purposes God has for you?  Isaiah 1:18 says, “‘Come now, let’s settle this,’ says the Lord. ‘Though your sins are like scarlet, I will make them as white as snow.  Though they are red like crimson, I will make them as white as wool.’” While Moses was not exempt from the consequences of his sin, God forgave him, and as we shall see in the coming days, was still able to use him as an instrument of freedom and restoration.

 

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