“One day, after Moses had grown up, he went out to where his own people were and watched them at their hard labour. He saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his own people. Glancing this way and that and seeing no one, he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand. The next day he went out and saw two Hebrews fighting. He asked the one in the wrong, ‘Why are you hitting your fellow Hebrew?’ The man said, ‘Who made you ruler and judge over us? Are you thinking of killing me as you killed the Egyptian?’ …when Pharaoh heard of this, he tried to kill Moses, but Moses fled…” Genesis 2:11-15
We all know of Moses from the story of the baby in the bulrushes. We know of him as the one who gave us the 10 commandments, got angry over the golden calf, and most notoriously, led the Israelites out of Egypt during the first Passover after inflicting plague upon plague upon plague on a people who would not “Let my people go!” But did you know he was a murderer? Did you know he fled Egypt because Pharaoh had a price on his head?
Today’s passage finds Moses at his first recorded rest stop. He flees to Midian where we are told he went to live. One day Moses sits down by a well, and 7 sisters come to draw water for their flocks, but shepherds come along and drive them away. This was a common occurrence, so much so that their father expected the watering of the flock to take quite a while—the girls persevered until they could finally draw water from the well.
This particular day Moses was there. He saw what was happening, got up, came to their rescue watering their flock. He also drew water for the sisters to drink (Genesis 2:16-19) This kind act brings to light something I believe we often overlook. I believe that when we make mistakes, sometimes we have a hard time getting past the mistake and feel that we might as well give up even trying. We make a major faux pas or have some huge character flaw come to light, and we let that define who we are. How can God possibly use us when we have messed up so badly?
We are talking about a murderer here! Moses grew up in the household of Pharaoh and his own actions meant that Pharaoh now was out to kill him. And what does he do? We don’t find him moping in the desert, giving up on life and on himself. Instead, we find him doing a simple act of kindness; watering a flock and helping a group of women who are being bullied. This is something we would expect of a gentle and kind-hearted man, not a murderer. And therein lies the dilemma. We are not defined by a single action or mistake in our lives; we know that God goes on to use this man greatly. In fact, God goes on and uses Saul (the grand persecutor of the Christian church) and writes 1/3 of the New Testament through him!1 Oh, how willing we are to give up on ourselves and write ourselves off when God is the one who redeems.
The key is found in Exodus 3:8: God hears the cry of his enslaved people. He calls Moses through the burning bush and says, “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.”
It isn’t Moses who rescues the Hebrew peoples. It isn’t Moses who does such great things for God. It isn’t Moses who has made himself worthy to be used any more than Saul was found worthy. Rather, it is God Himself who chooses to do His work through us.
A willing heart. An obedient ear. A flawed life, first forgiven and then filled with the power from above. This is what God requires of us. This is how to be a hero of the faith. He never demands that we are perfect or have it all together before we come to Him because it is ‘while we were yet sinners, [that] Christ died for us.’ (Romans 5:8)
At the end of the day, it is God who does the rescuing, or saving, or preaching or feeding, and we are just called to be faithful with what has been given to us. They are all HIS works, through us.
So, the next time you mess up, and we know we will, remember: God isn’t finished with you yet. This mistake or sin does not define who you are; who I am. We can come to Him, repent, thank Him for the forgiveness available through Christ, and move on to the next act of kindness He has for us to do in and through us. He can make you a Moses, to His glory!