REPOSTToday’s AMI Devotional QT, first posted on July 15, 2016, is written by Tina Pham who serves as AMI missions coordinator. Tina is a graduate of Biola University (BA) and Talbot School of Theology (M.Div.).
Devotional Thought for This Morning
“Moses the Privileged One”
Exodus 2:11-14, 23-25
Now it came about in those days, when Moses had grown up, that he went out to his brethren and looked on their hard labors; and he saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his brethren. 12 So he looked this way and that, and when he saw there was no one around, he struck down the Egyptian and hid him in the sand. 13 He went out the next day, and behold, two Hebrews were fighting with each other; and he said to the offender, “Why are you striking your companion?”14 But he said, “Who made you a prince or a judge over us? Are you [s]intending to kill me as you killed the Egyptian?” Then Moses was afraid and said, “Surely the matter has become known.” 15 When Pharaoh heard of this matter, he tried to kill Moses. But Moses fled from the presence of Pharaoh and settled in the land of Midian, and he sat down by a well. . . . 23 Now it came about in the course of those many days that the king of Egypt died. And the sons of Israel sighed because of the bondage, and they cried out; and their cry for help because of their bondage rose up to God. 24 So God heard their groaning; and God remembered His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. 25 God saw the sons of Israel, and God took notice of them.
After growing up as a privileged prince in the Egyptian palace, Moses started to sense a calling or an urgency to save his Hebrew people from slavery. Sadly, Moses took things into his own hands and tried to act on behalf of the Israelite slaves by his own strength. Even worse, he did it through murder. When he could no longer watch his Hebrew brothers be so powerless, he killed an Egyptian slave master when he thought no one was looking.
Moses found out that what he did in secret was actually seen. Now Egypt is going to know that he has sided with the Hebrews. His own Hebrew brothers are against him too. He thought his intervention helped them, but his murderous act actually made things worse for them. Now that Egypt knows that someone is trying to deliver them, their labor is going to get worse and more intense. What was the outcome? Moses fled to Midian to escape Pharaoh’s anger and was in Midian for 40 years.
Moses tried to accomplish God’s task in an unrighteous manner. Even though he sensed God’s call to save Israel, God was more interested in first forming Moses’ character than simply using him to accomplish the task. God used Moses’ years of isolation in Midian to shape him as he worked as a shepherd. Perhaps Moses felt defeated and thought his life would end in Midian, but God purposed in His timing to send Moses back to Egypt. However, this time, Moses would be able to lead Israel by God’s power and God’s way.
Being driven and goal-oriented in God’s kingdom is good. We have a lot of zeal to make right what is wrong, or to fill a need, but it’s easy to take matters into our own hands; when we do that, we fail or even do God’s work in a way displeasing to Him. Without losing our passion and zeal to be used by God, we must also allow our hearts and character to be transformed so that we can carry out God’s work in a manner pleasing to Him.
Prayer: Dear God, as Your servant, You care about who I am and what I do in public and in private. Help me to live my life today with You as my only audience. Help my actions and my speech to be pleasing to You so that I may serve you effectively. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Bible Reading for Today: Exodos 28
Lunch Break Study
Read Psalm 139:1-4: O Lord, You have searched me and known me. 2 You know when I sit down and when I rise up; You understand my thought from afar. 3 You scrutinize my path and my lying down, And are intimately acquainted with all my ways. 4 Even before there is a word on my tongue, Behold, O Lord, You know it all. 5 You have enclosed me behind and before, and laid your hand upon me. 6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is too high, I cannot attain to it.
Questions to Consider
1. What does David’s Psalm reveal about God?
2. What does David’s Psalm reveal about us?
3. How does God’s omniscience over your life encourage you?
Notes
1. God is omniscient. He is all-knowing, not only of the things happening in this world and the purpose behind every matter, but He is all-knowing in a personal way as well. God is acquainted with our entire being (mind, heart, body, intentions, etc.).
2. David’s Psalm reveals that we may don’t know ourselves as well as God knows us. We may not understand ourselves as well as God does. It requires us to ask God to search us so that we understand ourselves better.
3. Personal response.
Evening Reflection
Colossians 3:23-24 reads, “Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men,knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance. It is the Lord Christ whom you serve.”
Who do you serve? If it really were God, how would our daily lives be different at home and at work? Bette Milder, in her “From a Distance,” sang, “God is watching us.” He does, always, to guide and help us so that we are never lost in Him.