Discovering God: Week 2

October 2, 2011

Helpful Readings for the Week

• Read Exodus 2:1-10
• Read Exodus 2:11-15
• Read Exodus 3:13 - 4:17

Devotional Thoughts

Overcoming Imposed Faults (Exodus 2:1-10)

Moses was born into a Hebrew family.  His family worked to save him and succeeded by God’s grace.  When Pharaoh's wife saw Moses she didn’t just see a Hebrew baby...she saw a child worthy of life and love.  Moses was born with a death sentence over his head, but he grows up as a child of Pharaoh and knowing his true family.  Have you ever been judged based on something beyond your control?  Sometimes we impose faults on ourselves that have nothing to do with reality.  Moses's family did not let the Egyptian oppression stop them.  They acted in faith.  They were true to God and to themselves.  It is important that we work to keep the judgment of others from limiting our ability to live in faith.

Overcoming Actual Faults (Exodus 2:11-15)

Moses had a desire to deliver his people long before God formally called him to do it.  He killed an Egyptian because that Egyptian was hurting a Hebrew man.  He used violence to make a wrong right and acted outside the will of God.  When he finds two Hebrew men fighting the next day and confronts them, they call his actions out.  They were simply doing as Moses did...how could they be in the wrong?  Moses modeled an action he believed wrong.  Moses acted against his own morality and against God.  Moses comes face to face with his fault in the form of sin.  This time he has earned the death sentence the Pharaoh puts on his head.  So he runs away.  Failing to face our faults allows them to control us.  Do we know what running feels like?  Do you have something in your past you are ashamed of?  Is that keeping you from doing what you know God wants you to do?  Face it in faith.  Moses becomes the deliverer.  God still calls him.  God is still calling you.

Overcoming Internalized Faults (Exodus 3:13 – 4:17)

God calls Moses to be His deliverer.  Moses balks.  Time after time Moses responds to God's call with the word "but".  He begins making excuses.  He begins trying to find a way out of God's call.  The Lord responds to each "but" and empowers Moses to overcome each imagined obstacle.  Finally, Moses simply asks the Lord to find someone else.  Moses can’t see himself as God's chosen one.  He has too many faults, too many troubles, too many reasons why he cannot do what God desires.  God sees Moses as a deliverer, but Moses can’t see himself the same way.  When we internalize our faults they keep us from seeing ourselves as God sees us.  Are we like Moses?  When God calls do we make excuses?  Are we letting a false view of ourselves outweigh God's view?  Perhaps taking a risk and choosing to act despite our faults will lead us to a greater relationship and understanding of God.  Perhaps God will do things in our lives we cannot even imagine right now.