A Daily Walk

Announcer: Today on A Daily Walk from John Randall.

John Randall: What you're gonna find is it's not so much about Moses, it's actually about the God of Moses. It's not about what Moses can do, it's about what God can do through Moses. Guys, listen, it's not about who we are. Who am I? nobody? True. Who's my God? Who's the God that I serve? Not what I'm gonna do, what's God gonna do through you?

Announcer: Hello and welcome to A Daily Walk. As we continue verse by verse through the book of Exodus, we come to the birth and life of Moses, the one God would use to deliver his people. Sure, he had his moments of victory and success, but there were also some noteworthy mistakes in his daily walk. We'll notice today there was a time when he got ahead of God and acted out in the flesh. Ever been there? Sure, we all have. Here's Pastor John Randall in Exodus chapter 2.

John Randall: Amid the bondage and slavery, we read that a deliverer was born. It says here in verse 1, and a man of the house of Levi went and took as a wife a daughter of Levi. So the woman conceived, and she bore a son. And when she saw that he was a beautiful child, she hid him three months. But when she could no longer hide him, she took an ark of bulrushes for him, dabbed it in asphalt and pitch, and put the child in it, and laid it in the reeds by the river's bank. And his sister stood afar off to know what would be done. Now, when you come to Exodus chapter 6, you find out the name of Moses' parents were Amram and Jochebed.

They married, and then they found out they were pregnant with a baby boy. And for three months, Jochebed was able to keep Moses hidden, but there came a point when she was unable to do that any longer, and all the children were commanded to be drowned in the Nile. I can't imagine living in those conditions and what the women had to go through. I, it's unthinkable. But instead of drowning her son in the river, she made a small basket that could float. And the papyrus basket into which Moses was placed is called a teba in Hebrew. Some scholars suggest that there is a deliberate allusion here to the ark, as it were, that Noah was placed in, the only other item called the teba in the whole Old Testament, a little ark for a baby, as it were, put him in there and then placed him into the Nile by faith, not knowing what would happen to this child.

There was a death sentence on this baby, and she had no power to deliver him and all that she could do was, in a sense, real sense, place him in the hands of the Lord and just, okay, I don't know what else to do. Maybe that's some of you parents are having to do that right now. I don't know what else to do, you know, I just, Lord, I place him, I place him, I place her, I place them in your hands, like, do what only you can do. Well, we find in verse 5, then the daughter of Pharaoh came down to bathe at the river, and her maidens walked along the riverside, and when she saw the ark among the reeds, she went and sent her maid to get it, and when she opened it, she saw the child, and behold, the baby wept.

And so she had compassion on him and said, this is one of the Hebrews' children. Isn't it interesting, this divine appointment that God set up? It just so happened this particular day she decides to go down and shower at the Nile. And when she's down there, here comes the basket. This is Pharaoh's daughter. And as soon as she opens it up and she hears this child cry, something in the cry of that child that just moved the heart of this woman to care for him, to show compassion on him, even though he was a Hebrew. And it's so interesting how that she sought to rescue this child where her father sought to put them to death.

And in verse 8, you'll notice that then the sister now of Moses was walking along, following, and she ends up calling. A sister said to Pharaoh's daughter, "Shall I go and call a nurse for you and the Hebrew woman that she may nurse the child for you?" And Pharaoh's daughter said to her, "Go." So the maiden went and called the child's mother. Then Pharaoh's daughter said to her, "Take this child away and nurse him for me, and I will give you your wages." So the woman took the child and nursed him, and the child grew, and she brought him to Pharaoh's daughter, and he became her son. So he called his name Moses, saying, "Because I drew him out of the water, nurse him for me, and I will pay you, and became her son.

This is so interesting to me because look at what happens. This family is put into, I mean, such a diff- again, again, we see the enemy doing something, and it backfires. Whether it was have the midwives do what they were going to, well, that didn't work. Have the taskmasters beat them into submission. Well, that didn't work. Well, let's drown them in the Nile. Well, that didn't work. God is showing already at the very beginning of this book how the enemy is coming in and he has a plan he's seeking to destroy. And he's turning it around and he's changing the circumstances. So now here the mother, Moses' mother, Jochebed puts him in the water and lets him go.

She has no control. The Pharaoh's daughter finds it and then Moses' sister says, hey, I know somebody who can nurse him for you. Moses' mother. And so she gives Moses, she let Moses go. God gave Moses back to her in this critical, foundational stage of his life, no doubt telling him who God is, whispering in his ear who God is, who Jehovah, I mean, just telling him all the stories. I mean, putting something in his heart early on, nursing that baby boy until it was time to send it back, gave that baby back to her, and she got paid. I mean, you talk about God turning her around. I mean, God did something nobody expected.

She was provided for, and she got to take care of her son in that foundational moment until it was time for him to go and become the son of Pharaoh. But here's the amazing thing, things had already been planted in Moses' heart right from the start, right from the very beginning. They were there, solidified in that age of development. It was happening. Never underestimate that, those opportunities, moms, dads, grandparents, just instilling consistently those truths that will be foundational, cemented into who they are, so that even if they get away at some point, they'll come back. And so here's Moses.

The Lord allowed his mother to raise him in her home for a time, take care of him, and get paid for it. That's great. But then we see again the preserving providential hand of God. There was no other choice for Moses' mother but to place him in that river, and yet the Lord intervened. Now, between verses 10 and 11, there is a gap of 40 years. Just make known of that. Just make a note of that. 40 years passed. Baby Moses, big Moses. I mean, just from one verse to the next, right in between there. It's like you just pick up the story. What did he do as a kid? Probably a lot of Egyptian stuff. Whatever the Egyptians were doing.

Raised in the school of Egyptians, you know, took hieroglyphics as a, you know, one of them classes you want to take, you know, and pyramid making and probably all of it, warfare, fighting, strategy, I mean, you know, all kinds of stuff there in Egypt. How to bury people, I don't know, all of it. Sarcophagus making, I mean, it's just part of his upbringing, everything the Egyptians would do. But there's this interim of time with the education that he received from his mother as a little boy, the values that had been instilled in him from his youth. He now was raised in the palace of Pharaoh. No doubt from his mother he learned about the patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and the plan for God that God had for his people.

And he was raised in this way, and that brings us to, well, I want to read a passage to you that kind of gives us a New Testament commentary on an Old Testament passage. By the way, best commentary on the Bible is the... You guys are so good. It is, you're right. That's the right answer. Hebrews chapter 11 tells us a little bit about Moses, what's going on in this interim of time between verse 10 and 11. What's happening, Mo? Look at verse 24. This is Hebrews 11, verse 24. By faith, Moses, when he became of age, he refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin.

Esteeming the reproach of Christ, greater riches than the treasures in Egypt, he looked to the reward, and by faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king. He endured, seeing him who is invisible. Here's the New Testament commentary of what Moses did. There came a point when he saw his people, his people being afflicted, and for a while he could watch it and observe it, but with every sound of the taskmaster's whip, with every death of another Hebrew slave, it just gnawed at his heart to where he just, he couldn't handle it anymore. He just, he forsook all of the wealth, all of the treasure, everything that's right at your fingertips.

I don't want it. I don't want it. I want to be with my people. I'd rather be in that place than be here. I don't want to live this way any longer. I'd rather suffer the reproach of Christ than dwell in this place any longer. I'd rather be a doorkeeper in the house of the Lord than dwell in the tents of the wicked. I'm done with this life. I want that. I wonder if you come to that place. And so here he is, couldn't get away from what his mom had taught him. It was just stuck there. Foundation had been laid, and so look at verse 11. Now it happened, came to pass in those days when Moses was grown, he went out to his brethren, looked at their burdens, and he saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his brethren.

Now he sees them as his brethren, not the Egyptian, but the Hebrew. His perspective was changing. He's seeing what they're going through. He's mindful of their situation. Verse 12. So he looked this way and that way, and when he saw no one, he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand. I think Moses knew deep down, or at least he thought initially, I'm going to deliver my people. There's a calling on my life. I'm going to deliver these people. I don't know, I'm going to, this can't be for nothing. I'm going to deliver these people. But here we find his attempt to deliver the people on his own.

And he thought he could do it himself, but what we're going to find out is he failed. Apparently, someone said when Moses buried this guy, he left a toe sticking up because somebody found out about it. He didn't do a good job at burying the Egyptian because it says here, after this, and when he went out the second day, behold, two Hebrew men were fighting. He said to the one who did the wrong, "Why are you striking your companion?" Verse 14, "Then he said, 'Who made you a prince and a judge over us? Do you intend to kill me as you killed the Egyptian?" Uh-oh. So Moses feared and said, "Surely this thing is known." And when Pharaoh heard of this matter, he sought to kill Moses, but Moses fled from the face of Pharaoh and dwelt in the land of Midian and sat down by a well.

Moses had a sense of God's calling upon his life to be a deliverer, but I believe he got ahead of God. He went in the energy of his own flesh, and he failed. And that's always the case, by the way, when we know what God's will is, but we go in the energy of the flesh, and we get ahead of God. That can be dangerous. And Moses ends up leaving, running to the wilderness, hiding out for the next 40 years of his life. And it seemed like any thought, any hope of being a deliverer, I don't even know what I was thinking. That was crazy. I don't know why I did that. But he goes and he sits down by a well.

He escapes with his life. In verse 16, now the priests of Midian had seven daughters, and they came and drew water, and they filled the troughs to water their father's flock. Then the shepherds came and drove them away, but Moses stood up and helped them and watered their flock. And when they came to Reuel, their father, he said, how is it that you've come so soon today? And they said, an Egyptian delivered us from the hand of the shepherds, and he also drew enough water for us and watered the flock. He said to his daughters, where is he? And why is it that you left the man? Call him that he may eat bread.

Moses was content to live with the man, and he gave Zipporah, his daughter, to Moses. Well, how do you like that? And she bore him a son, called his name Gershom, for he said, I have been a stranger in a foreign land. Here's Moses. He runs for his life, ends up just sits down at a well. What do I do now? Well, suddenly he ends up standing up for other people again, this time to, they wanted to water their flocks and they were being, attacked, contested by these shepherds. And so Moses just stands up and the next thing you know, he's got a wife. I mean, God knew what he was doing. What do I do now?

I don't know, sit down. Sit down by a well and see what God's going to do. I need to do something. No, you already did something in Egypt. That was not good. Wait till God shows you what to do next. Sit, be still and know that I am God, the Bible says. Not be active and forget who I am. That's not a scripture. Sit down, let God speak to you. And so Moses just sits down by a well. He's probably discouraged, and then God opens up this door, and the next thing you know, he's a shepherd. Wow. He went from being, you know, the prince of Egypt, now he's a shepherd. He's got a wife, and he starts a new life for himself out in the desert.

Now it happened in the process of time that the king of Egypt died, and the children of Israel groaned because of the bondage, and they cried out, and their cry came up to God because of the bondage. And it says, so God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and with Jacob, and God looked upon the children of Israel, and God acknowledged them. As time went on, it got worse in Egypt. The bondage increased, the intensity of it, it got worse, and the people had come to this place where they just started to cry out to God, Lord, we need your help. God, you've got to show up.

You've got to be here. And I love this passage because it says that in the process of time, you'll notice this, that God heard their cry, heard their groaning. He remembered his covenant, and he looked upon them and acknowledged them. He knew what they were going through. He saw the hardship they were experiencing, and he heard their prayers, and he was about to do something about it. Something that, well, nobody in Egypt was prepared for, not even Moses was ready for it. Let's look at it, can we, just a little bit? Look at this. God hears their cry, he's now going to respond. Verse 1, now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro, his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the backside of the desert, and he came to Horeb, the mountain of God.

By the way, this is another 40 years that has gone by, you know this, right? 40 years in Egypt, 40 years in the desert, and then another 40 years. Someone said Moses spent the first 40 years thinking he was someone, this next 40 years finding out he was no one, and then the last 40 years finding out that a no one could be someone if they follow the Lord. I mean, that's basically his life. What am I doing out here in the backside of the desert for 40 years? I guess this is where it's gonna, this is it. God's done with me. Listen, you know when Moses got started in ministry? When he was 80. That's when it really got going.

Think God's done with me, man, nothing. Hey, look at Moses. Here he is. He's out there on the backside of the desert, and he comes to Horeb, to the mountain of God. And verse 2, and the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire from the midst of the bush, and he looked, and behold, the bush was burning with fire, but the bush was not consumed. And Moses said, I will now turn aside and see this great sight, why the bush does not burn. Suddenly we have the Lord showing up, knows where Moses is at. He's out there in the backside of the desert, and then he sees this bush on fire, but it's not actually being consumed.

And so he's drawn to it. And in Moses' life, this is just another normal day. This is a normal day in the backside of the desert, leading the sheep around, leading the sheep around. Hadn't seen any burning bushes until now. God was about to do something. God was showing him something because he was about to do something. So Moses draws near to the bush, and you'll notice what it says in verse 4. So when the Lord saw that he turned aside to look, God called to him from the midst of the bush and said, Moses, Moses. And he said, Here I am. And then he said, Don't draw near to this place. Take your sandals off your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground.

Moreover, he said to him, I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look upon God. When Moses hears this initial call from God, he said, here I am. I'm here, Lord. Speak to me. I'm in awe that you would speak to me. And suddenly he draws near, and then he realizes that it's the Lord, and he is fearful, and the Lord tells him, listen, you're on holy ground, take your shoes off. I mean, Moses had this encounter with the living God, and he takes his shoes off, he's on holy ground, and verse 7, God speaks to him about his specific calling, and the Lord said, I have seen the oppression of my people who are in Egypt, I've heard their cry because of their taskmasters, and I know their sorrows.

I hear, I see, I know. And then he says, I've come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up from the land to a good and large land, to a land flowing with milk and honey, the place of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. Now, therefore, behold, the cry of the children of Israel has come to me. I've seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them. Come now, therefore, I will send you to Pharaoh, that you may bring my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt. The Lord said, listen, I want to tell you something.

I know what's going on in Egypt. You saw it. It concerned you. I see it. I know about it. I hear about it. And this is what I'm going to do. I'm actually going to send you to go and deliver the people. Now, Moses started out by saying, here I am. But then notice what he says after this. In verse 11, but Moses said to God, who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and that I should bring the children of Israel out of Egypt? The Lord said, I'll be with you, and this shall be a sign to you. When you've brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain. God speaks. Moses says, here I am.

God says, I'm going to use your life. Moses said, who am I? I can't do that. I think that's sometimes how we are. God's speaking, we're like, I'm here, like, here am I, send... No, don't send me. Send somebody else. Here am I. Who am I? I'm available, Lord. Oh, I could never do that. I mean, I want to be used by you, but ah, that's for people who are more talented. You know, I can't, I could never do that. Here I am, who am I? And what we're going to find next time, because we're running out of time, and this is so good, I don't want to miss it. But Moses is going to come up with, and this is your assignment, all right?

This is your homework right here. Write this down. Well, you don't have to write it down, but make a note of it if you want to. Here's the assignment. All the objections that Moses comes up with. See if you can find them. And there are several. All the things he tells God why it's not a good idea to use him and why it's not going to work. He's talking to God about this. And what you're going to find, well, I'll give you a little help. What you're going to find is it's not so much about Moses. It's actually about the God of Moses. It's not about what Moses can do. It's about what God can do through Moses.

Guys, listen. It's not about who we are. Who am I? nobody. True. Who's my God? Who's the God that I serve? Not what I'm going to do. What's God going to do through you? And Moses has all the reasons. I call him the reluctant servant. All the reasons why it'd be a bad idea for him to go back down there. And God is going to answer every objection that he brings up and just to where Moses, well, you're going to have to find out. You're going to have to find out. I don't want to tell you. I don't want to ruin it. But you know, it's so interesting when you look at Moses, and I'll conclude with this.

Moses says, who am I that God, that you would send me to Pharaoh, that I should bring the children of Israel? You know, Moses started out saying, here am I. Now he says, who am I? But if you were to ask Moses that same question 40 years earlier, he would have said, I know who I am. I'm a deliverer. See me kill that Egyptian? I am somebody. And then he found out, actually, you're not, you're really not all that. That's what you could do, but now he's gonna, he's about to see what God can do. And, well, if you've read the book or you've seen the movie, you know what happens. But what God does is he brings Moses to this place of an identity crisis.

It's like a crisis. Who am I? He's gonna find out. Who are you? Who are you? I mean, really, who are we? I want to know who I am in Christ. I know who I was. Well, actually, I should say who I thought I was. But now I'm finding out who I can be. And what a difference that is. And Moses is going to come to this place where he's going to no longer look to himself, but he's going to look to God, and God's going to do some miraculous things that only God could do. And folks, that's what he's looking for tonight. Did you know that? He's just looking for people who would say, I'm available. He works really well with humility and availability.

Announcer: This is A Daily Walk. Pastor John Randall is leading us through Exodus one verse at a time. The first message in our series called A Deliverer is Born can be heard again at adailywalk.org. You can also hear John's messages through our free app. This is a great way to listen to current and past teachings from Pastor John. Just search for Calvary South OC. Has this ministry blessed and encouraged you in your daily walk? If so, we'd like to know. You can email us at adailywalk at gmail.com. That's adailywalk@gmail.com. Let us know the station you listen to as well. And don't forget to sign up for the Daily Walk video devotional.

You can watch them at adailywalk.org or sign up to have them sent to you each weekday morning by text. Text A Daily Walk to 877-242-0828. Not long ago, Pastor John's wife, Michelle Randall, released the third edition of her book, The Great Exchange. Now, she refers to the journey of surrendering our will for God's will, the great exchange. Read about her own real life experiences of learning to relinquish her will for God's will. I think you'll find it all very relatable, practical, and applicable for today's struggles of faith and fear. Be encouraged, strengthened, and challenged to completely surrender to God and pursue after Him.

The Great Exchange, available now for the cost of only 10 dollars. Call 877-242-0828 or go to adailywalk.org on the web. Please remember us in your prayers and giving to the Lord. We want to help as many people as possible in their daily walk through the teaching of God's word, and you can help make that possible through either a one-time gift or ongoing monthly support. Donations can be made online rather easily at adailywalk.org or call 877-242-0828. We'll continue our new series in Exodus next time. We'll catch you back here for that on A Daily Walk with John Randall. This program is made possible through your generous support and brought to you by Calvary South OC.