SUNDAY March 5, 2023
The Defense of a Deliverer
“Now when he was forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brethren, the children of Israel. And seeing one of them suffer wrong, he defended and avenged him who was oppressed, and struck down the Egyptian. For he supposed that his brethren would have understood that God would deliver them by his hand, but they did not understand.”
Acts 7:23–25
Moses saw that one of his brethren was being mistreated. He witnessed him being beaten, and the injustice made him very angry. Moses decided to take matters into his own hands. He not only defended the oppressed Hebrew, he avenged him by killing the Egyptian: So he looked this way and that way, and when he saw no one, he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand (Exodus 2:12).
It seems at this time, Moses had a sense of destiny. He voiced that God would use him to deliver the Hebrews. He presumed they would know, but they did not know. Moses had a lot to learn. The deliverance of God’s people would take more than his own human strength and might. Moses was just the instrument God would use. God would do the miraculous.
The Hebrews needed to know their God. They needed to see Him as their Deliverer––to grow to trust and follow Him. Much later, Moses would tell God’s suffering people what God was about to do for them:
“ ‘I am the LORD; I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, I will rescue you from their bondage, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great judgments. I will take you as My people, and I will be your God. Then you shall know that I am the LORD your God who brings you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians’ ” (Exodus 6:6-7).
Who is the One accredited for the Hebrews’ deliverance? The Lord! Sometimes people get their eyes on the man God is using when he is just the messenger. It is God’s intent that you come to know Him. He is the One who can rescue you from your circumstances. God is your Deliverer.
The LORD is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer; My God, my strength, in whom I will trust….
~Psalm 18:2~
For more from Raul Ries, please visit SomebodyLovesYou.com!
