Moses’ story is told in the Book of Exodus, but it starts in Genesis with the story of Abraham and his family with whom God makes a covenant. Generations later the Biblical Moses draws the extended family together in the form of a nation with a structure and code of law, given to him on Mount Sinai.
Some might say that God himself was the Exodus hero, but in human terms the Biblical Moses takes centre stage throughout the whole Pentateuch. Who was Moses? A rather solitary leader, one with his people but set apart, even in his childhood, when he was raised by the pharaoh’s daughter as if he were an Egyptian prince. Set apart also in that he married an alien wife—Midianite or possibly Ethiopian. Even his physical characteristics—a speech defect—set him apart from others and is accommodated by God who arranges a leadership duo with Moses and his priestly brother Aaron. His role was unique—even to receiving the Law and seeing God, as evidenced by Moses’ blinding countenance.
The Biblical Moses also has an unusual death. God says he must die alone on a mountain top outside the promised land. Who was Moses? We might say he was a man who was a son of Abraham who led the people but was not typical of them.
It is said that reputation is what folks think about you; character is what God knows about you. The Lord does not view us as others do; “man looks on the outward appearance, but Jehovah looks on the heart” (1 Samuel 16:7).
One of the prominent characters of the Bible is the Hebrew prophet, Moses. His name is found some seven hundred fifty times in the Old Testament and approximately eighty times in the New Testament. One of the most significant tributes to him is the fact that he was, in some sense, a type (prophetic picture) of the coming Messiah (Deuteronomy 18:15; Acts 3:22).
I realise that in the story of the Exodus, Moses really serves as quite an inspirational Biblical character from whom we can learn many lessons.
First of all, Moses teaches us to see miracles every day. What would have happened if Moses hadn’t noticed the miracle of that burning bush? He might have walked right on by. We all have miracles in our lives all the time, and we don’t see them. For example, if Moses had seen that burning bush and said, “It’s just a burning bush,” then it would have been just a burning bush. We have to stop looking at things in our life as “just this” or “just that.”
Moses also can teach us about how to have a personal connection with God. When God spoke to Moses out of that burning bush, he didn’t question whether or not it was God speaking, he just entered into conversation with the voice that emanated from the bush. He accepted that the voice he heard was God’s voice, and he entered answered God.
He didn’t just accept what he was told, however. He argued with God. He had a conversation. He said, “Why me? I lisp.” But when God, said, “It must be you,” he followed God’s command.
We need to learn from Moses to listen to the voice of God when it speaks to us. And it doesn’t always speak from a burning bush. Sometimes the voice is not loud, and sometimes it doesn’t sound a lot different than our own voice, our own thoughts. And when we hear the voice, we need to respond by talking to God, with God, questioning God, and wrestling with God. And then we need to listen hard and long to the response that follows, and then do what we know we must do and what we are urged and prodded and told to do.
From Moses we also learn that everyone has a destiny. Moses had a destiny just like Joseph had a destiny. We are in the right place at the right time even if it looks wrong. Joseph surely thought that what his brothers did to him – selling him off and telling his father he was dead – wasn’t right, but he ended up in a high position in Egypt, which helped him save his family and his people. Yes, his people became slaves, but because Moses was raised in the Pharaoh’s palace and killed a man and went to Midian, he became the man that freed those slaves and took them into the desert where, he went to the top of Mt. Sinai to get the commandments so the Israelites could enter into a covenant with God.
Who are we to know why and how things are working out they way they are? We can’t always know. We can only have faith and trust that there is a purpose and a plan. Hindsight is 20-20. We can hope that we will have such good vision when we look back over our lives to know why and how we ended where we did.
We can learn from Moses to be assertive and ask for what we want. This reminds me of Jack Canfield’s book The Aladdin Factor, which is all about asking for what we want. God keeps telling Moses over and over again to go back to Pharoah and to say, “Let my people go.” And he did, and eventually he got what he asked for. You have to ask for what you want.
Lastly, Moses teaches us to have faith. He must have had a lot of faith in God to go to the Pharaoh 10 times, to take the Israelites through the desert for 40 years, to simply do what God commanded… Moses’ faith teaches us to act when God whispers in our ear or talks to us from a burning bush.
So, along with the other people who inspire you to greatness, add Moses to the list.
Sources
The Aladdin Factor - Jack Canfield
Moses: A Life - Jonathan Kirsch
Moses : The Prophet His Life, Legend and Message for Our Lives : The Prince, the Prophet - His Life, Legend and Message for Our Lives- Levi Meier
Let Them Hear Moses- Ray Comfort
https://ninaamir.com/what-can-we-learn-from-moses-and-the-passover-story/
The Life of Moses: God's First Deliverer of Israel- James Montgomery Boice
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