"God listened to their groanings. God remembered His covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. God saw what was going on with Israel. God understood." Exodus 2:24-25. Moses, rescued from death as an infant, was raised as the son of Pharaoh's daughter, displaced because of his Jewish heritage, angry for the mistreatment of his people by the Egyptians, and acted in rage when he murdered the Egyptian who abused a relative. Most of us don't know what it's like to face death as an infant. Most of us also have no idea what it's like to be raised as royalty, but I can almost feel the confusion,anger, and frustration Moses felt. Please read Exodus 2:1-25 Moses's story is one that has many twists and turns. He lived under a false identity for all of his childhood. Due to his anger and retaliation over seeing his people mistreated, he was driven away by pharaoh. He married into another family and came back later as God's chosen one to lead the Jews out of Egypt and out of slavery. Can you imagine? Talk about an identity crisis! In fact, Moses's fist-born was named Gershom, which means foreigner. The beautiful part about this story, to me, is that it didn't matter that Moses doubted who he was or felt displaced, God knew who Moses was. He called upon him to lead his people away from the very oppressors from which Moses had fled. Please read Exodus 3:11-12. Notice that when Moses tries to point out to God that he is "no one" and certainly not the "right one" to be approaching pharaoh on the Israelites' behalf, instead of reassuring Moses that he is the right person, God says in verse 12: I will be with you. And this will be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you will worship God on this mountain. God has this amazing way of taking our self-imposed or assumed identities and remaking us into what He wants us to be. He took Moses--a broken, lost, and murderous man--and used him to fulfill God's promise to the Israelites. Instead of compliments and reassurances of who MOSES was, God offered only who GOD is. Keep this in mind, friend, as you struggle with a past that is less than you think it should be to be used for God. God will take and make you who He wants you to be. Remember that it doesn't matter who you think you should be. All that really matters is that God is who He is. Devotional written by Mandy. Focus on this today: "God listened to their groanings. God remembered His covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. God saw what was going on with Israel. God understood." Exodus 2:24-25.
1 Comment
Raychel Renk
9/25/2014 01:16:56 pm
Love this Mandy! I know my church can handle my past😘
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