God Prepares Moses

I have a distinct memory as a kid riding my bicycle around our driveway, and our childhood home to the left of our driveway had this little grassy hill.

And so I'm riding laps around the driveway, and I had the great idea.

I could ride my bike up the hill and down the hill and ramp with even more speed onto the driveway.

Bike riders, can I get an amen that more speed sounds like a good thing?

Amen.

It sounds like a great thing until you go up the hill and your bike tips over and you fall on yourself.

May or may not have happened to me.

And I realized I was stuck.

So here I am laying on the side of a hill with the bike on top of me, you know, seven years old or whatever I was, yelling, help, help, help.

Now, never mind you, I probably pretty easily could have just swung my leg over and stood up, but I was convinced I was stuck.

I'm yelling, help, help, and nobody comes.

I yell, help, help, and nobody comes.

And I'm thinking, man, like the front door is open.

I know my parents are in there.

Like, do they hear me?

Do they even care about me?

Do they love me at all?

And my neighbor was out cutting the grass and he saw me and he walked over and he, I'm sure it felt silly to him because he kind of like stood me up, what I easily could have done for myself, and I looked down and realized I had no injuries at all, and I just kept riding my bike.

But in the moment, it was like this existential crisis.

Where are you guys at here?

Because I need help.

Now, that that's kind of a silly example, and I'm poking fun at myself along the way, but in a very real way, aren't there parts of life that sometimes feel that way towards God?

Like you're you're there saying, help, help, where are you at?

Don't you hear me?

Don't you care?

God, why aren't you doing anything here?

Maybe you've been through a period of really intense suffering where it feels like you're crying out and the answers are just totally non-existent.

Like it feels like your prayers just hit the hit the ceiling and bounce right back down.

And you're asking, does God see me?

Does he hear me?

Does he even care?

Is he good?

And why doesn't he respond?

Or worse yet, you say, I know he hears, but he just chooses to keep piling on and giving me more and more and more on top of this.

It's in this kind of a context, Perks, that I want you to know that Exodus 2 is given to us as an absolute gift of divine mercy, where God pulls back the curtain and reveals a snippet of what he's doing when we cannot see or hear his responses.

And sometimes it only comes through with the clarity of a Polaroid picture, but there's still real hope in him saying, I'm gonna show you some of what I'm doing here.

We'll get into that in a moment in Exodus 2.

As we're still getting warmed up to the book of Exodus, this is only our second week in it, I'll remind you the overarching theme of the book of Exodus is found on the front of your bulletin, and it's simply this the God who reveals himself.

Exodus is all about the God who reveals himself.

Now, talk back to me here.

I'll say the first part, I'll let you say the last word of himself.

Exodus is all about the God who reveals himself.

He wants you to know who he is and that he cares about what's going on in your life.

And the shadow of the cross, the good news of Jesus, you see falling across the entire book of Exodus.

You might say that the book of Exodus is storytelling with a purpose.

Because the way that you tell a story always helps you to understand how to respond in the moment.

We saw this all over the place, storytelling with a purpose around America's 250th anniversary, just this past summer.

There are some people who tell the story in a particular way.

They say, here is a country founded with these lofty ideals, yet imperfect in its founding, yet had structures in place so that we can correct our errors and build the greatest nation that's ever been.

And we are so glad to be here at 250.

Amen.

America.

How you tell the story tells you how to respond in the moment.

But there are others who would tell the story in a very different way.

They would say, Well, this country, it's a country that was started from an unjust revolt, it was built on stolen land, and it has become prosperous with stolen slave labor, and therefore the whole project is broken from the beginning, the whole thing should be torn down, and the way that you tell the story frames how you should respond in the moment.

So you see, storytelling with a purpose is all over the place, and in Exodus, you're getting storytelling with a purpose of the God who reveals himself.

And so what we want to do in Exodus 2 is actually look at the end of Exodus 2 first, because it tells us here's how you're supposed to read the rest of the story.

And I'll read that in a moment, and then we'll come back and look at each of the snapshots along the way.

It'll be helpful for you to remember, for the book of Exodus, to recall, God's people were in Egypt, and then they were miraculously delivered.

You may remember that the very last plague, the angel of death, is coming around, and anyone who by faith killed that lamb, trusting that its blood applied to the door post would save them from the death angel, would be saved.

Many of those were Israelites.

Exodus 12 actually tells us there was a mixed multitude.

So apparently there were some Egyptians who responded in faith and said, I too will take shelter under the blood of the Lamb.

And any who did that were delivered by faith from the death that was to come.

And we find them on their way to the promised land that God has said, This is where you will dwell, and this is where you will be blessed.

But the book of Exodus is written when they're not yet to the promised land.

They're on their way through 40 long years of wandering in the wilderness.

And they're given this book to tell them, When you wonder if God has forgotten you in the wilderness, remember the God who reveals himself.

And Moses writes in Exodus 2 of times in his own life where he was in the wilderness, wondering if God had forgotten, saying, No, he is with you and he knows and he cares.

It's an amazing story.

So let's look at chapter 2 and verse 23, knowing these are common experiences and common questions for Moses, the people of God, thousands of years ago and us today.

What do we read at the end of the chapter, verse 23?

During those many days.

I love that it says many days right there.

Because it easily could have said during those days.

But the word many is included as a divine mercy to say, I understand how long the suffering is, how difficult it is, and it feels like there's nothing happening, these many days.

What a gift for the inclusion of that word.

During those many days, the king of Egypt died, and the people of Israel groaned because of their slavery, and they cried out for help.

Their cry from rescue from slavery came up to God.

God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham and with Isaac and with Jacob.

And God saw the people of Israel, and God knew.

How you frame the story tells you how to respond in the moment.

And Exodus 2 is written right here so that you, Christian, can know that God knows.

And that you will remember that God remembers.

He is with you, he knows your circumstances, he knows your suffering, and he is remembering his covenant promises.

That word covenant shows up in verse 24.

It's very important to remember.

His covenant promises.

If we would go back to the book of Genesis in the story of Joseph, what man has intended for evil, God has intended for good.

Suffering saint, his promises are sure, his purposes are good.

And we must cling to this, especially when his presence is hidden by the terrifying tornadoes of life.

Perhaps you're in the midst of one of those today.

Perhaps you know someone who is.

You can think back to a time when that was true in your life.

Or you may anticipate someday that may be your reality.

God never wastes the tears of his saints.

Never.

And what I could do this morning, I could give you a theological lecture about this, the purposes of God and suffering.

And theology certainly prepares us for suffering.

Or I could give you some songs to sing, which we're actually doing, songs of lament.

We've talked about that the last couple of weeks and all throughout the book of Psalms is songs of lament that will guide us and ground us in our suffering.

But more than a lecture or songs, we note there are stories that shape us and how we think about how to walk through suffering.

And that's where Exodus comes in, with a story to shape us.

And so we can be thankful that in the scriptures we're given the theology to prepare us, the songs to guide and ground us, but stories that shape us along the way.

Aren't you glad God gave us all three?

Boy, I sure am.

So let's dive into this story of Exodus 2 and see how the way the story is told helps us to know that God knows and to remember that God remembers.

It starts out with Moses' childhood.

Let's look back at chapter 2 and verse 1, the earliest days.

Verse 1 A man from the house of Levi went and took as his wife a Levite woman.

The woman conceived and bore a son, and when she saw he was a fine child, she hid him three months.

She was hiding him so that he would not be killed by Pharaoh.

Here you find a hallmark of societies that honor God.

They value human life.

They see making and raising babies and protecting babies as a valuable thing to do as persons made in the image of God.

And when a society ceases to honor and value God, you see the exact opposite taking place thousands of years ago and in our day today.

For Moses' parents, the blessing of the sun brought the wrath of the king.

And so they hide him for three months, or at least they try to.

Now, some of you have had kids recently and you are well acquainted with sleepless nights.

Why don't you imagine trying to hide a baby for three months?

Knowing that if you fail in hiding them, it could cost your son his life.

You're never sleeping.

Like sleeplessness just went to a whole nother multiplier right there.

Here they are trying to figure out what to do.

And you can almost imagine the conversation between the husband and the wife.

We gotta hide this baby.

What do you think we should do about it?

We can't let Pharaoh know.

I don't know.

What are we gonna do?

What are we gonna do?

Let's let's hide a baby.

And the one spouse looks at the other, like, have you lost your mind?

Because I'll help you find it.

You can't hide a baby.

But eventually they come up with no better solution, and so they they place this baby in the river, in this basket, and along walks, Pharaoh's daughter, one day.

Can you imagine the fear that is gripping these young parents as the daughter of the murderous king shows up who certainly will carry out his justice?

And yet in God's kindness, this woman is gripped with compassion.

Look at verse 6 and see the compassion of Pharaoh's daughter.

When she opened the basket, she saw the child, and behold, the baby was crying.

She took pity on him and said, This is one of the Hebrews' children.

Then his sister said to Pharaoh's daughter, Shall I go and call you a nurse from the Hebrew women to nurse the child for you?

Sister Miriam, right here, like amazing boldness.

How hard would that be for a 10-year-old to walk up to the princess of all of Egypt and say, Hey, can I make a plan for you here?

Can I jump in?

Like kids, can you hear this?

God uses little kids who take bold steps in faith right now in ways you would never anticipate.

God is not waiting for you to be older, for you to be used for his kingdom.

Maybe that's a conversation for you with your parents over a lunch.

What's a bold step of faith I should be taking this very week?

And what a divine reversal this is as well.

Here you have this baby threatened by Pharaoh the king, and the passage tells us that Pharaoh actually gave money to Moses' mom to raise him.

What a reversal.

Threatened by Pharaoh to paid by Pharaoh to raise your own kid.

Know that God knows.

Remember that God remembers.

See that God sees.

And you can just imagine, imagine what life is like in the Israelite community.

They're walking around to the general store or whatever they had back then, and little two-year-old Moses is walking in tow, and somebody says to his mother, Oh, what a beautiful baby girl you have.

And she says, Oh no, it's not a baby girl, it's a baby boy.

Now all the baby boys had been murdered, or at least they were trying to, and say, Guess what?

She says, Oh no, no, no.

Not only is it a baby boy, it's a baby boy under protection of Pharaoh.

Pharaoh is paying me to raise him.

Insert flex emoji on the text message thread.

Like, God is working where you didn't see it coming.

And as he gets a little older, he goes into Pharaoh's court.

I'm sure they preferred the Hebrew homeschool curriculum instead of like the Egyptian Ivy League DEI program.

But God was working in ways they didn't anticipate.

And it's really interesting.

You know, we get this story in Exodus 2, but then in the New Testament, in the book of Acts, chapter 7, there's a guy named Stephen, and he gives one of these legendary speeches, and he retells the story of Exodus and gives us some color commentary along the way.

Acts 7 · chapter mention

So you might write Acts 7 in the margin of your Bible here and go back and read that a little bit later.

But one of the things that Acts 7 tells us about Moses' upbringing, as is Acts 7.22, Moses was instructed in all the wisdom of Egypt and was mighty in words and deeds.

So he was he was raised up in all the wisdom that Egypt had to offer.

He was a mighty guy, both in deed and in word.

Like he was a one percenter.

And yet we're led to believe, according to Stephen's speech in Acts 7, that as a young child, his mom is faithfully teaching him the truths of God's word, actively discipling him, telling Moses about the promises of God, the purposes of God.

That in Genesis they were told they'd be in oppression for 400 years, and they've been watching the clock, and they're at about 350 years when Moses is born, saying, Moses, I don't know what's going on in your life, son, but I got the sense God's gonna use you.

Because the timeline's coming, and you're gonna have to leave this house earlier than I anticipated, earlier than I wanted.

But son, remember the promises of God.

Day in, day out, faithfully teaching, so that Moses would never forget them.

Parents, can I talk to you for a second here?

From the youngest ages, be discipling these kids, teaching them the truths of God's word, and preparing to release them out as they go.

Like we can joke about helicopter parents, helicopter parents, this and that.

It is super easy as a parent to want a white knuckle, protect them from all the harm, and take a lesson here.

You are discipling them to release them.

Psalm 127 that says that children are like arrows in the hand of a warrior, and your job as a parent is to draw the string, prepare the arrow, and release the arrow, because if the arrow never gets out of the bow, it's not doing what it's supposed to do.

So prepare your kids to be released and trust the Lord with them as they go.

And maybe the coolest part of this whole story, at least at the beginning part, comes in verse 3.

I want you to look at verse 3, and I want you to circle the word basket.

If you're you're a no-taker at all, circle that word basket.

The word basket shows up in one other story in the entire Bible, the same Hebrew word.

It's the story that's recorded in Genesis 6 through 9 of Noah's flood, and it's the word ark.

Now catch how amazing this is for just a second.

Because in Genesis 6, the people are saved from the waters of judgment through this ark that is put into the water.

And in Exodus 2, the man of God, Moses, is saved through the judgment that's supposed to come through the water of the Nile, the waters of judgment.

He's saved also through an ark, so that the place of death, the Nile River, becomes forever for the Hebrews a marker of life where God is saying, I see this, know that I know, remember that I remember.

I'm in the business of reversing things that look impossible to you.

We read that and we don't see basket arc is the same, it's different words.

But the original hearers, the Hebrews, they would have immediately made this connection.

Oh, that's the exact same thing that happened back there in Genesis.

God's in the business of saving us.

Incredible stuff.

Well, 40 years pass.

Moses is in Pharaoh's court, and it kind of seems like this is the point where God is really gonna do something.

Like you're hitting 40 years old, you're you're kind of at the point to really, really do something here, Moses.

And yet there's an unexpected turn.

So Moses leaves the palace this one day and he goes out to check on his people.

It's a day for Moses that probably started out like all the rest, but it ends up being a life-defining day.

This is a day for Moses that will bring a brutal cocktail of shame, rejection, and utter confusion all at once.

I just want you to hear me on this park side.

If you ever think that your failures define you, if you ever have the sense that one epic failure in your history is the biggest thing or the most important thing or the most defining thing about you, first off, you need to know that's not true.

Because God's grace is bigger than all of your failures.

And secondly, you need to marinate on Exodus chapter two right here, because here you get a story to shape you, to show you what the grace of God looks like and how it works in the midst of shame, rejection, and confusion.

Moses walks out.

He sees an Egyptian taskmaster beating a Hebrew.

And as he looks at him, he's filled with outrage, a sense of justice.

He says, I have to do something here.

He's filled with courage.

I can't stand by.

He looks around.

Is there anybody here?

He takes action.

He grabs the Egyptian guy and he beats him to death.

And then he has what we sometimes refer to in Hebrew as an oh crap moment.

What have I just done?

What do I do?

I just killed a guy.

This is an Egyptian.

Now I'm a criminal.

All Pharaoh's army is gonna come after me.

And so maybe the funniest line in the passage, it says, he hid him in the sand.

Like you thought little kids were the only ones that thought they could hide stuff under the bed.

No, 40 year old Moses, mighty in word and deed, says, I can take this Egyptian and hide him in the sand.

And he walks off.

Nobody apparently knows yet.

I might imagine Moses walks down to the local coffee shop, like Pharaoh's pour over, sits down and says, What am I gonna do?

His heart is thumping out of his chest.

Maybe you've had a moment like that.

You're like, oh my goodness, what comes next?

His mind is racing.

He's asking, did I do the right thing?

Like the Egyptian was gonna beat this guy to death.

I had to intervene, right?

Did I have to kill him?

There's some ambiguity in the text there.

But one of the things we know for sure is that Moses took things into his own hands and he operated on his own timeline instead of on God's timeline.

He says, I can take care of this in my own strength.

I'm a man mighty in word, mighty in deed.

His blood pressure has to be through the roof right now.

He's realizing I'm a fugitive at this point.

I had a, I was a hidden asset inside Pharaoh's court, and now my cover is blown.

But I can fix this.

Remember, he's an impressive dude.

How many of you have ever gotten yourself into trouble and said, I think I can fix this?

Sometimes it works, most of the time it doesn't.

Look what happens next.

Exodus chapter 2 and verse 13.

Exodus 2 · chapter mention

When he went out the next day, behold, two Hebrews were struggling together.

He said to the man in the wrong, Why do you strike your companion?

He answered, Who made you a prince and a judge over us?

Do you mean to kill me as you killed the Egyptian?

Then Moses was afraid and thought, Surely the thing is known.

When Pharaoh heard of it, he sought to kill Moses.

But Moses fled from Pharaoh and stayed in the land of Midian and sat down by a well.

Okay, so what happens here is Moses remembers, hey, I'm here to be a deliverer of sorts.

So what are we gonna do?

Let me go out and let me rally my people.

This is my time.

Like he puts his airpods in, he's blaring Rocky as he walks out to go and find his people and help deliver them from Egypt.

He sees these guys fighting, and it doesn't go how he anticipated.

He realizes, oh my goodness, I'm in big trouble.

This place Midian he runs to is somewhere between 250 and 450 miles away.

So this is not like he took a little jog over to Arbuckle Acres.

He took off sprinting and sprinted and sprinted and sprinted.

And along the way, he's thinking the promises of God were to deliver Israel out of Egypt.

The plan of God was to use me as their savior.

This is everything I've been taught from the time I was a little kid.

And now I'm I'm hated by the Egyptians, they're trying to kill me.

I'm hated by my own people, they want nothing to do with me.

I'm in the middle of nowhere, forgotten by God, completely exhausted from sprinting 400 miles, and he sits down at a well.

If we try and enter into Moses' mental and emotional life, he has to be thinking, I've ruined my life.

I can't go back there.

And there are gonna be millions of my own people who will suffer and die because of my angry outbursts at that Egyptian because I couldn't control my emotions.

You ever had a spot where your emotions raged up, you lashed out, and you feel like you screwed things up so bad they could never be put back together?

Yeah, I'd say Moses knows what that's like.

Because he thinks of the people being beaten every single day because he lost it.

He's 40 years old.

You want to talk about a midlife crisis for this guy?

No motorcycle purchase is gonna get him out of this one.

His whole life had been leading to this moment of deliverance, and he's blown it, asking, Is God done with me?

Have I been exiled forever?

And while he's pondering this, sitting at the well, these ladies come up to draw water.

And Moses is forced to make a choice because while the women are drawing water, there are shepherds that come up and chase them off and say, No, you can't have the water.

Look at verse 17 of chapter 2.

Shepherds came and drove the women away.

But Moses stood up and saved them and watered their flock.

That word saved there in verse 17, it's the exact same word for saved that shows up in Exodus 14 when it says that God's people have been saved after they crossed through the waters on dry land.

Amazing foretaste of salvation happening right there.

It's as if Moses says in his heart of hearts, I don't know what's going on right now.

I am confused beyond all confusion.

But in this moment, I'm gonna choose to do the right thing before God, and I'm gonna look out for these ladies.

In other words, if we pull on the language that we talked about last week, he brought what he didn't know about his world into the light of what he did know about his God.

I don't know what's going on out there, but I know right now this is the right thing for me to do, and so I'm gonna do the next right thing that's right in front of me.

And Moses spends 40 years, four entire decades out in Midian.

And while he's out in Midian, God is doing a work in him that he never would have anticipated.

For one thing, God gives Moses a wife and a wonderful, God-honoring father-in-law.

Now, listen, sometimes people say the only difference between in-laws and outlaws is that outlaws are wanted.

You heard that one?

That's not the case for Moses.

Moses had a godly father-in-law who taught him what it looked like to fear God and gave him wise and good counsel.

While out in Midian in the wilderness, God takes Moses on this leadership development immersive experience.

He becomes a shepherd, which is amazing, a shepherd for 40 years, because his Egyptian education said that shepherds were the lowest of the low.

They could be treated as subhuman.

So he hears his professor saying, Moses, you're subhuman because of this.

And yet God is preparing him to lead the people of God through the wilderness like a shepherd.

In fact, in Psalm 77 and Isaiah 63, Moses is called the shepherd of God's people.

God is taking him on a leadership development, immersive experience that he never would have chosen, one he didn't particularly want.

But it's as if God is saying to Moses, Moses, I know what you need, and I've gone before you on the journey, and I'm gonna provide for you and prepare you for what's coming next, even when it doesn't make sense for you right now.

Even when you feel subhuman, I'm preparing you for something better, and I'm providing for you in this moment.

And maybe the most significant thing in Exodus 2, we learn about how God is shaping Moses, comes in verses 21 and 22.

Verse 21, it says, He was content to dwell in the land.

He is content to dwell.

He says, You know what, God, I thought you had a grand vision and a really significant and prestigious role for me.

But if this is where you want me, then I will be content where you have me.

And then he names his child in verse 22, Gersham, which means sojourner.

He's embracing a different identity, but it's what God has for him.

He's become content to dwell, and he's got an identity marker in the name of his kid saying, I will be here where you have me, God.

He certainly doesn't understand the full picture.

From all his royal beginnings and his miraculous deliverance as a child, it looks like a lame and inconsequential end to his life.

It looks like darkness, despair, and meaninglessness.

And in the long view, like we understand, God is working in unexplainable circumstances.

God is working in his unmistakable failures.

But in real time for Moses, nothing has shown up yet.

He's lost, he's without answers, and he's remembering all the while people back in Egypt are suffering and being beaten and dying because of my failures, day in and day out.

And in this space of Moses' story, we enter into Exodus 2, 23 through 25 that I read at the beginning, because when it looks like the plan of God has cratered and bottomed out, it's actually just getting started.

Let's go back and read those verses again that we read at the beginning.

In those many days, boy, Moses knew it was many days.

The king of Egypt died, and the people of Israel groaned because of their slavery.

And they cried out for help.

Their cry for rescue from slavery came up to God.

God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham and with Isaac and with Jacob.

God saw the people of Israel and God knew.

You remember my story of this the bike crash and kind of silly, how I'm yelling, help, help, help.

This is the people day in, day out, week in, week out, month out, month out, year in, year out, decade in, decade out.

Help God, help God, where are you?

Our circumstances are unexplainable.

The failures of our leaders, they're unmistakable.

They're right in plain view.

We saw Moses kill that dude.

Would you please help us, God?

Listen, this morning you might be living right in the middle of unexplainable circumstances or reflecting upon your own unmistakable failures.

Identifying with the people in this story.

And God sees, and God hears, and God remembers, and God is not finished working in and through you.

He is not.

And I can just imagine someone is hearing me saying, Justin, I hear what you're saying, I see what the story says, I want to believe you, but if you could be in my shoes for a week or a month, I don't think you would speak with so much confidence.

You'd pause just a little bit more before you say stuff like that.

How can I know that God knows?

How can I be sure to remember that God remembers?

Because when we read the Bible, not just as Exodus by itself, but a grand story of God's plan to intervene in the lives of his people.

Genesis to Revelation, we're told there's another one who would come.

It's actually called one greater than Moses, who would be rejected and suffer and feel forgotten.

Not because of his own failures, but when Jesus came, he would die on the cross so that your failures would not be what define you, so that your failure wouldn't be final.

So you could know that he's working in and through these things.

Did you think through these parallels?

Like Moses left Pharaoh's palace, but Jesus left a much greater heavenly palace.

Jesus was rejected by more than his people.

He was rejected by the entire world.

Jesus did more than suffer and groan while he's fleeing to Midian.

He suffered and died on the cross of Calvary for a crime he didn't commit, not as a helpless victim, but as one who willingly and decisively chose, saying, I will go to that cross.

And I will take on death, hell, sin, and Satan head on, and I will defeat them in a decisive stroke, letting my own body be put to death, rising from the grave three days later, so that for all eternity you will not only know that I see, know that I know, remember that I remember, but have confidence that I have won.

So that in the midst of your unexplainable circumstances, and in the midst of your unmistakable failures, there is real hope that cries out from the pages of Exodus saying, you can know that God knows, and you can remember that he remembers.

He is working in and he is working through you, but you have to come to him in faith.

Because our temptation is always to say, I made a mess, I can fix it.

Just like Moses.

And he's there saying, if you will come to me in faith, you don't have to look the part, you don't have to have the churchy background, but you have to come with empty hands, saying, Nothing in my hands I bring, simply to you, Jesus, and to your cross I cling.

Friends, will you come to him with open hands, receive his promises, trust his purposes, and follow him this morning?

Lord Jesus, we need your help.

We need your grace.

This story is so thick with tension and with drama, pulling us in in the midst of circumstances that just don't make sense and failures that seem final.

And yet we see your grace resounding through it all, overcoming all the things that don't make sense.

And so we ask, we ask for your grace this morning that in the midst of our stories, your grace would be the dominant melody.

And that we would know that you know and remember that you remember.