Day 295

Day 295

Pray (ACts)

Read - Exodus 2:13-14

Message - Alan Burke 

“Augh, sure their heart was in the right place”. I’m sure we have all heard that said on more than one occasion maybe even about ourselves, what someone means when they say it, is that the actions of someone although were well meaning and done with the right intention were not helpful and sometimes even caused more problems than they solved. Well Moses’ heart was in the right place but what followed was a disaster in once sense, yet God was still at work in it all. 

Likely you haven’t forgot from Monday how Moses left the palace and saw what was happening to one of his own people he was filled with compassion, how he could have simply clicked his fingers and he would have had salves and servants coming to his aid and stop it all. But that’s not what Moses did and he killed the Egyptian and he buried the corpse in a shallow grave (12). He may have thought it was all done and dusted but it wasn’t. Once more we see Moses moved to compassion, his heart was in the right place as he witnessed two of his own people struggling, fighting the bit (13) out and tries to intervene. Think though to what Moses is witnessing, his fellow Hebrews, who were born in slavery, grew up in slavery, who lived all their lives as slaves and moved towards death as slaves, fighting not those that enslave them but among each other. 

Moses as he intervened was seeking justice, in the book of Acts we learn more of what was going on as Moses came to them, saw they were fighting said to them ‘Men, you are brothers; why do you want to hurt each other?’ ” (Acts 7:26).

And their response is a cutting one; 

“Who made you ruler and judge over us? Are you thinking of killing me as you killed the Egyptian?”

How they found out could be any number of ways, the man Moses saved could have told everyone, there may have been onlookers. Yet with their response these men make it clear that Moses had no authority of Moses, as if they say, who gave you the right to challenge us? These men had come to the conclusion why should they trust Moses, why should the they trust another killer. 

Moses who had been on the cusp of greatness in the courts of Pharaoh, now was a murderer, rejected by those whom he had appointed himself to save. He may have thought the murder of the slavedriver would be kept hidden or see him heralded as a saviour, his sin had found him out and there were consequences. How could he lead the entire nation out of Egypt when he couldn’t resolve a simple dispute, his credibility had been destroyed. His sins had found him out, God would use Moses but he still had a lot to learn, forty years would pass. 

Even if Moses had have successfully hidden it from all ultimately God knew, for He knows all things, there is not one thing we can keep hidden from him. We may try to keep our sin hidden from our spouse, the watching world, but God knows and calls his people to repent of their sin. (Num 32:23). Nothing is hidden from the Lord God. There is something that it would do us good to remember, Moses is listed among the heroes of the faith (Heb 11:23-28). Moses was is a sinner, his life at this stage is a mess, how could this man ever be used by God, no matter how many years followed would you want him as your leader, your minister, this fallen, murdering, dirtbag, we’d be protesting if this man ended up in our town as the local minster after all there have been protests about better men than Moses. Well it’s a good thing that God is not like you or I and it's a good thing his grace is sufficient because as the psalmist reminds us in Psalm 130:3 If the LORD should mark iniquities who could stand? The truth is not one of us! Remember God “saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior” (Titus 3:5-6).

Pray (acTS)

Sing

WSC
Q65 What is forbidden in the fifth commandment?
The fifth commandment forbiddeth the neglecting of, or doing any thing against, the honor and duty which belongeth to every one in their several places and relations. (Matt. 15:4–6, Ezek. 34:2–4, Rom. 13:8)
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