Exodus

Who? Me? Dealing with doubt on “The Point.”

 

When we pray to God to work out situations in life, often we wish that He would just wave a magic wand and fix things for us. Sometimes He does. Other times, He calls us to be part of the solution. That’s when things get daunting, just as they were for Moses when God called him to lead the Israelites out of Egypt.

Meet God

 

When Moses approached the burning bush, God called out to him from the midst of the bush, telling him to take off his shoes for he was standing on holy ground.

At that point, Moses met the God he had trusted since childhood. All throughout Exodus 3, Moses sees the attributes of God on full display.

First, Moses saw the awesomeness of God, as He appeared in a burning bush that was not being consumed by the fire.

Secondly, he saw the life of God, as God described Himself as the eternal “I AM” who was still the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, as they had entered eternity with him after passing on this Earth.

Thirdly, he saw God’s deliverance, as God told Moses that He had come down to deliver His people from the bondage of Egypt.

Lastly, he received God’s call, as God directed Moses to be the one to lead the people out of Egypt.

From this, we learn that God is to be revered, that He is the source of our life (both eternal, and Earthly), that God delivers His people and responds to their prayers, and that God works through His people to accomplish His mission.

Want more? Check out the above-posted podcast.

Faith Accomplishes…

Faith is not something you possess, neither is it something you express. Faith is a deep-rooted trust or belief that drives you to action. Period.

Hebrews 11 explains faith by demonstrating how it propelled the Old Testament heroes, like Moses, to do great things.

The Bible tells us in Hebrews 11:23-26

By faith Moses, when he was born, was hid three months of his parents, because they saw he was a proper child; and they were not afraid of the king’s commandment. By faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter; Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season; Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt: for he had respect unto the recompence of the reward.

The life of Moses was driven by faith. It was driven by the faith of his mother, his own faith, and God rewarded that faith.

Exodus 2 shows us this faith in that it recorded how Moses’ mother was moved by faith to save his life, thus directly disobeying an evil law given by an unGodly king. Moses was moved by faith to identify with His people instead of enjoying the life of luxury in the King’s palace. And God rewarded that faith by using Moses to bring the Israelites out of slavery.

Hebrews 11:23 says, By faith Moses, when he was born, was hid three months of his parents, because they saw he was a proper child; and they were not afraid of the king’s commandment.”

Now obviously, Moses’ birth was not a demonstration of his faith. No, the faith that was demonstrated in Moses’ birth was on the part of his parents. They, by faith, rejected the king’s commandment to kill all the male babies born, and hid him as long as they could. Then, they expressed faith in placing him in a box in the reeds by the Nile, where he would be discovered by Pharaoh’s daughter. Pharaoh’s daughter then hired Moses’ biological mother to nurse him, which gave her an additional five years with her son.

As Moses’ mother nursed him and raised him, it is very likely she taught him about the Lord and the promise that the Hebrews would be delivered by God out of Egypt. This must have happened, because when he was grown, he went down to check on the Hebrews. The only reason he would have done this would have been that his heart was with them. The only reason his heart would have been with them is that his mother and father would have taught them about the Lord.

As Moses went down to see the plight of the Hebrews, he observed an Egyptian assaulting a Hebrew man. Moses defended the Hebrew and killed the Egyptian. Hebrews 11:24-26 tell us when this happened, Moses made a big decision:

By faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter; Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season; Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt: for he had respect unto the recompence of the reward.

Moses faith drove him to identify with the Hebrews, take up their cause, to turn his back on Pharaoh’s house, and ultimately to flee Egypt. He did this because he valued the things of God more than the things of man.

The rest of the story is captured in the Old Testament book of Exodus.

What we learn from Exodus 2 is simple. Our faith will be reflected in our actions. If we have faith, we will follow God’s word above man’s, we will value the things of God above the things of this world, and when push comes to shove, we will side with God.

Choosing God vs. the world is a daily choice. Every day, we choose whether we will follow God and represent Him, or whether we will pursue the pleasures of the flesh. Highlight that choice in your mind, then decide accordingly.

The man who destroyed Egypt

In ancient times, Egypt was the world’s lone super power. The Egyptians were architectural geniuses, having built the pyramids, the sphinx, and massive cities. Their architecture still captures our imaginations today, as many adventure movies and novels center around the pyramids and their ancient wonders.

Egypt was also good at agriculture, perfecting the cultivation and harvesting of grain while being fed by the Nile river.

The Egyptians also boasted the world’s most powerful military at the time.

This superpower enjoyed peace and prosperity for centuries, but that all came to an end under the rule of one evil, foolish Pharaoh.

In Exodus 1, we’re told that a new king arose which new not Joseph, the Israelite who warned a previous Pharaoh about a terrible famine, and thus not only saved Egypt, but solidified its place as the world’s lone superpower.

When this Pharaoh saw the Israelites in Egypt, he didn’t see a people who had played a part in his nation’s rise to power, he saw a national security threat. The Bible tells us in Exodus 5:2 that this same Pharaoh didn’t know God, and didn’t care to know God.

As a result, Pharaoh began persecuting the Israelites, God’s chosen people, and that drew God’s attention. The fallout from this would involve God pouring out plagues on Egypt, and destroying that nation as the Israelites left in mass exodus.

From this, we learn that sin, evil, and destructive tendencies are born out of a rejection against God.

False Promises of Freedom

Do you realize that, in the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve lived under one restriction, and one restriction only?

“And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.” – Genesis 2:16-17

Adam and Eve were told they could freely eat of every fruit of every tree in the garden, except the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. They were forbidden from eating of that tree, because doing so would cause death. Other than that, everything went.

In the history of man, I cannot think of another time when man was more free, let alone as free as Adam and Eve in the Garden.

Yet, in Genesis 3, Satan (in the form of the serpent) somehow convinced Adam and Eve that they were not free. He reasoned that they could never be free as long as they were under God’s authority, and God was intent on continuing His “oppression.”

That’s the message within Satan’s statement to Eve, “For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.” – Genesis 3:5.

Adam and Eve were led to believe that by eating the forbidden fruit, they would be freed from God’s authority, free to do whatever they felt. They thought they were about to realize a level of freedom never before seen. They were wrong.

Their eating of the fruit brought sin into the world, and the knowledge of sin. So, instead of being freed from God, Adam and Eve were made slaves to sin, its consequences, and its relentless presence in every aspect of life. Consequently, the entire human race has been subjected to such.

In modern times, the Satanic Temple (which denies the existence of Satan, all the while advancing his message), proclaims that its doctrine would liberate people from the bonds of religion and unjust laws. In reality, they are making the same false promise as Satan made to Adam and Eve. Satan promised a freedom from God, a freedom to do with their bodies as they wished. The Satanic Temple lists that concept as one of its tenets. Yet we know that one cannot live in total freedom without impacting the freedom of others.

Recently, the Satanic Temple protested in favor of abortion, saying that pro-life legislation enslaves women to the oppression of motherhood. While motherhood is definitely a rigorous lifestyle (one of which many women have told me is completely worth it), the fact is that a pregnant woman cannot live free of motherhood without denying another person the most basic right to life. And while the Satanic Temple claims to support scientific reason, the fact is genetically, that “fetus” is a human being.

If a woman decides to defy God’s design for marriage, and live a sexually immoral life, then she can do so without the effect of pregnancy, and thus, motherhood, simply by employing birth control. Even if she is successful at this, she still faces the consequences of STD’s, the emotional damage brought on by promiscuity, and the degradation that often follows. (For what it’s worth, men who live sexually immoral lives face the same consequence).

What is promised as freedom from God’s law, the restraints of religion, or the morays of morality, actually presents a bondage all its own. My point? The promise of total freedom is a false promise that Satan has made since the creation of man. It never materializes, and never will.

Whether it was the prohibition of eating the fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil in Genesis, the 10 Commandments in Exodus, or the commandment to love each other in John 15, God’s commandments are given to protect us from destruction, and to help us enjoy the most of what life has to offer.

The prohibition against eating of the tree in the garden was to allow Adam and Eve maximum freedom without the fear or confusion over sin. The 10 Commandments guarded us against the self-destructive lifestyles of covetousness, deceit, theft, adultery, stupidity, and idolatry. The commandment to love each other moves God’s law from a list of do’s and don’ts to a check of your motivation. It all frees us. The question is, will you enjoy the freedom God makes freely available in Christ? Or will you choose the slavery that comes with sin?

Choose wisely, for your choice will last you for eternity.