Strength for Today

1. Remorse over yesterday's failure.

2. Anxiety over today's problems.

3. Worry over tomorrow's uncertainty.

4. Procrastination with one's present duty.

5. Resentment of another's success.

6. Criticism of a neighbor's imperfections.

7. Impatience with youth's inexperience.

8. Skepticism of our nation's future.

9. Unbelief in God's sovereignty. 

Once it was said, "Life beins at forty." But in the case of Moses it appears that his life really not take off until he was eighty. Exodus 7:7 tells us that Moses was eighty when he went to Pharaoh and said, "Let my people go." The first forty years of Moses' life is covered in Exodus 2:1-14. That was when he lived in Egypt. The next forty years is detailed in Exodus 3 & 4 when he lived in Midian tending sheep. From Exodus 5 on through Deuteronomy we have the final forty years of Moses' life chronicled for us as he leads the nation of Israel out of Egypt, through the wilderness, and to the Promised Land. So the bulk of the biblical account of Moses's life really begins when he was eighty years old. My father was still preaching when he was eighty. My friend Marvin Phillips is still going strong at age eighty. My friend Reggie Thomas is 83 and still traveling the world, preaching Christ, and planting churches. My friend Earl W. Chambers is 90 and still preaching the word in California. You can't keep a good man down. All of these were and are men of faith, just like Moses. "By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king; for he endured as seeing Him who is inviisible" (Hebrews 11:27). How old are you? You are not too old to live by faith and still do great things for God!

Have you ever argued with God? What a futile practice! Yet we do it. Moses did it for quite awhile. In fact, he made excuses until he kindled God's anger (Exo. 4:14). Moses was playing with fire. So are we when we make excuses for not serving God. Moses had been chosen to go back to Egypt, confront Pharaoh, and lead God's people, Israel, out of Egypt and into the Promised Land. God assured Moses over and over that He would be with him. But this was not good enough for Moses. At one point he said to God, "I am not eloquent, either in the past or since you have spoken to your servant, but I am slow of speech and of tongue" (Exo. 4:10). But was this true? I don't think so. Stephen's account in Acts 7 is revealing. "And Moses was instructed in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and he was mighty in words and deeds" (Acts 7:22). Now perhaps Moses had lost some of his speaking ability in the 40 years in the desert. That is possible. "If you don't use it, you lose it." But I think he had more speaking ability than what he was letting on. Why do we play games with God? Who gave us our talents and abilities anyway? God the Creator, that's who. So God said to Moses, "Who has made man's mouth? . . . Is it not I, the LORD? Now therefore go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall speak" (Exo. 4:11, 12). Never argue with God. He knows you better than you know yourself. If He says He will be with you and help you, take Him at His word and go to work for Him. No excuses! 

Do you ever wonder if God understands what is happening in your life? Does He hear your cries? Does He see your tears? Does He care? God's people were slaves in Egypt, but God had not forgotten them. Notice what He told Moses. "I have surely seen the oppression of My people who are in Egypt, and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters, for I know their sorrows" (Exo. 3:7). God says, "I have seen...I have heard...I know." Better than that, God then said, "So I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them to a good and large land, to a land flowing with milk and honey" (v. 8). Yes, God understands. And He intervenes. He enters the big picture. He came down to deliver them and to bring them to the Promised Land. He will do the same for you. Do you remember the song "God Understands"? Here is how it goes.

God understands your sorrows, He sees the falling tear; And whispers, 'I am with thee," Then falter not, nor fear. God understands your heartaches, He knows the bitter pain; O, trust Him in the darkness, You cannot trust in vain. God understands your weakness, He knows the tempter's power; And He will walk beside you however dark the hour. He understands your longing, your deepest grief He shares; then let Him bear your burden, He understands and cares! (Oswald Smith)

Each day we are standing somewhere. We are either standing close to God or at a distance from Him. At the burning bush God told Moses, "Take your sandals off your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground" (Exo. 3:5 ESV). The presence of God is what made the ground holy. When you stand in the presence of God, you are on holy ground. Do you ever think of that when you are driving, walking, jogging, doing yard work, sitting at your desk, washing dishes, paying bills, making a hospital call, sitting in church, teaching a class, singing a song, reading your Bible, or doing any other activity you can think of? Moses was just watching the flock that day when he came to Mt. Horeb and saw the burning bush. It certainly got his attention. Notice that "when the LORD saw that he turned aside to see" (v. 4) He called to him. I wonder how many times God does something extraordinary but we are so consumed with the ordinary that we fail to see His hand in some event or happening. God called Moses by name and he knows our names too. He is a personal God. He is also a holy God. The ground on which Moses stood was holy because God was there. It was sacred soil. This should have an affect on the way we live. All of life is holy by virtue of the fact that God is with us. When you see a "burning bush" realize that something special is going on. The ground on which we stand is holy. Life is holy. Let us live it in His presence and in His service. sandal free.

Ever feel like you are living someplace where you are just spinning your wheels or whiling away your time? Moses may have felt that way in Midian. For 40 years he had lived in Egypt. Who knows how the story would have developed had he not killed an Egyptian one day? Pharaoh sought to kill Moses and he fled to the land of Midian where he spent the next 40 years of his life. He met a priest in Midian named Reuel. Eventually Reuel gave Moses his daughter Zipporah and they had a son whom Moses called Gershom because "I have been a sojourner in a foreign land" (Exo. 2:22). They had another son but their marriage does not seem to be a happy one. When the matter of circumcision came up she called Moses "a bridegroom of blood" (Exo. 4:26). Moses may have appreciated his days of solitude in the desert tending the sheep. There he certainly had plenty of time to think. Would he ever go back to Egypt? Would he ever seen his real parents again? Could God possibly use him again? Here he was living on the backside of the desert tending sheep for his father-in-law. There was no religion of Israel in the land. Could this be what God wanted for him? Apparently. God was preparing Moses for the great work of delivering His people out of Egypt and leading them into the Promised Land. Midian was the proving grounds for Moses. Today nothing remains of Midian. It has disappeared as a nation. But the name of Moses is remembered throughout the world. Has God placed you in the backside of some desert, doing menial everyday tasks? It is has happened to most of us. Hang in there. A Mt. Horeb, a burning bush, a distinct call may be next in God's plan for your life.

What was the biggest decision you have ever had to make? To become a Christian? To get married? To move across country or to a foreign land? Moses made a huge decision at some point in his life. "By faith Moses, when he was grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. He considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking to the reward' (Heb. 11:24-26 ESV). Now I am not sure at what point in his life he made this decision. I am thinking it must have been before he killed the Egyptian, for once that was done he fled to Midian where he remained for the next 40 years. Some scholars believe that the Pharaoh's daughter (who adopted, named, and raised Moses) was the oldest daughter of Rameses II. Moses may have had the right to the throne of Egypt with all its treasures and riches if Rameses II and his wife had remained childless. Since the Bible says he "refused" to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter we are led to wonder just when that took place. His identifying with the poor Hebrew who was being beaten may have been his way of identifying himself with the Hebrews, more than with the Egyptians among whom he had been raised. Whenever that choice was made, it was a huge one! What if you stood in line to the treasures of Egypt? What would you do? Would you consider "the reproach of Christ" greater than all the gold in California? And isn't it interesting that the reproach of CHRIST is mentioned here? What did Moses know of Christ? That's an astounding thought. Christ in the Old Testament. They finally meet up on the Mount of Transfiguration. But that's another story. 

Ever had every good intention of being helpful to someone and then you messed it up big time? I have. So did Moses. One day he went out to his people (the Hebrews) and saw an Egyptian beating one of them. I don't know why Moses took it upon himself to do what he did next. No one was looking so he struck down the Egyptian. I don't know if he intended to kill him or not, but that was the end result. He then hid the body in he sand. As the adopted son of Pharaoh's daughter, Moses had quite a bit of position and power. All it would have taken was a report from him and the cruel taskmaster might have been arrested and punished. Who knows? But sometimes in the heat of the moment we say or do things that we instantly regret. The next day Moses saw two Hebrews fighting and he tried to be a peacemaker. He spoke to the man who was in the wrong, but he replied, "Who made you a prince and a judge over us? Do you mean to kill me as you killed the Egyptian?" (Exo. 2:14). Uh-oh. Moses' sin was not secret after all. It rarely is. Somehow this news got back to Pharaoh and he sought to kill Moses. Moses fled from Egypt and became a refugee in Midian where he would live for the next 40 years. Sometimes the consequences of our actions are long lasting. Make one mistake and you might have to live with it the rest of your life or at least for a generation. That's what happened to our friend Moses. Don't let something like this happen to you. Think before you speak. Don't act in haste. Don't let your emotions rule your day and ruin your life. Seek to help others, but do it in a way that is pleasing to God. 

I'm so glad I was educated in American in the 50s and early 60s. I graduated from high school in 1964 and from Bible College in 1968. Time magazine called 1968 the knife blade that severed the past from the future. I have found that to be true. But today I want to talk to you about a young man who got his education in Egypt. "And Moses was instructed in all the wisdom of the Egyptians" (Acts 7:22 ESV). The daughter of Pharaoh adopted him, named him, and raised him as an Egyptian. J. Vernon McGee says, "He was raised and trained like an Egyptian. He looked like an Egyptian, talked like an Egyptian, and acted like an Egyptian. He was recognized as an Egyptian when he went to Midian [see Exo. 2:19]...Moses was educated in the great Temple of the Sun, the outstanding university of the day. We underrate what the Egyptians knew and accomplished. Their knowledge of astronomy was phenomenal.They knew the exact distance to the sun. The worked on the theory that the earth was round and not flat. They knew a great deal about chemistry, evidenced by the way they were able to embalm the dead. We have no process to equal it today. Their workmanship and ability with colors were fantastic. Their colors are brighter that any we have today. Our paint companies would give anything if they knew the formulas used for color by the Egyptians. They are bright, beautiful, and startling after 4,000 years...The one great lack in Moses' education was that he was not taught how to serve God." Moses reminds us of so many bright young people today who are "instructed in all the wisdom of the world" but not in how to live for God. Which may explain what happens next in the life of Moses. More on that tomorrow. But let me leave you with this quote from the founding president of Princeton University:"Cursed be all learning that is contrary to the cross of Christ."