Here is another good one for yall to look at.
Date Created: 6/21/2007
Author: David Nasser
Scripture References: Romans 8:15-17, Revelation 15:3, Joshua 2:9-11 There are stories in the Bible that are so complex, yet they’re so simple in message. Stories that from beginning to end reveal a certain truth over and over again. Nowhere is that more evident than in the story of Moses as found in the book of Exodus.
In Moses’s life, we see the fingerprints of God on every page. We see God delivering Moses as an infant, as a boy, as a teen, as a man, and even on his deathbed. His story is more about a faithful God than about a favored servant. As we look at this familiar text, let’s read it with a magnifying glass, looking for the fingerprints of God. They will be hard to miss.
The second book of the Bible, the book of Exodus, is really the coming-of-age story of both the nation of Israel and also God’s relationship with his people. It’s a backdrop for the story of God’s deliverance of those he loves and how he continues to take care of them even as they doubt him continually.
It wasn’t until a couple of generations multiplied that the children of Israel living in Egypt were of a large enough number to gain the attention of Pharaoh. Concerned that this race of people would overpopulate and become stronger than his own, Pharaoh sought to oppress the growing Israelites, forcing them to become the laboring class of Egypt. This did nothing to control their growth—the more he afflicted them, the more they multiplied. Frustrated, annoyed, and intimidated by the thriving race, Pharaoh decreed that all male children of the Hebrews should be killed.
But God needed a leader for the forming nation of Israel. He needed a man who would unite the tribes and deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians. To mold such a man, the Lord would have to deliver him over and over, revealing God’s glory and faithfulness—leaving fingerprints of his intervention so unmistakable, that the man could lead his entire people to deliverance.
That man’s name was Moses.
Moses was born to the tribe of Levi, which was the tribe of priests. At birth, his mother recognized him as a favored child and hid him away from Pharaoh’s death decree. But she knew that she would have to give him up or he would be killed. She swaddled her baby in a woven basket, and in faith, let him drift away. The baby was eventually rescued from certain death by the daughter of Pharaoh, and God honored the faith of Moses’s mother by impressing his mark on Moses’s life from the very beginning.
Years passed and, now a young man, Moses was walking about his adopted grandfather’s kingdom when he saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew. The plight of his own people came alive right in front of him as an enraged Moses lashed out at the Egyptian, killing him. Moses couldn’t contain his anger—he had a passion for the Hebrews that God had put inside of him. When he killed the Egyptian, he knew that he would be leaving his place in the kingdom. Adopted into the royal family or not, the Pharaoh would certainly have him killed. So Moses went into hiding, fleeing to the land of Midian.
This time of being a stranger in a strange land could have been one of deep depression for Moses. Instead, God was busy continuing his work in Moses, ordaining a time of preparation for his great leadership. He gave Moses favor with the people. Moses married, fathered a child, and learned to become a shepherd while living removed from his people and his homeland. But it wasn’t until God appeared to him in the form of a burning bush that Moses realized his true calling.
“Moses, Moses—remove the sandals from your feet. This is holy ground.” Moses hid his face from the bush, afraid.
“I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob. I have seen the affliction of my people. I have heard their cry. I know their sorrow. And I have come down to deliver them.”
God reached out to Moses, the one he had already delivered, to deliver his people from Egypt. A great leader can’t lead where he hasn’t been led before. So Moses, marked from the very beginning by God’s delivering hand, was well equipped to lead what would become the nation of Israel. He wasn’t a skilled orator. He wasn’t a great diplomat. He was simply a man who was a walking example of the value of redemption.
Moses had the confidence of the “I Am.” The promise of a God who would allow him to perform miracle after miracle in the audience of a Pharaoh who wasn’t willing to release the Hebrew people. In fact, Pharaoh just made their workloads harder, their lives even more tumultuous. But Moses persisted—he knew what it meant to be delivered and he was to soon see how God would deliver miracles through him.
Moses turned his rod into a serpent. Pharaoh said no.
Moses turned the river into blood. Pharaoh said no.
Moses released a plague of frogs. Pharaoh said no.
Moses released a plague of lice and flies. Pharaoh said no.
Moses released a plague killing all of the livestock of Egypt. Pharaoh said no.
Moses afflicted the Egyptians with boils. Pharaoh said no.
Moses called down hail upon the land. Pharaoh said no.
Moses called a plague of locusts. Pharaoh said no.
Moses allowed darkness to cover the land. Pharaoh said no.
Finally came the plague we know as Passover, where the firstborn of every Egyptian family died. A plague so horrible that Pharaoh commanded Moses and his people to flee at once. He’d finally let God’s people go… but only for a moment. As soon as Pharaoh realized that Egypt, already decimated by plagues, famine, and death, had just let their entire workforce escape, he had a change of heart.
Pharaoh immediately sent his armies after the fugitives to have them arrested and brought back into slavery. With the mountains to their right and a great body of water to their left, it looked as though the Israelites would be back working on the pyramids in no time.
But God had a different plan. A plan so dramatic that he turned to the one he knew he could trust. The one who already knew a thing or two about being delivered. He commanded Moses to lift his rod and part the Red Sea.
You know what happens next. It’s one of the most epic scenes in all of the Bible—the stuff Hollywood movies are made of. Moses leads the Israelites safely to the other side of the Red Sea just in time to watch the Egyptian armies drown—horses, chariots, and all.
How could anyone, Israelite or Egyptian, deny the delivering power of God on that day? Was there any way to hide the glory of God through deliverance?
I like to think that was the moment that bonded the children of Israel. That they looked at each other and gave praise and thanks to God, and they realized just how special it was to be the children of “I Am.” He brought to them a man named Moses, a baby with a death sentence, who was rescued from a river so he could deliver God’s chosen ones from the hands of their oppressors and into the birth of their nation.
Now imagine you’re Moses, on the far bank of the Red Sea. You’ve already seen the plagues. You’ve seen exile. You’ve seen the very hand of God spare your life over and over again. You’re now witnessing first-hand the power of God to deliver an entire nation. You see that your life has been continually crafted by a God who’s delivered you time and time again. Yet somehow you’re still amazed at just how glorious he can be.
Along with the new nation of Israel, you sing:
LORD, who is like you among the gods?
Who is like you, glorious in holiness,
revered with praises, performing wonders?
Additional scriptures for personal study:
Romans 8:15-17
Revelation 15:3
Joshua 2:9-11
From Glory Revealed: How The Invisible God Makes Himself Known by David Nasser.
