It reads like an episode of Dateline. The baby was saved from death and miraculously adopted into a rich and powerful family. As a member of the upper echelon, he received the best education money could buy. But there was always something missing inside of his soul. As the years went by, Moses found out the truth of his roots and that his biological people, the Hebrews, had for years been cruelly abused and enslaved by the very family he had been adopted into. The injustice ate at his heart.
One day in an impulsive fit of anger, the young man Moses murdered a foreman he saw beating one of his fellow Hebrews. All that rage that had been bottled up in Moses bore fruit. He assumed that his people would consider him a hero for what his version of social justice. He didn’t realize that “Moses the Murderer” would become his claim to infamy. He forgot that God sees.
Word of mouth quickly spread about what Moses had done and the king put a bounty on his life. The young man of privilege ran fast and hard into exile. His crime had negated any good he could have brought to his people. And all the while, his people were still groaning and crying out in misery from the oppression of their captors. God heard their cries, but their future leader, Moses, had to first go to God’s graduate school.
THE YEARS IN THE WILD
In the wilderness, Moses learned what true leadership is all about. Formerly proud Moses, became broken; reduced to caring the most helpless animals: sheep. There was nothing opulent or prestigious about his new profession. Possibly he thought that this would be the entire summery of his life: a man who murdered a man in cold blood, fell from heights of glory, and became a hunted criminal. The wilderness experience continued year after sand filled year until Moses was eighty years old.
One wouldn’t think that age 80 would be prime recruitment age. A young and energetic Moses, would have seemed to have been the logical choice for leading his people out of slavery. However, God chose a weathered, humbled Moses, one who had been educated in desolate surroundings on how to tenderly care for the stupidest animals: sheep.
THE BROKEN CAN SOMETIMES BEST CARRY GOD’S GOLD
God often chooses the inarticulate, the broken, the weathered, the humbled, to carry out His plans. How odd! How astounding! God revealed to the elderly Moses, standing next to a burning bush, that life had purpose and worth. God had finally finished maturing Moses, pronouncing him ready and fit for the task which he was born for. This was God’s timing, God’s choice, and it was good.
Have you considered yourself too broken, too old, too useless, too unqualified? Give thought today the character of God which is described in Psalm 103:8-13, “The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in mercy. He will not always contend with us, nor will He keep His anger forever. He has not dealt with us according to our sins, nor rewarded us according to our guilty deeds. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is His mercy toward those who fear Him. As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our wrongdoings from us. Just as a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear Him.”
If you are still breathing, no matter what you have done, the Lord calls to you, regardless of how far in the mire you have sunk. God’s happy spot is redeeming broken lives and making beauty out of ashes. There can be purpose and wholeness in your life. There is hope!