“Now therefore, behold, the cry of the children of Israel has come to Me, and I have also seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them. Come now, therefore, and I will send you to Pharaoh, and that you may bring My people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt
Exodus 3:9-10
The past few weeks have been amazing, as we have journeyed together, looking at the subject of “Broken vessels”. One phenomenal truth that makes this study unique is the fact that you only need to look around your environment. Scattered amongst God’s people in our communities are men and women that naturally don’t deserve to still be alive and serve the purposes of God and yet, because of God’s unwavering mercy and grace, those people are not only living, but living to represent the interests of God to our world. The revelation of the diverse dimensions of God is one of the things that brings believers into a state of continual reverence of God knowing that His ways are unsearchable. Things that we as humans would have discovered about men and written them off are still what God that knows all keeps seeing and still hasn’t stopped loving and providing for those same people.
What can be more beautiful than knowing that no matter what happens to us, we have a God that is ever ready to receive us back to His side with open arms, so far we are willing to plead for mercy and forsake the old ways. A song writer called this the reckless love of God, another writer expressed it as a scandal of grace! It is unimaginable, yet, it is true. As we look through the stories of men and women in the Bible that encountered the God of second chance and whose lives God turned around for good despite their horrible pasts, find reasons to accept this dimension of God in your personal life and use this to turn yourself and others around you into the open arms of the ever ready Potter, whose expertise is in re-molding broken vessels. It is time to learn about the God of second chance.
The agony and suffering of men does not validate the appearing of an untrained saviour from God, any man that will stand as God’s representative must be trained and sent by Him.
Moses was born into the family of Levi while the sons of Jacob were in captivity in Egypt. The happenings that occurred around his days of childhood clearly indicated that he was a special child chosen by God for special works. His mother was abnormally courageous in keeping him away from the death sentence hanging over every male child. God ensured the feet of Moses was ordered right into the palace of Pharaoh, showcasing His majesty and mysteriousness over the affairs of men. Moses became the adopted son of Pharaoh’s daughter making him a prince, he was raised and trained with the best resources available in Egypt at that time
Any purpose you receive from God that doesn’t place a demand on you for training and pruning will never live to see the light of the day of its fulfillment!
Despite this heavy dose of idolatry and godlessness that surrounds his upbringing, God still made it possible for him to know which side he truly belongs which is the commonwealth of Israel. It was around this first 40 years of his life that it began dawned on him that his nation was under captivity and it wasn’t difficult for him to reason it out that he would be instrumental in their deliverance. He was more conscious of the person he is, his strength, wisdom, wealth of experience both in battle and in governance and he forgot the most important part of his destiny, God!
God has requirements and qualifications that any man who will represent His interest must fulfill before any action can begin!
The reality and understanding of one’s destiny can lead to two major results; an urgency to cleave to God and depend on Him for the fulfillment of that destiny or an offshoot of zeal and readiness to change the prevailing norm through technical capabil2ities available around the man. Moses followed the latter pathway being a man of great abilities in the flesh and he failed! He thought he could carry out destiny using his earthly and mental preparations. He failed to acknowledge God in his plans not knowing that only with God’s help will anyone be able to fulfill any divine mandate. Hannah captured this revelation well when she said: “For by strength no man shall prevail”. 1 Samuel 2:9b. B
Every believer must understand that compassion for people without heavenly backing will only lead to a failed attempt to help men in God’s stead!
Humanly speaking, Moses could be regarded as the best man for this shot, by all earthly standard he was ready to lead a revolution that would see the Israelites avenge their oppressors and match out of Egypt in a grand style. Yet, this is not God’s own definition of deliverance for His beloved covenanted nation. God has requirements and qualifications that any man who will represent His interest must fulfill before any action can begin! On the other hand, Moses was an arrogant and clueless man ready to fight wars through ways known to mortal men. So, Moses failed! His effort was watered down through the words of the Hebrew man which wasn’t only mere words, it contained the conclusion of heaven over the unrecognized labour of Moses! God is not man; His ways are consistent through all generations. The agony and suffering of men does not validate the appearing of an untrained saviour from God, any man that will stand as God’s representative must be trained and sent by Him.
Ministry is what we do to express God’s love to the world around us and essentially contribute to the advancement of God’s Kingdom agenda at any given time.
Moses became an exiled prince for the next forty years of his life, living in Midian. The circumstances that surrounds his exit from Egypt began to humble him. Every believer must understand that compassion for people without heavenly backing will only lead to a failed attempt to help men in God’s stead! Ministry is what we do to express God’s love to the world around us and essentially contribute to the advancement of God’s Kingdom agenda at any given time. This can never be achieved outside the training and empowerment of God. This was what Moses lacked in his arsenal when he tried to free God’s people using human means. Now, God began to use the situations around him to shape him for this same failed purpose. The mighty prince Moses of Egypt became a shepherd not of his own flock but rather, the flock of his father-in-law, what a shame! He began to learn submission to a higher authority. Leading Jethro’s flock for many years taught him to stand alone as he wandered across the mountains in search for good pasture for the flock he was leading. Any purpose you receive from God that doesn’t place a demand on you for training and pruning will never live to see the light of the day of its fulfillment!
It is a known fact that, if any man will last in God’s business and stand the test of time, he must pass through this rigorous training and be made ready by God Himself.
The later accounts of the exploits of Moses would later reveal the fruits of this extended years Moses spent in Midian getting pruned and repackaged for God’s use. Exodus 33:15-16 captured one of this uncommon traits he learnt. Moses while speaking to God said: “Then he said to Him, “if Your Presence does not go with us, do not bring us up from here. For how then will it be known that Your people and I have found grace in Your sight, except You go with us? So we shall be separate, Your people and I, from all the people who are upon the face of the earth”. The number of years spent at the backside of the mountain where God trains and equips His messengers can never be over-emphasized. It is a known fact that, if any man will last in God’s business and stand the test of time, he must pass through this rigorous training and be made ready by God Himself. Moses was tried and crushed until no iota of pride and self was left in him. He would later be regarded as the “meekest man alive” later in his season of destiny fulfillment. Moses though broken through his failed attempt to destiny still yielded to the trainings of God quietly as he lived in Midian, not minding if there would ever be another opportunity for him to retrace his steps in destiny; left to him he must have resolved that Midian would become his final stop where he would live to lament and regret his rashness approach to God’s providence for him in destiny.
When we pray, we are not only expressing our discomfort to God, we also exalt Him and make Him know He is the One that can help us in times of trouble.
The last three verses in the second chapter of Exodus recorded what we can call the beginning of a new move God was ready to start that would lead to the freedom of His people. “Now it happened in the process of time that the king of Egypt died. Then the children of Israel groaned because of the bondage, and they cried out; and their cry came up to God because of the bondage. So God heard their groaning, and God remembered His covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. And God looked upon the children of Israel, and God acknowledged them”. In the verses above, we saw that prayers moves God. It was only after this desperate cry of the children of Israel that God remembered His covenant with their forefathers and then proceeded to encounter Moses in Exodus chapter three. When we pray, we are not only expressing our discomfort to God, we also exalt Him and make Him know He is the One that can help us in times of trouble. Prayerlessness can be regarded as pride against God.
Whenever a man passes through God’s training process and comes out refined after the training, God welcomes a matured son ready to be sent out for good works into His vineyard.
The responses of Moses before God’s presence during the burning bush encounter depicted a life of brokenness. He already discovered how weak and helpless a man could be without the help of God. the same man that was eager and restless 40 years before that encounter was now giving God excuses that disqualifies him from carrying out God’s proposed assignment. Moses gave God five solid excuses between Exodus 3:11 and Exodus 4:13 all to just dissuade God from sending him on the same assignment he supposedly killed another man for! The powerful transformation the test of time can work out in a yielded man’s life cannot be overlooked! God’s processes outworked patience, calmness, humility and total dependency in the life of Moses! Whenever a man passed through God’s training process and comes out refined after the training, God welcomes a matured son ready to be sent out for good works into His vineyard.
The seal of God’s assignment on any witness of His Kingdom is the evidence of an encounter with God!
Conclusively, God won all the excuses of Moses and eventually sent him to deliver the Israelites from the land of bondage. God made Moses a god unto Pharaoh when he equipped him for the assignment and empowered him in the burning bush encounter. The seal of God’s assignment on any witness of His Kingdom is the evidence of the encounter with God! A witness is useless without an evidence. When God encounters a man, the aftermath of such experience is that He turns the man into the evidence of that encounter! When that person appears before men, he stands tall and flawlessly demonstrate God’s power to challenge the prevailing evil of the hour as a report card that he was sent by God! Moses, a broken vessel became a recipient of the God of second chance as he represented God in his generation. God can fix you too, yield to Him today and watch your life become a wonder to the world of men!