When they [Reuel's seven daughters] came to Reuel their father, he said, 'Why have you come back so soon today?' So they said, 'An Egyptian delivered us from the hand of the shepherds, and what is more, he even drew the water for us and watered the flock.' - Exodus 2:17-18
There are three separate instances in the first two chapters of Exodus where Moses demonstrates his penchant for delivering people. The first is when he kills the Egyptian, the second when he confronts the two Hebrews for beating up on each other, and the third is when the shepherds tried to drive these girls away from their well.
This week we're talking about spotting how our desires get in the way of God's desires, and becoming willing to subordinate our desires to His.
But this part of Exodus (and my own experience) gives me the impression that God uses some of our desires, our penchants, our predispositions, to His own glory. Some get in the way (the weeds and thorns from Mark), but not all of them are weeds.
In other words, God has built in you a foundation for greatness, one that is not unattractive. There is something already in you that He can use! He put it there himself. We simply have to make a decision between living through Jesus and letting Him guide us in the way He pleases, or butting heads with our in-born purpose for the rest of our lives.
Either way will be difficult, but we can handle it. If God is for us, who can be against us?
-Powell
I enjoyed this portion this morning related to Moses and the natural life or the self. We've been talking about these 2 things recently. I thought these 2 verses, Acts 7:22 & Exodus 4:10, were also very intersting and seem to contradict each other unless they are seen in the following light. Lord, make us proper men of God for the fulfillment of your purpose!
ReplyDeleteMoses remained in Midian for forty years (Acts 7:30). God used the first forty years of Moses’ life to build up a man who was strong in the natural life (Acts 7:22; vv. 11-13). Then, in order to strip Moses of his natural ability, God arranged to have him work as a shepherd in the land of Midian for another forty years (3:1). God’s work to perfect Moses made him a useful vessel for God’s purpose.
According to Exodus, being useful to God is related to building up His dwelling place and to fighting for His interests on earth. Chapters 1 and 2 show that the life useful to God in these matters is the life signified by the female life. In the Bible a male signifies an independent life, whereas a female signifies a life that depends on God (cf. Luke 1:26-38). The unique male is God in Christ; only He has an independent life. In their relationship to God all God’s people, both men and women, are “females,” components of His wife (Isa. 54:5; John 3:29). As such, they must live a life that depends on Him for everything and is under His headship (John 15:5; 1 Cor. 11:3). At the age of forty Moses lived an independent life, taking the position of a “male” before God by exercising his natural strength to strike an Egyptian (vv. 11-12). In the second forty years of his life Moses was trained by God not to rely on his natural life, and in his third forty years he lived the life of a “female,” a life dependent on God. This is the life God can use for the fulfillment of His purpose.