God’s Servant

Introduction

Exodus 1 introduced the plight of the Israelites. Enslaved by the Egyptians and condemned to death by a wicked and murderous Pharaoh. Exodus 2 narrates how God begins to deliver Israel.

 

Exodus 2: 1-10:- The birth of God’s servant

Moses’ parents married and had children despite the persecution of the Israelites. His mother also hid Moses and executed a plan to save his life. They refused to let Pharaoh’s decrees stop them from living their lives according to God’s laws. God then stepped in and ensured that Moses survived and brought him back home.

Jesus promised that in this world we will face many trails and sorrows (John chapter 16 verse 33). Jesus also stated in that same chapter and verse that we can be happy because He has overcome the world. Just like Moses’ parents everyone who wants to live a God-like life will experience persecution. However also like Moses’ parents these same people will overcome if they hang on to God’s promise to deliver us.

Moses’ parents followed God’s commandments and God did His part by ensuring Moses survived.

 

Exodus 2:11-15:- The Mistake of God’s Servant

Moses saw an injustice and responded to it in anger. Moses intervened when an Israelite was being oppressed by an Egyptian. In his anger he murdered the Egyptian. He was later forced to run away from Egypt in order to escape Pharaoh’s justice once the Pharaoh learnt what happened.

James 1: 19-20 warns believers not to easily become angry because human anger will not allow us to live the kind of life God wants us to live. A good example is the way Moses anger lead him to murder. There was good reason to be angry, the Egyptian was beating the Hebrew unjustly, and there are always many reasons to be angry. However God commands us to control our tempers. The Bible never lists anger as a sin but it warns us about its effects.

Moses sin was caused by uncontrolled anger and God punished him by forcing him to leave Egypt.

 

Exodus 2:16-22:- The sustenance of God’s Servant

God sustained Moses, despite his sin. Moses escaped to Midian where he rested beside a well from his flight from Egypt. While there he rescued the daughters of a Midianite priest from the hands of men who refused to allow them to give their sheep water. The priest gave Moses one of his daughters as a wife and Moses worked for the priest.

We all sin according to 1 John 1:8-10. In these same verses God promises to forgive us and cleanse us from our sins. God forgave Moses and gave Him a family in a foreign country to sustain Him. God also helped Moses control himself which prevented him from killing the shepherds.

The mark of maturity in a believer’s life is not an absence of sin because this is impossible. The mark of maturity in a believer’s life is the presence of change meaning that over time old sins disappear.

 

Exodus 2:23-25:- Invitation

Chapter 2 of Exodus ends by basically stating that the plight of the Israelites was still the same but with an important difference. They were still in bondage and being murdered but they had cried out to God.

If things are going badly and a person cries out to God things may not immediately change. However God has promised that He will not turn a deaf ear to any of His children when they cry out to Him. As verse 25 says:- “He saw the troubles of the people of Isreal, and He was concerned about them.”