Monday, February
24, 2020
“Forty years later, in the desert near Mount Sinai, an angel appeared to Moses in the flame of a burning bush. When Moses saw it, he was amazed at the sight. As he went to take a closer look, the voice of the Lord called out to him, ‘I am the God of your ancestors—the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.’ Moses shook with terror and did not dare to look. “Then the Lord said to him, ‘Take off your sandals, for you are standing on holy ground. I have certainly seen the oppression of my people in Egypt. I have heard their groans and have come down to rescue them. Now go, for I am sending you back to Egypt.’ Acts 7:30-34[1]
“Forty years later…” that sounds
about right. When a story picks up in
the middle some background perspective ought not be ignored; otherwise you can
miss the point. Forty years earlier
Moses had escaped Egypt with his pinfeathers on fire. Although his motive had been godly and
well-intentioned, he’d overstepped his authority and was guilty of murder. Banished from the place he’d grown up, Moses
wandered into Midian, and became a nobody (instead of the important somebody he’d
been).
Moses was forty when he left Egypt
as a convicted felon. He crossed the
desert fighting snakes and scorpions all the way until he arrived at Midian and
became a sheep herder just to earn a living.
For the forty years of today’s text, Moses had
become a husband, father, and trusted shepherd in the back country of nowhere.
When you’re young and full of
dreams, ready to change the world, the dreams sometimes take a detour. That doesn’t mean God is done with you; it
means the dreams you thought were plans were only the beginning of what God’s
been up to in your development. Moses
wanted to see his people (the Israelites he’d only recently discovered were his
people) experience the freedom their God-given heritage promised. He wanted to see injustice and hatred
cease. He wanted the bondage gone. But, by the time the next forty years went
by…far from Egypt’s epicenter of world events, Moses figured his day had come and
gone.
Cue the burning bush catching the
eye of the adopted son of Pharaoh (now demoted to lowly shepherd) who’s
wondering if he’s going crazy in the noonday heat; when does a bush burn, and
never run out of branches to fuel the fire?
I can imagine Moses had built
quite a comfortable life for himself, and now, at 80 he’s thinking retirement,
and letting the kids take over the flocks.
But what was he really thinking…deep, down on the inside of his soul,
when that voice spoke his name, telling him to slip off his sandals and get
ready for the dream/reality of setting the people free? We know he offered some excuses…I’m too
old…I don’t talk so well…they wouldn’t listen…and probably more. But what was he really thinking
on the inside? Doubt? Fear? Too
tired? Hey…I tried this once
before and look what it got me…no…I can’t do this anymore.
Sound familiar?
I believe we humans too-often get
gun-shy when it comes to stepping-out.
Particularly with age and the diminishing strength and stamina we
feel. On top of that physical reality
looms the culture in which we live, extolling everything about being young,
looking young, and how old is something to be avoided; the message is that
young is where it’s at, and old is done.
But, is it really? Over the next 40 years Moses became the
mightiest leader the world has ever known.
And even then….
Moses was 120 years old when he died, yet his eyesight was clear, and he was as strong as ever. Deuteronomy 34:7
For
You Today
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