Week 22: Day 4

Intro: Hello and welcome back to Orbit, a short reflection to help you put God at the centre of your life from the team behind Satellites - I'm Liz Grier. Every day I share a little bit of the Bible with you, give you a chance to pray and think about it, and provide you with one practical way to put it into practice today.

Bible: Yesterday Moses was miraculously saved from a cruel death. Today he is all grown up! Let’s look at Exodus 2:11-15

One day, after Moses had grown up, he went out to where his own people were and watched them at their hard labour. He saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his own people. Looking this way and that and seeing no one, he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand. The next day he went out and saw two Hebrews fighting. He asked the one in the wrong, ‘Why are you hitting your fellow Hebrew?’

The man said, ‘Who made you ruler and judge over us? Are you thinking of killing me as you killed the Egyptian?’ Then Moses was afraid and thought, ‘What I did must have become known.’

When Pharaoh heard of this, he tried to kill Moses, but Moses fled from Pharaoh and went to live in Midian, where he sat down by a well.

Thoughts: Moses returns to his people. We know nothing of his childhood and teenage years. As he was growing up in Pharoah’s palace, was his heritage hidden from him to keep him safe? Did he grow up believing he was an Egyptian Prince? Or was he always an outsider, excluded and mistrusted?

However he was brought up, at this point he certainly knows is a Hebrew. He could have stayed in his privileged, protected palace. But he doesn't. He goes to be with his people. As he's walking along, he sees an Egyptian beating a Hebrew and he can't pass by. He can't overlook by injustice. He looks around him, perhaps to see if anyone else was going to help. Perhaps a last check to see if he was going to have to do something. If anybody else is going to step in. But. There is no one. We don't know how hard he intended to hit the Egyptian, but we know that he died. And Moses knew that Pharoah would think he had sided with the enemy over his adopted nation of Egypt. So he tried to cover up. He buried the body. He thought he’d got away with it but the next day he discovers that his actions were public knowledge. He runs away, in fear for his life.

On one level this is a story of failure and a chronic loss of self-belief. Because Moses had so much going for him. He is a Hebrew living in Pharaoh’s palace. He was in the place of power. But he also knew his heritage. He loved his people, the Israelites. He could see that they were being treated badly, and you begin to think he might use his privileged position to change things for them. Because elsewhere in the bible it tells us that Moses knew that God wanted him to save his people from slavery and oppression. So perhaps when he killed the Egyptian, he thought he was acting as God wanted him to. And he clearly had a heart for social justice. He simply couldn't stand by. Moses is so clearly God’s, man, he's got the inheritance and the upbringing and the heart to free God’s people. But even with all that, it's not enough. Because in these verses Moses acts in his own strength and it all ends in failure. Because God makes us all with our own unique talents and strengths. And we get to choose whether we use them with God, in his timing, or in our own strength. Or try and use them in our strength. When Moses tries to go it alone, he kills an Egyptian who was beating a slave. Perhaps that was justice. But it was on a very small scale and didn’t change the plight for thousands of other slaves. The reading ends with Moses running away and if you read on you find out that it isn’t for another 40 years that Moses finds out the difference it makes when you use your gifts and talents God’s way.

Prayer: Father thank-you that you have made me with my own unique talents and strengths. Help me to live each day in your strength, going your way, rather than going it alone. Help me trust that you are acting even when it feels like you have forgotten me. Amen

Action: Take a piece of paper and write down on it all the things about you that make you special and unique. Even if it’s difficult, and I sometimes find this really awkward, try and imagine what someone you really like or love would say about you. Try and be generous to yourself, rather than humble. Then pray and ask God how he sees you, and if there are any gifts or talents, he would like you to use in the coming weeks.

Outro: And that's it! Thanks so much for joining me and I’ll be back with another reflection tomorrow.