The Waiting
The birth and development of Moses is an amazing story. He was a child of the hated Hebrews, who were in Egyptian bondage. The daughter of Pharaoh, who had commanded the death of every Hebrew son, found him.
Pharaoh’s daughter adopted him, and he was made an heir to Pharaoh. His own Hebrew mother was paid by his adopted Egyptian mother to nurse him.
Moses’ mother’s name, Jochebed, means “Yahweh is glorious” or “Yahweh the great one.” She believed that God could save her child, and he rewarded her for her faith. God delivered Moses from death, and then he used Moses to deliver his own people from slavery. God delivered the deliverer.
Moses was aware of his origin, and he desired to help his own people. It speaks well for him that he was willing to identify himself with them, a slave people. Unfortunately, he took matters into his own hands when he killed an Egyptian who had struck a Hebrew. As Abraham and Sarah had tried to help God’s plan along by giving Hagar to Abraham, now Moses tried in his own strength to help his people. But he was not ready for his life’s work; nor was Israel ready for their deliverance.
Moses needed to be seasoned and instructed, so God sent him to Midian to tend sheep. God removed him from Egypt so he could receive the training he required to be the deliverer of the Israelites.
We often regret the time God uses in training us. We become impatient under it, but God took forty years to get Moses ready. We dare not despise the time he takes to prepare us or the place he puts us to accomplish our training. For Moses, it was quite a jump from prince to shepherd, but in the solitude of the wilderness God trained his man.
We must know something of solitude if we are going to know God’s ways, which cannot be learned in the rush and hurry of life. We must know a quiet time. During his time of training, Moses learned the way of the land through which he would lead God’s people. His days as a simple shepherd were not wasted. No days are wasted when we are in God’s will. All things serve his purpose.
—Dennis Kinslaw
This Day with the Master
This devotional thought hits home for me. I remember several seasons of waiting in my life which, as I look back on them now, I see were seasons in which God was working in me. It’s never fun to be in a ‘holding pattern,’ but if we can learn to look at them as opportunities to grow, and we begin to look for what God might be bringing to our attention instead of shortcuts to what’s next, we will be better for it. Rest in your Father. He loves you and has your very best interests in heart and mind for you. —DH
—David Hoskins, Founder & Care Guide, Sanctuary Clinics