Lessons From the Life of Moses  Part 1

There are quite a few lessons that we can learn from the life of Moses.  We know that Moses was raised as the princess's son in the palace. He could have easily become Pharaoh of Egypt, but he decided to stand up for his people, the Israelites.  So one day, Moses decided to go out in his chariot to see if he could help the Israelites in any way.  As he was riding along, he saw a sight that sickened him, an Egyptian beating an Israelite slave. In one moment, Moses leaped from his chariot, and in one blow killed the Egyptian.  In one moment of anger, he made a very hasty mistake. We see that Moses had a problem. He thought that he could deliver the children of Israel. In just about a minute, he had ruined his opportunity for God to possibly work through him in his high position of authority. So Moses had to flee into the wilderness for forty years to unlearn all his 'wisdom' before God could prepare him to be the leader of the Exodus out of Egypt.  You can read about this in Exodus 2:11-12. We can also learn that we should never let ourselves get into a moment of rage, and do something rash like Moses did. Proverbs 16:32 says, "He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty; and he that ruleth his spirit than he that taketh a city."
     We often don't wait on the Lord to work out His Will in our lives.  God's timing truly is always perfect! Lamentations 3:25 says,"The Lord is good unto them that wait for Him, to the soul that seeketh Him." Psalm 27:14 says, "Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and He shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the Lord."   I'll write more about Moses later.

                    Our Ideas Are Not Always God's Plan for Us

The story of Naaman's leprousy and how he was healed, is a good example of the importance of humility.  Naaman, the captain of the Syrian army had defeated Israel once again and took a little Israelite girl captive to be a slave for his wife. Obviously, the little maid's parents has taught her to obey God in everything. So when this young girl told her mistress, that a prophet in Israel could heal Naaman, Naaman's wife told Naaman, then somebody else passed on to the king of Syria. By the time the message reached the king of Syria's ears, he thought that it was the king of Israel that would heal Naaman! So the king of Syria sent a message and some presents to the king of Israel to heal Naaman of his leprousy. What shame it was, that the king of Israel didn't even worship the true God, and didn't even think of Elisha! We'll read the rest of the story from the Bible, in 2 Kings 5:9-14. "So Naaman  came with his horses and with his chariot, and stood at the door of the house of Elisha. And Elisha sent a messenger unto him, saying, Go and wash in Jordan seven times, and thy flesh shall come again to thee, and thou shalt be clean. But Naaman was wroth, and went away, and said, Behold, I thought, He will surely come out to me, and stand, and call on the name of the Lord his God, and strike his hand over the place, and recover the leper. Are not Abana and Pharpar, rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? may I not wash in them and be clean? So he turned and went away in a rage. And his servants came near and spake unto him, and said, My father, if the prophet had bid thee do some great thing, wouldest thou not have done it? how much rather then, when he saith unto thee, Wash and be clean? Then went he down, and dipped himself seven times in Jordan, according to the saying of the man of God: and his flesh came again like unto the flesh of a little child, and he was clean."

  Obviously, Naaman had some pre-conceived ideas of how the prophet was going to heal him. But it is interesting that Elisha himself didn't even come out of the house to see him, he just sent a messenger out of the house telling him to do something__ So simple.__Too simple! It seemed so insulting to him, the captain of the great Syrian army, that the prophet wouldn't even come to see him, and tell him to wash in such a muddy river.

  But fortunately, he had some servants that had some head sense. they said something like this, 'if Elisha had told you to do something great, like climbing to the top of the highest mountain and jumping of the tallest cliff into a chasm, wouldn't you instantly do it? Why not do something so simple like washing?'   

   We often have ideas of the way God will help us out of our troubles, but God often works out our deliverance in ways that will humble us, and in ways that we have never thought of.  God requires things of us that are so simple. Like Trusting. Surrendering. Loving.  Micah 6:7-8 says, "Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, or with ten thousands of rivers of oil? shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? He hath showed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humble with thy God?"

                         Pleasure Now, Or Pleasure Later

Today, I am going to talk about a portion of the story of Jacob and Esau and draw some lessons from it. Let's read the story from Genesis 25:29-34, "And Jacob sod pottage: and Esau came from the field, and he was faint: And Esau said to Jacob, Feed me, I pray thee, with that same red pottage; for I am faint: therefore was his name called Edom. And Jacob said, Sell me this day thy birthright. And Esau said, Behold, I am at the point to die: and what profit shall this birthright do to me? And Jacob said, Swear to me this day; and he sware to him: and he sold his birthright unto Jacob. Then Jacob gave Esau bread and pottage of lentiles; and he did eat and drink, and rose up, and went his way: thus Esau despised his birthright." 
   So Esau was returning home from hunting really hungry. Now was there anything with feeling hungry and wanting something to eat? No. But Esau was so caught up in his present state of hunger, that he could think of nothing more than satisfying his ravenous appetite.  There was much more food in his father's camp which would take, at most, a short time to get ready, but since he was so carried away with the sensation of starvation, that he even thought that he would die in just a few minutes if he didn't get food immediately.  Esau was just thinking of the present, so Jacob thought this an advantage to bargain for the birthright. And Esau hardly hesitated in bargaining for it in just about a heartbeat. So his appetite appeased, He 'despised his birthright'. We tend to think that Esau was rather stupid for doing such a thing, but I began think that whenever we think that this old world is worth living for, and we don't want to go to heaven that bad, we're really doing the same thing that Esau did. We can live in this world from seventy to maybe as much as ninety years, but sooner or later, we are going to die and our 'party' on earth will soon end. But  Praise the Lord, God has given us the gift of eternal life, through Jesus' sacrifice. And if we live for Him in this life and not for ourselves, we will inherit eternal life in a world that will be so glorious, that we cannot begin to understand how wonderful it will be!  2 Corinthians 4:17,18 says,"For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal."

                                    Shall He Not Avenge Us?

"And He spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray and not to faint; Saying, There was in a city a judge, which feared not God, neither regarded man: And there was a widow in that city; and she came unto him, saying, Avenge me of mine adversary.  And he would not for a while: but afterward he said within himself, 'Though I fear not God, nor regard man; Yet because this widow troubleth me,I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me. And the Lord said, hear what the unjust judge saith. And shall not God avenge His Own elect, which cry day and night unto Him, though He bear long with them? I tell you that He will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless when the Son of Man cometh, shall He find faith in the earth? Luke 18:1-8.  First of all, what exactly does avenge mean? Well, the root word is vengeance, so it means to bring about justice. So this judge did not deliver this widow from her adversary, because he cared for her, but because he knew that the woman would keep pestering him, so he decided to get it over with.  He also was worried that his reputation as a judge would be ruined. So he did it out of pure self-interest.  So if a worldly judge delivered a needy one, how much more will our Heavenly Father who loves more than we could ever understand, deliver His people from their enemies, and problems!
    One thing that struck me when I read this passage today, is that if we have a heavy burden, or struggle, or affliction of any kind, Jesus wants us to bring that petition to Him every day and night!  Sometimes I tend to think,'Well, doesn't God already know what I want?' Of course He does know what we want, but He wants us to let Him know how serious we are in trusting Him. And sometimes if we don't trust Him, He might delay the gratification of your want, to 'wake' us up. Psalm 72:12 says, "For He shall deliver the needy when he crieth; the poor also and him that hath no helper. He shall spare the poor and the needy, and shall save the souls of the needy. He shall redeem their soul from deceit and violence: and precious shall their blood be in his sight." So God will deliver us when we cry to Him for it.  Jeremiah 29:12,13 says,"Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you. And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart."  What a promise! Let's claim it today!

                           Jesus, The Source of Strength

We often don't realize that Jesus had to begin each day communing with His Heavenly Father. He daily asked for strength to do the work that His Heavenly Father had appointed Him to do. Here is an example of this in Mark 1:35,"And in the morning, rising up a great while before day, he went out, and departed into a solitary place, and there prayed." Jesus of Himself could do nothing, He daily drew from the Source of Strength. We read in John 5:30,"I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgement is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me."  So if our Savior, in His earthly ministry, each morning prayed for hours; how much more we, sinful human beings, must commune with our Heavenly Father!
   Everyday, we must feed on the Bread of Life, and daily surrender our lives to Him. John 6:35 says,"And Jesus said unto them, I am the Bread of Life:he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on Me shall never thirst."

I am going to talk about what Jesus had to go through, before His Crucifixion. Satan did all he could to tempt Jesus to give up and not sacrifice Himself, whether he used wicked people or even His own disciples to tempt Him to give up. Let's turn to Matthew 16:21-24,"From that time forth began Jesus to shew unto His disciples, how that He must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and  be killed, and be raised again the third day. Then Peter took Him, and began to rebuke Him, saying, 'Be it far from the Thee, Lord: this shall not be unto Thee. But He turned, and said unto Peter, 'Get thee behind me Satan: thou art an offence unto me:for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men." So Satan was speaking thorough one of His most faithful disciples! How shocking! Satan was telling Jesus that He was the Lord of the universe, and that it would be absolutely stupid to die and His Life of healing and teaching that thousands of people so desperately needed would come to an end. Satan also insinuated that Jesus' work had just begun, why stop doing such a good work? Satan doesn't care whether he uses ways that directly transgress God's Law to turn us away from God, or tempting us to do things that are okay, or even right to do in themselves, but if it doesn't agree with God's plan, it is sin.

                                   The Benefits of Sacrifice

I am going to talk about another nature object lesson that our family gathered last Sabbath.  We were going for a walk and noticed this tree called a honey locust tree, and it was covered with these big seed pods as shown below.
  There are several lessons that we can draw from this, but I am going to show one lesson today.  As you can notice, there are 17 seeds in each pod and there is at least a hundred pods on the tree. Why does the tree make all of those pods? Well, each seed in each pod if placed in the right conditions, would produce another tree just like it. But the 'casualty' rate is high, in other words, there is a relatively low chance that the seeds are going to sprout into a tree. The seeds might be eaten by animals, or laid bare on dry stony ground, or subjected to a number of inhospitable circumstances. But do you think the tree says to itself, "Isn't it awful that only a few seeds sprout and grow from all the thousands of seeds that I produce? I think it is useless to produce anymore."
   That reminds me of what God has done for us. I am so glad that when the Father and Jesus His Son, saw that Adam and Eve had sinned, and that the human race had become lost, They did not deem it useless to send Jesus into this world to save us. What incomprehensible love! And to think, that Jesus didn't even know that there might not even be one soul or that would appreciate and accept the gift or at best several people might accept it.
  This reminds me of the parable of the Lost Sheep taken from Luke 15:4-7 which says,"What man of you, having an hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost, until he find it? And when he hath found it, he layeth it on his shoulders, rejoicing.  And when he cometh home, he calleth together his friends and neighbours, saying unto them, Rejoice with me;for I have found my sheep which was lost. I say unto you, that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons which need no repentance."  God thinks differently from Man. We tend to think that it is worthless to go to extreme measures to help just one soul. But God loves you more than we can ever imagine, and counted every soul worthy to risk anything!  I will close with this text from Romans 5:6-7,"For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us."  So Jesus died for us when we were still sinners and not appreciative of any of His Sacrifice. And it is very rare for someone to desire to die for someone who is righteous,but how much more for those who are crucifying you and don't care one bit about the gift you are giving them.  I cannot fathom such Love!