Resetting the clock
This week's goodness is on Acts 7:23-30:
I probably could have quoted these verses from Exodus or something, but Stephen's account in Acts is nice and concise. It's the prequel to the stories we usually hear about Moses once he encountered God in the desert. Taken on its own, it's a good allegory of the path we sometimes take as Christians.
When Moses realized who he was, he abandoned the life of decadence and sin he had as a member of the royal household, and went to join his people. He warred on their behalf and tried to be a peacemaker among them, but they judged and condemned him for not acting like a man in bondage. At that point he packed up and left.
For a lot of Christians, that's where the story ends: They pack up and leave the church. They no longer war on its behalf and try to defend it. They no longer spread peace and God's love. They go off, start a family, settle down, and forget life ever happened. What good is knowing who you are if you can't be who you are?
Is it the church's fault for being in bondage? Is it the Christian's fault for kicking the dust off of his feet? I think it depends on who you ask. Regardless, Moses packed up and left, running away like Jonah. For forty long years, surrounded by people who could never fully understand him, he did nothing worth writing down. He chose that over risking his life for a people who wouldn't accept someone who wasn't a slave like them. He disappeared.
Moses' purpose didn't disappear though. Things got worse and worse for the ungrateful Hebrew slaves. They cried out to God for the savior they'd rejected. Finally, forty years later, God knocks on Moses' door.
I can't imagine waiting forty years for anything. If you'd interviewed Moses or the Israelites at any time during those four decades, and asked them if they thought Israel would get out of bondage, I can't imagine either of them would have said yes. If you asked Moses: "I tried it, but it didn't work. I explored the call, but got no confirmation." If you asked the slaves: "We've been asking for help for decades, but nothing ever happens. It's useless to even pray." "If it was going to happen, it would have happened already."
God has a plan, though. It's no more difficult for him to come and meet us where we are today, than it was for him to ride out across the desert, like a cowboy, and call Moses out of retirement. I wonder if Moses was still pointing his finger at God's people forty years later, when God showed up.
At the point where God appeared in the burning bush, Moses had wasted half his life. I guess you could call it a baptism in mediocrity between excellent phases of his life. I'd suggest to you that you pray for those excellent phases. We only have so much time on earth to affect eternity. Join with God's people and live out your purpose. Don't give up. God can reset the clock and make things happen.
“When Moses was forty years old, he decided to visit his own people, the Israelites. He saw one of them being mistreated by an Egyptian, so he went to his defense and avenged him by killing the Egyptian. Moses thought that his own people would realize that God was using him to rescue them, but they did not. The next day Moses came upon two Israelites who were fighting. He tried to reconcile them by saying, ‘Men, you are brothers; why do you want to hurt each other?’
“But the man who was mistreating the other pushed Moses aside and said, ‘Who made you ruler and judge over us? Are you thinking of killing me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday?’ When Moses heard this, he fled to Midian, where he settled as a foreigner and had two sons.
“After forty years had passed, an angel appeared to Moses in the flames of a burning bush in the desert near Mount Sinai.
I probably could have quoted these verses from Exodus or something, but Stephen's account in Acts is nice and concise. It's the prequel to the stories we usually hear about Moses once he encountered God in the desert. Taken on its own, it's a good allegory of the path we sometimes take as Christians.
When Moses realized who he was, he abandoned the life of decadence and sin he had as a member of the royal household, and went to join his people. He warred on their behalf and tried to be a peacemaker among them, but they judged and condemned him for not acting like a man in bondage. At that point he packed up and left.
For a lot of Christians, that's where the story ends: They pack up and leave the church. They no longer war on its behalf and try to defend it. They no longer spread peace and God's love. They go off, start a family, settle down, and forget life ever happened. What good is knowing who you are if you can't be who you are?
Is it the church's fault for being in bondage? Is it the Christian's fault for kicking the dust off of his feet? I think it depends on who you ask. Regardless, Moses packed up and left, running away like Jonah. For forty long years, surrounded by people who could never fully understand him, he did nothing worth writing down. He chose that over risking his life for a people who wouldn't accept someone who wasn't a slave like them. He disappeared.
Moses' purpose didn't disappear though. Things got worse and worse for the ungrateful Hebrew slaves. They cried out to God for the savior they'd rejected. Finally, forty years later, God knocks on Moses' door.
I can't imagine waiting forty years for anything. If you'd interviewed Moses or the Israelites at any time during those four decades, and asked them if they thought Israel would get out of bondage, I can't imagine either of them would have said yes. If you asked Moses: "I tried it, but it didn't work. I explored the call, but got no confirmation." If you asked the slaves: "We've been asking for help for decades, but nothing ever happens. It's useless to even pray." "If it was going to happen, it would have happened already."
God has a plan, though. It's no more difficult for him to come and meet us where we are today, than it was for him to ride out across the desert, like a cowboy, and call Moses out of retirement. I wonder if Moses was still pointing his finger at God's people forty years later, when God showed up.
At the point where God appeared in the burning bush, Moses had wasted half his life. I guess you could call it a baptism in mediocrity between excellent phases of his life. I'd suggest to you that you pray for those excellent phases. We only have so much time on earth to affect eternity. Join with God's people and live out your purpose. Don't give up. God can reset the clock and make things happen.
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