Moses

Since then, no prophet has risen in Iraesl like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face. Dt. 24:10

During a time when the Israelites were slaves in the land of Egypt, a new king began to fear the increase of the Israelites' numbers. In an attempt to control the Hebrew population, he ordered two Hebrew midwives to kill all newborn Hebrew boys. When they refused to obey, the king ordered his own people to drown the babies in the Nile River.

In Exodus 1:19-21 it says that Pharaoh asked the midwives, Why have you let the boys live? The midwives answered Pharaoh, "Hebrew women are not like Egyptian women; they are vigorous and give birth before the midwives arrive.

So God was kind to the midwives and the people increased and became even more numerous. And because the midwives feared God, he gave them families of their own.

It was in this tumultuous setting that Jochebed and Amram of the tribe of Levi gave birth to a son. Jochebed hid her son for three months, but when he grew more active, she put him in a basket made of papyrus and waterproofed with tar. Ironically, she stationed the little basket among the reeds of the Nile, the death site for Hebrew baby boys, while the baby's older sister Miriam kept watch.

While I am writing this I am sitting here watching a tv show on abortion. There have been over 50 million baby's aborted. I sit here and think about all those baby's that could have been great men and women of God. If they would of had a chance for life, they could have been used by God just like Moses.

The baby boy was found by Pharaoh's daughter, returned to his mother for nursing, and later adopted by Pharaoh's daughter, who named him Moses because she drew him out of the water.

Now that's pretty awesome that God made away for Moses mother to be able to take care of him. Moses was an extraordinary child and he was raised and educated as a member of the royal household.

Forty years after his birth, Moses visited his own people as they toiled under the hands of their Egyptian slave masters. Seeing an Egyptian beating one of the Hebrews, Moses put his Hebrew roots above his political position and murdered the Egyptain, hiding the body in the sand. This is another example how God can use a person that is not perfect. Moses was a murder and God still used him. Also, if you think about it he wasn't even saved and God still used him. Moses was on earth before Jesus was even born. Therefore he didn't have the savior to be saved.

But what Moses thought was a secret act of justified revenge turned out to be the demise of his high position in Egypt, for a Hebrew had witnessed the killing.

Fearing he would be executed for the murder, Moses fled to Midian. There he befriended seven sisters at a well by driving away a group of shepherds that were harassing them. He married one of the seven and began a life as a shepherd. One day, as he was leading his flock by Mt. Hored, an angel of God appeared to him in the fire of a burning bush. As Moses came near the bush, God spoke directly to him, warning him not to came any closer and to take off his sandals, for he was standing on holy ground, the ground where God had chosen to appear in all his glory. Moses took off his sandals and hid his face, afraid to look at the almighty God.

The Israelites, in their despair, had cried out to God to be released from slavery. He heard their cries and decided to execute their deliverance though his servant Moses. But Moses was not sure he was the man to make it work. Moses did not realize at the time that it was God who was going to do the work through him. He questioned God time and time again, which prompted God to perform miracles so Moses would believe. Moses saw his staff become a snake and the snake become a staff again. He saw his own hand turn leprous, and he saw it restored. God told Moses how he would be able to turn water into blood before Pharaoh. Still, Moses hesitated, saying he was not a good enough speaker for the job, so God allowed Moses's older brother Aaron to go with him and speak for him.

I think Moses was still not sure that he could do what God called him to do. He kept making excuses, I think he was trying to get out of being used by God. Sometimes we all make excuses why we can not do things in life. But we need to remember that if we put our trust in God we can do anything.

In spite of Moses's lack of self-confidence, he was still a man who obeyed God. After securing a leave of absence from his shepherding job, Moses took his wife, sons, and Aaron to Egypt, carrying with him the staff that God would use against the Egyptians. Then began the series of requests to let the Israelites go, the recurrence of Pharaoh's flat denials, and the string of ten plagues meted out exclusively on the Egyptian people. Moses set the stage for an incredible display of God's power over the deadly forces of nature in order to convince Pharaoh and the other Egyptians of the foolishness of opposing the Hebrew God.

God allowed Moses and Aaron to be the initiators of the first nine plagues that had transformed the Nile into blood, covered the land with frogs, changed the dust to gnats, produced dense swarms of flies, massacred the Egyptian livestock, festered boils on all people and animals, dispatched a devastating hail storm, canopied the land with locusts, and dipped Egypt into total darkness. But for the last and most devastating plague, God was the initiator, God struck down all the Egyptians' first born sons, and there was loud wailing and utter anguish in every Egyptian household that night.

These are all prime examples why you do not mess with God's people. God says in his word that he will protect his people. If you love God and are serving him and obeying him. He will go to great lengths to save his people.

This is why it is awesome to serve him because he will take care of you. He might ask you to do somethings that you don't think you will be able to do. But with him backing you up you don't have to worry. Remember you can do all things through Christ who strengthens you.

The Israelites were spared the havoc of the plague by displaying blood on their doors.

The blood on their doors is what saved them. Just like the blood of Jesus saves and protects us when we apply it in our lives. There is awesome and mighty power in the blood of Jesus.

Moses and Aaron were summoned in the middle of the night by Pharaoh himself, whose own son died. So great was his anguish that he told them to leave quickly with the Israelites.

Moses led a host of Israelites out of Egypt. Shortly after their departure, Pharaoh lusted for vengeance and pursued them with his army. He caught up with them when their backs were to the vast Red Sea. Apparently trapped and sure to be captured, the Israelites blamed Moses for leading them to destruction. Responding to God's directive, Moses raised his staff over the waters and parted them to create a path of escape.

When I was studying about Moses I read in Exodus 14:15-16 that the Lord said to Moses," Why are you crying out to me? Tell the Israelites to move on. Raise your staff and stretch out your hand over the sea to divide the water so that the Israelites can go through the sea on dry ground. God gave Moses an instruction and he had to obey it. When he did what God told him to do the Red Sea parted. When the Egyptian soldiers attempted to pursue, the waters rushed together and drowned them.

As Moses led a grumbling, complaining nation across the desert to Canaan, God provided water, manna, and quail for them. God also used Moses to give out his Law on Mt. Sinai, which was possibly the greatest appearance God made in the Old Testament. God knew Moses's high level of obedience to him, and with confidence, he entrusted him with his Law - standards that would reveal the sinfulness of the human race. After warning the people they would die if they touched the mountain, Moses climbed Mt. Sinai in the middle of a thick cloud, with thunder and lighting on all sides, and smoke billowing up from it. The mountain was shaking violently and the sound of a trumpet was growing louder as Moses spoke. And then God himself spoke directly to his humble servant. He spoke his commandments, his principles for life, and his measurements for the sins of humanity. Moses spent 40 days and nights alone with God, whose presence caused Moses's face to shine so brightly that the people cou!

ld not look directly look at him and made the mountain itself shine for seven days afterward.

When Moses came down from the mountain, he had the Law, written with the finger of God, on tables of stone, and he had the instructions for the construction of the Tabernacle, the place where God would dwell with the people in the desert. But at the bottom of the mountain, Moses discovered a golden calf that the people had built and worshiped in their impatience for his return. Moses broke the two stones of God's Law and then fell prostrate and fasted 40 days and nights, begging God not to completely destroy the people. God spared the Hebrew people and later gave Moses an identical set of stone tablets. Moses challenged the people to take a stand for God.

After many years of wandering, Moses effectively led the rebellious Israelites to the edge of the Promised Land, but on one occasion, the people complained that there was no water. God provided for them again by telling Moses to speak to a rock so that it would produce water. Instead of speaking to the rock, Moses struck it with his rod. His years of faithfulness and obedience were tainted by this single disobedient act, and he was not allowed to enter the Promised Land. Moses died in the desert of Moab after spending another private time with God, who showed him a panoramic view of the Promised Land, the land he would never walk upon, from the top of Mt. Nebo. His epitaph at the end of Deuteronomy gives tribute to Moses, who performed miracles and showed God's mighty power more than any other in Israel.