“I trust in God” is easy to say. But doing so is a completely different matter.
Each of us is tempted to control our circumstances and environment and so we strive for what will help us to achieve such a control – power, competence and self-determination. Usually, however, our efforts to achieve stability soon falter and we are again faced with a crazy mixture of uncertainty and anxiety.
What should we do about it? And what does God say about our self-destructive attempts to control the situation? I believe there is a simple lesson in the story of Moses.
40-year-old Moses: strong but weak
When Moses kills an Egyptian for hitting a Jewish slave (Ex. 2:11-12), he is already 40 years old. Until that moment, he was brought up in the pharaoh’s house as the adopted son of the pharaoh’s daughter. Stephen later describes him this way: “Moses was instructed in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was mighty in word and deed” (Acts 7:22). He is certainly skilled enough in combat to take on an Egyptian on his own. No wonder Moses thinks he is the one who will deliver God’s people from Egypt. Stephen seems to allude to this as well: “He thought his brothers would understand that God by his hand was giving them salvation, but they did not understand” (Acts 7:25).
Forty-year-old Moses is strong, educated and experienced. He has political influence, military knowledge, physical ability, and deep sympathy for his people. Undoubtedly, he is a man of God!
God is doing one of his best works in the desert
But everything is falling apart. The people reject him. Pharaoh wants to kill him. He has no choice but to flee into the desert, marry the daughter of a priest, have children and tend the flocks for his father-in-law. As a result of one attempt to take everything into his own hands, Moses’ dreams of greatness are crumbling.
After this, Moses enters into a 40-year period of worthlessness, languishing in the desert. But, as is often the case, God does his best work in the wilderness.
80-year-old Moses: Weak but strong
Four long decades later, God meets Moses at the burning bush. He was an ordinary shepherd in a forgotten area, and, of course, all dreams that he could be used for their intended purpose have sunk into oblivion. But God wants to use this Moses, not the previous version. No wonder Moses replies, “Who am I to go to Pharaoh and bring the children of Israel out of Egypt? » (Ex. 3:11). Old Moses is weak. He can’t even speak properly. Why did God choose him—and why now?
Moses went from “It makes sense that God would use me” to “Who am I that God would use me?” And in this change he shows that now he is ready.
God destroys the power of Moses so that he understands who is really in control of the situation. God doesn’t need Moses, Moses needs God. And Moses’ plan reflects his new position. He does not go to Egypt with a carefully crafted military strategy. He does not waltz with an arsenal of sophisticated weapons to equip an enslaved people for rebellion. Moses walks limping, stuttering and with a staff – and through him God will overthrow the most powerful nation in the world and redeem His people. The Lord chooses an 80 year old over a 40 year old because the elderly Moses knows that his weakness is the basis for the manifestation of God’s power.
God doesn’t need our impressive strength. He uses broken clay jars (2 Corinthians 4:7), people who, like Moses, ask, “Who am I that You should use me?” And it is there, in this confession of weakness, that His strength is perfected, His glory is revealed, His grace shines forth (2 Cor. 12:9-10). An inner realization of this truth frees us from trying to act like God. We no longer need to run and take everything into our own hands, instead of relying on God’s sovereign timetable. Instead, we can wait.
Embrace weakness, experience true strength
Perhaps God has given you wonderful gifts. But be careful, these gifts may be the very things that keep you from a deeper relationship with God and from productive work in your local church, in your home, or in your area.
Who will you rely on? Place your present confidence and future hope in the safe hands of a God who keeps promises.
Source: 40-летний Моисей против 80-летнего Моисея | Статьи на inVictory
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