Blog 76: I AM a Leader with History
Hey hey everyone! HAPPY WORD WEDNESDAY! I hope you are doing fantastic! Let me encourage you. It’s almost summer break so keep pushing through! Today’s topic is, “I AM a Leader with History”. Ready, Set, Jesus!
We are going to dive deep into the Word today so get your Bibles ready! We will begin in the book of Exodus and end in Deuteronomy.
It is important as children of God to be equipped with leadership skills. We are going to learn from one of the very best today! Moses! Moses was used mightily by God. His life story is very interesting and his purpose HUGE. Moses is someone that we can all look up to. It’s important to learn from our former leaders. What makes a good leader is their skills but what makes a great leader is their HISTORY. Your history makes you better. It formed and shaped who you are today.
We are going to mostly talk about Moses’s adulthood and not focus too much on his childhood today. You can find the full account of his childhood in Exodus chapter two. BUT his childhood does count, in a way, as his history. So we will begin in Exodus chapter two.
Today’s first point is, “No matter what it is, it is my history”. Moses was born to a Levite woman and a Levite man. This story takes place in Egypt. At the time the Levites, who were in bondage and held captive by the Egyptians, were having so many children and their population was growing rapidly. The king didn’t want his slaves to end up overruling him with all their people. Pharaoh told the Egyptians in Exodus chapter one verse two this, “Then Pharaoh gave this order to all of his people: “Every Hebrew boy that is born you must throw into the Nile, but let every girl live.”. Wow, that’s dark, am I right? Soon after this decree was made known to all of the people, Moses was born. His mother hid him for three months the Bible says. Verse three says, “But when she could hide him no longer, she got a papyrus basket for him and coated it with tar and pitch.”. So with my mind, I’m guessing that, his mother realized he is getting too big, I can’t hide him any longer, etc. His mother wasn’t willing to let her son be killed so she made a basket for him. She placed him in it and he floated off into the Nile river. Just imagine, having to save your son from people who wanted to kill him. Imagine making a basket that would hold your baby and protect his life. We can only imagine.
Long story short, he ended up being found in the river by Pharaoh’s daughter with the help of Mariam, his older sister. God be to glory, the king’s daughter didn’t kill him. ACTUALLY, she adopted him as her own and hired… get this, HIS MOTHER to be his, in today’s words, nanny or babysitter. You should definitely read Exodus chapter two to figure out how his mother got to still raise her own son. Moving on, one day grown up Moses saw an Egyptian beating one of his own people. A Hebrew. Let’s turn back to Exodus chapter two to see what happened. Verses twelve through fourteen says, “Looking this way and that and seeing no one, he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand. The next day he went out and saw two Hebrews fighting. He asked the one in the wrong, “Why are you hitting your fellow Hebrew?” The man said, “Who made you ruler and judge over us? Are you thinking of killing me as you killed the Egyptian?” Then Moses was afraid and thought, “What I did must have become known.””.
Is it right to stand up for people who are being bullied and/or mistreated? Yes, most definitely! BUT murdering someone isn’t an option… AT ALL. Once Moses realized the word was spreading of what he did, the Bible tells us he flew from Egypt and went to Midian. During his long stay there, he married and had a son. Let’s take a pause. Let’s say your mom told you for the weekend no phone, just family time. Saturday morning comes around and before breakfast, you sneak in your parents’ room and text your friends. Is that wrong? Yes. If you decide to run away from the scene of the crime when you hear your dad yelling for you to come downstairs, does that wipe away that moment in time of what you did? No. Is that time of your life ‘deleted’ and ‘replaced’ with you helping with breakfast rather than being on your phone? No siree! It’s apart of your history now. Your sinful side of history. If you swim in a race, and come in fourth place, it’s apart of your history! You can’t change and move to first. You can’t flee from your history. You HAVE to sit in it, deal with it, and move on. Is that easy? No one said it was going to be. Is it necessary? For your peace of mind and healing, yes. It’s all a process. It’s not easy but it’s doable. Moses should have faced the consequences instead of running away from them. No matter what it is, it is my history.
Today’s second point is, “I might see nothing but God sees everything.”. This point isn’t used in the context of, when I look across the street at those boys or girls, they look cute but God only sees trouble. This point means, you might think you are nothing, you can’t do anything but God sees strength, courage, a leader, and more.
In Exodus chapter three you can find the full account of Moses and the Burning Bush. Moses was attending to his daily chores when suddenly a bush nearby caught on fire but the interesting part of it all, was that it wasn’t burning up! He went over and heard God’s voice calling his name. The Bible tells us, out of respect, he took off his shoes and basically said, “I am present God”. FUN FACT: When we are in the midst of God, it shows a sign of respect to Him if your shoes are off. Exodus chapter three verses seven through ten says, “The Lord said, “I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering. So I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey—the home of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. And now the cry of the Israelites has reached me, and I have seen the way the Egyptians are oppressing them. So now, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt.””. The Lord came and spoke to Moses out of a burning bush. God saw what his people in Egypt were going through as slaves. He said, in my own words, Moses I want you to be the human deliverer of my people. What an honor to have the King of Kings say that to you and give you a very important job, am I right? If we go to Exodus chapter four we can see that Moses has some concerns. In other words, Moses basically didn’t believe that he could do the job that God said he could do. One of Moses’s concerns was his speech. Moses isn’t the best speaker. Moses saw nothing in himself to be able to perform the job BUT God saw everything and He was persistent that it would be Moses. Remember the point? I might see nothing but God sees everything.
Towards the end of chapter four, the Bible tells us that God sent Moses’s older brother Aaron on his way to meet Moses and he will speak for him. Moses was given a staff by God to perform the twelve plagues that the Lord would drop on Egypt. We won’t get to those today!
THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR READING!!! I had a blast writing this post and diving into the Word of God to study for it! Love you guys!!!
Sending my love, my prayers, and all of the above,
Sarai