The Fall and Rise of Moses

Moses is one of the greatest leaders the world has ever seen. His life can be divided into three parts, each of an equal length of around 40 years. The first part is spent being groomed for greatness in the privileged surroundings of the Kings palace. In the second period, he’s leading sheep in the desert. Then in the third, he’s the leader of two million Israelites.

Moses - A man without a mission

In Exodus 3, Moses is in the middle group of 40 years - the desert years. Exodus 3:1 says "Now Moses ... led his flock to the far side of the desert." The 'far side' of the desert was the hottest part. It was rare for people to go there. So it’s strange that that’s where Moses should be. The very fact that Moses was in the 'far side' of the desert not only tells us where Moses was geographically, but also explains where he was in relation to the will of God. It also gives us a clue as to the sort of person he’d become. He had turned into a loner, a reclusive character more comfortable being around sheep than people. He had given up hope and lost his sense of identity. Whereas at one time, this man knew exactly who he was, now he had no real sense of purpose or destiny. Worse still, it seems that Moses had got into the habit of wrong thinking. He saw himself as a victim who thought he was doing the right thing by killing the Egyptian tormentor of an Israelite. But now, his dreams of greatness are in ruins – on the run from Egypt for murder. He had settled in his heart that he was finished and was merely waiting to die. What a sorry sight for such an awesome man to be in such an awful state!

The Burning bush

However, God hadn’t finished with Moses. As Moses was in the desert of defeat, God spoke to him through a burning bush. Experts say that it was common for bush fires to occur in the 'far side' of the desert. Moses must have seen many bush fires on his travels. However, there was one in particular caught his attention. It burned but it wasn’t consumed - burning on without burning out. It must have blazed for a long time, perhaps months – maybe even years. But the consistency of the burning bush eventually caught Moses attention. In Exodus 3:3, Moses decided, "I will go and see this great sight - why the bush does not burn up."

Before He had even spoken a word, God was already teaching Moses a massive lesson. Consistency always catches people's attention. It’s really not that hard to get fired up for God. But staying on fire is quite another thing.

Some of John Wesley's students asked the great evangelist how they might attract large crowds of people to their crusades like he did. He responded, "Get on fire and stay on fire and the people will come and watch you burn!"

An encounter with the fire

Before God could do anything with him, Moses needed to have an encounter with the fire of God. The fire of God had a purifying effect - burning the trash that Moses had accumulated over the last forty years of self-pity, wrong thinking and negative memories of past failures.

Fire always destroys what’s false and proves what’s real. A friend of mine tells a story of an experience he had while on holiday in Turkey. He visited an antique shop and found an attractive looking gold plate. He wondered to himself if it was real or false. The shop attendant, eager to get a deal insisted, "real gold sir, real gold!" My friend remained unconvinced until a few minutes later when the shop attendant returned with a large flame-torch! He proceeded to run the hot flame over the plate and after a few minutes, gave my friend a smug smile as he confirmed, "real gold sir, real gold!" The fire had tested it and proved that it was real gold. I would love to say that after all the hassle he bought the plate - but he’s tight so he didn't!

Often, before God can begin to do something with us, there has to be an experience with the fire. It destroys what’s wrong and enhances what’s real.

A fresh revelation

As Moses approached the burning bush, God's first words to him were "Do not come any closer ... Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground." (Ex 3:5) A vision of God always puts things into perspective. God is awesome. Although we must always avoid legalism and pretentious religion, we must also never lose sight of the fact that God is Holy.

Every time a Bible character had an encounter with God, there was an awareness of the awesome holiness of God. For example, when Isaiah saw a vision of God in Isaiah 6, his first reaction was to recognise his own sinfulness, "Woe to me for I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips ... and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord almighty." (Isaiah 6:5). In the New Testament, when John saw a vision of God in Heaven, he "fell as though dead" (Rev 1:17).

At the burning bush, Moses' spiritual vision was restored. Only when he began to recognise God for who He really was did Moses begin to get back on the right track towards his destiny. We must always see God for who He really is. The scale of our upward vision always determines the scope of our outward vision. We easily lose our way when we lose sight of God.

Moses - re-commissioned and re-purposed

At the burning bush, God outlined to Moses his plan to bring deliverance to the Israelites (Ex 3:7-10). Astonishingly though, even after his amazing encounter with God at the burning bush, Moses began to make every excuse he could possibly think of as to why he wasn’t the man for the job. For the last 40 years, he had developed the habit of being so inward looking that even after an encounter with almighty God, he thought he couldn't do what was required of him. "Who am I?" Moses asked (Ex 5:11). However, God ingeniously reminded Moses that the issue was not about who he was but "Who I AM" (Ex 3:14). So, to emphasise the point, God commanded Moses to tell the Israelites, "I AM has sent me to you."

Down but not out!

Someone once explained the difference between failure and defeat like this: "Failure is falling down - Defeat is staying down!" Sometimes, the greatest victory comes after the greatest failure. Abraham Lincoln was one of the greatest American Presidents. However, the odds were firmly stacked against him. Here is a brief summary of his life:

1831 - Failed in business

1833 - Another business venture failed

1835 - His fiancée died

1836 - He suffered a nervous breakdown

1838 - Defeated for role of speaker of the House of Representatives

1843 - Defeated for a place in Congress

1848 - Defeated again for Congress

1855 - Defeated for a place in the senate

1856 - Defeated for role of vice-president

1858 - Defeated again for the senate

1860 - Abraham Lincoln became President of the United States of America

Moses was down. He thought he was staying down but God had other plans. Little did Moses know that he was about to lead two million Israelites to deliverance. He had no idea that his greatest hour was just a short time away. Although life was far from easy as he led the Israelites, Moses was a leader who had gotten his identity back. He knew his God and he knew who he was again.

The Lesson?

If Moses had been a church leader – chances are he would have been placed on the scrap heap a very long time ago. But God has a habit of molding miracles out of a mess. That’s exactly what he did with Moses.

Whatever has happened in your life up to now – remember, your greatest hour could be just moments away

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