Moses had grown up in Pharaoh’s house, but he knew the Hebrews were his people. One day, he went out and saw what life looked like outside the palace. He saw the forced labor, and he saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew.
Moses knew something was wrong. So he looked around, saw nobody was watching, killed the Egyptian, and buried him in the sand.
The next day, Moses saw two Hebrews fighting. He confronted the one who was in the wrong, who then snapped back at him, “Do you mean to kill me as you killed the Egyptian?”
Uh-oh.
“Surely the thing is known,” Moses thought.
The sand might not be a great hiding place, after all.
Think about Moses for a second. In this moment, he knows what injustice looks like and that his people were suffering. He even knew enough to recognize when one Hebrew was mistreating another.
His problem wasn’t that he couldn’t tell right from wrong. His problem was that he didn’t automatically know what to do about it.
Isn't that a part of growing up spiritually?
We can have the right convictions and still make the wrong decisions. We can see something clearly and still respond badly. We can even do something we convince ourselves is righteous, as long as nobody is looking.
But what Moses buried eventually surfaced. And Moses ran away after that.
He fled Pharaoh and ended up in the desert, which at first sounds like a complete failure. But the desert will be the place where he grows up to be what God prepares him for.
God has to teach us not only what is right, but also how to become the kind of people who can do what is right in God’s way. Just don't be surprised if it's in the desert.
Stay blessed...john
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