God's people are not strangers to oppression and persecution. In fact, this reality goes all the way back to Genesis. First Adam and Eve were persecuted by Satan (~4004 B.C.). Then after the Fall, Abel was persecuted by his brother, Cain, because he was faithful and found favor in the sight of the Lord. Cain was not faithful and his offering was rejected by God. This made Cain jealous and he hated Abel because of it. So Cain murdered his brother. You can't get much more persecuted than that.
Today, as we look at the "Birth of Moses" (Exodus 1 &2), this same thing was happening to God's people. The good old days of Joseph were long gone, and now the Israelites had been forced into harsh slavery in Egypt. As they cry out to the Lord, he hears them and sends a baby.
This is how God still works today. When we pray to God for help he doesn't just snap his fingers and fix our problems. Instead, he puts people in our lives to help us with our problems. He gives us wise counselors that we can turn to for guidance. He gives us our spouse and family members to help us through our tough times. He gives us opportunities to grow in faith, wisdom, and courage.
Moses' beginnings were pretty humble:
He was born to slave parents. He was supposed to be killed as soon as he was born by order of the king. When he was too big to hide anymore his mom put him in a basket and placed him in the Nile River hoping someone would find him.
The point is this: When God's people needed a hero, God sent a baby. God still does this today. A number of years ago he sent you, and me. God sent each of us for a specific purpose. What's yours? Have you figured it out yet? Have you even thought about it yet?
If you're not quite sure what your purpose is, what you're supposed to be doing, I will give you some ways to help figure that out.
First, get a notebook and start journaling with these questions in mind:
- What are some ways you have already impacted the lives of others?
- What are you passionate about? What gets your heart rate up when you talk about it, or think about it?
- What are your strengths? What are your gifts?
- What do you see as the biggest problem in your life? ...in your community? ...in your country? ...in the world?
- What injustice do you see that you just can't stand?
- What do you have that you would love to share with the world?
His mom got to nurse him and raise him without fear. Moses got to grow up and fulfill God's purpose for his life. This all started when Moses' mother took some action, some difficult and scary action. This is what you will need to do as well. Stop hanging on to the life that you don't want. Put it in the hands of the Lord and take one difficult and scary action today!
Finally, once you start to figure some things out and get some momentum, start assembling your team. Who's going to help you accomplish your purpose? Who do you know that is like-minded and passionate about the same things as you? Who do you know who's strengths compensate for your weaknesses? Some of these people already exist in your life. Some you will have to find. Keep your eyes open. Moses didn't lead the Israelites out of Egypt on his own, he had help from his brother, Aaron. Ask God to help you assemble your team with the right people as you go. He will bring you the right people and opportunities when the time is right- in his time.
Are you sick of playing the victim and ready to take control of your own life? It has to start today. It starts by making the decision to do the exercises outlined above. It starts by taking responsibility for your life and killing the victim mentality. It starts when you stop complaining about the problems in the world and start doing something productive towards fixing them.
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