It took forty years to convert “the son of pharaoh’s daughter” into a Hebrew. Growing up in privilege blinds one’s eyes from seeing oppression. When suffering of others supplies luxuries for one’s continued comfort, how great is the beneficiary’s blindness! As a sieve that checks info entering one’s mind, it interprets everyday realities. But there comes a time when a boy grows into a man, and affluence ceases to define his identity. It took Moses forty years, but, thank God, he did get there eventually!
It took another forty years for a novice to realize he couldn’t spark a revolution just because he had the urge. Machismo, blue rage, and titbits of ancestral mythoi are not ammo enough to overthrow entrenched systems. Moses was shocked when the fellow he’d rescued from an abusive taskmaster ran to the authorities with a juicy tale of a secret murder he’d witnessed. Did he think slaves would rally behind him to demand their freedom? It took something even more dramatic to empty Moses of any desire to help his people—rejection! “Who put you in charge of us? Are you going to kill me like you killed that Egyptian yesterday?” Not only had they betrayed him, the people Moses sought to liberate wanted nothing to do with him! The seventh wonder of Christendom is that those to whom God sends a liberator are always the first to assault the messenger. “Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? how is it then that he saith, I came down from heaven? (Joh 6:32 ~kjv)
The next time God talked to Moses about Israel’s liberation, he had absolutely no appetite to get involved. Stammering by the burning bush he pleaded, “Oh, Master, please! Send somebody else!” (Ex 4:13 Msg) There wasn’t a trick in the book Moses left out in an attempt to excuse himself. He was old. He was a fugitive. He had charges pending in Egyptian courts. He couldn’t speak well. He had committed murder. He was a husband, a father, and Jethro’s herdsman. Israel would neither believe his story nor accept him. They’d rejected him before and they’d do it again. He didn’t want to go. Who was he to challenge pharaoh anyway?
It’s one thing to feel inadequate for an assignment but to sacrifice for people who reject you is an entirely different ballgame! Another forty years and Moses was not only going to fail to get Israel to Canaan, he wasn’t going to get there himself! Collateral damage! They saw to it!
What does one do when those s/he is sent to refuse to cooperate? You resolve to keep the faith! Noah brought none but his immediate family into the ark. Joshua made that famous declaration; “…if it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” (Josh 24:15 ~kjv) Whatever route others take, set your gaze on eternity!
Samuel’s response to Israel’s rejection of his leadership is especially instructive; “Don’t be frightened. It is true that you have done evil, but never stop following the Eternal One. Serve Him completely, and do not follow empty things that do not have the power to benefit or save you. They are worthless. For the sake of His reputation, He will not cast away His chosen people. Before you ever chose Him, the Eternal One chose you as His own because it pleased Him. As for me, the last thing I would ever do is to stop praying for you. That would be a sin against the Eternal One on my part. I will always try to teach you to live and act in a way that is good and proper in His eyes…” (1 Sam 12:20-23 ~Voice)