journey onWord with us

He had been privileged since birth, living in the lap of luxury.  He attended only the best schools and had excelled in science, literature, mathematics, military tactics and hieroglyphics, the most difficult language ever written.  He commanded his own company of soldiers, never losing a battle.  Everyone knew his name, as he was most assuredly in line to be the next king.  But at the age of forty, that life of privilege and fame was gone in a moment’s action.  It started out as a day just like any other, except on that day, Moses lost his temper and murdered a man in cold blood.

You remember the story – Moses saw an Egyptian beating a Jewish slave and he killed the Egyptian, burying him in the sand.  Through the constant winds and shifting sands, the body was discovered.

Acts 7:29-30
When Moses heard this, he fled to Midian, where he settled as a foreigner and had two sons.

Moses was forty years old, and I bet that on many days he wondered, “How did this happen?  How did I end up like this?  God can never use me now.”  The difficult life in Midian became his; the riches of his life in Egypt were gone forever.  He lived in the home of his father-in-law and tended his flocks.  He owned no home, no livestock, no land…nothing.  He had become . . . well, a nobody.

There is no record of God communicating with Moses for the next forty years.  But at the age of 80, God speaks …

Exodus 3: 2
There the angel of the LORD appeared to him in flames of fire from within a bush.

… continuing in verse 4
When the LORD saw that he had gone over to look, God called to him from within the bush, “Moses! Moses!”  And Moses said, “Here I am.”

The time had come and Moses answered the call.  I believe it is so obvious in Scripture that God can use anyone, of any age, of any position, at any time for His glory, even those, like Moses, who have “blown it” in the past.  Not convinced?  Let’s look at these names you may recognize. . .

• Abraham was a liar, yet he was called “the friend of God.”

• Jacob was a cheater, yet he received the new name, Israel.

• Rahab was a prostitute, yet her name is in the Hebrews Hall of Faith. . . and her lineage is traced to Jesus Christ.

• Peter denied Christ 3 times, yet he preached to 3000 in Acts.

• Paul ordered the persecution of many Christians, yet was specifically chosen to take the Gospel to many parts of the known world.

We share something in common with Moses and the rest of these pillars of the faith. . . FAILURE!  Yet we also share the common thread of usability.  I think Charles Swindoll wrote it best when he said, “Any bush will do – you just have to be burnable.”