February 28 Elevate review

On this particular night we moved Moses out of Egypt into Midian, then back to Egypt.

We see that Moses ran away/was chased away from Egypt because his desire to bring justice to the Hebrew people was met with resistance and anger by the Hebrews, and then of course you is a murderer and therefore would be murdered by the Egyptians.
He headed across the desert to place at would allow him some form of anonymity, and evidently maintained his look and position as an Egyptian rather than identifying himself as a Hebrew.

When he arrived or sometime after he arrived he was able to rescue the seven daughters of a priest. It is conjectured at the priest was not well respected in the land because his daughters were abused or pushed around by the male shepherds. Although no one really knows for sure why they were disrespected the Jewish tradition speculates that it is because he had given up overseeing the worship of idols and instead began to seek after one true God. By leaving his post as the priest the people of that area would have been offended and disrespectful toward his offspring. This would be in contrast to if he was a respected leader in the religious community then being/having the opportunity to be related to him would've been something that other shepherds or males in that area would have sought after by showing kindness to the ladies.

Moses took up a new job with this priest Jethro. With his education and expertise and leadership Moses soon oversaw all of Jethro's endeavors in the land and brought much wealth to the priest. In response to that Jethro granted Moses the opportunity to marry his oldest daughter. Moses and his wife had two sons, and a thriving business to oversee.

After what many believe to be about a 40 year period of time. (Which to someone who is 43 is a very long period of time:-)) this life that Moses was living and living quite well was interrupted by a unique/miraculous event. "The burning bush" which of course was not actually burning but only look like it caught Moses's attention as he was supervising the caring of the flocks. As he approached the Bush the Lord spoke to Moses and explained to him his desire to send Moses back to Egypt in order to rescue the Hebrew people out of the hands of the Egyptians.
We explored the various emotions that Moses would be feeling, and the conflict that would be going on in his mind. He'd come to this area after running away and probably losing hope that he could be used in any way to help out the Hebrew people. He probably had felt some degree of waste regarding his education and power and authority.
Now after many years of establishing himself as a good father, leader, and businessmen God's timing is ready for him to read into this stage for which he was born.

Moses reaction to God's call was to resist on many levels. He resisted it because no one would believe him. He resisted it because he was wanted for murder. He resisted because he didn't think he would be able to speak well enough anymore.
God Was not convinced.
the other thing that we saw was that the original request was not for complete freedom, but for a three day vacation for the Hebrews to worship God.
We saw that within the production consumption philosophy of the Egyptian world there was no time for anyone to relax or to worship God.
We noted that one of the most radical commandments that God will give to the Hebrews later is the idea that they should take one day and not produce. But they should take one day and just worship him. That Sabbath would be a continual reminder to the world around them that they will be trusting God to provide for them and not be slaves to the constant need to produce in order to survive.

We then reviewed the idea that many times we are in similar situations to Moses. We have to some degree walk away from our education, associations of authority, or have done things that seem to have taken away our ideological plan to change the world. We set up ourselves on the far side of the desert carve out a life to which we can have some degree of success and we hope to get by in such a way that eventually our kids will be happy.
so we know that what Moses struggled with is similar to what we struggle with as we at times feel irrelevant, or no longer valuable to the overall plan of God, or his purpose to bring about change and rescue to the oppressed of this world.
we identified that God's timing had not changed. That had Moses stayed in Egypt he probably still would've had to wait until the pharaoh had died. He still would've needed the call of God, and the opportunity to be accepted by the Hebrew people. He just would've come at it from a different direction than across the desert.
We need to remember that although we may feel like we are separated from the plan of God, God has not separated us from his plan.