There appears to be a bit of a discrepancy in the Bible
concerning Moses. What I mean is that
the account in Exodus 1 – 3 shows him to be a bit impetuous and
over-zealous – to the point of killing a man while defending a fellow Hebrew. He runs off into the wilderness and ends up
tending sheep for a stranger for the next 40 years. Then, when God calls him from the burning
bush to go back and rescue the nation, he tries everything he can to get out of
it.
Yet Hebrews 11:24-28 seems to paint Moses in quite
a different light. The writer there
shows him to be decisive in his commitment to serve God and courageous when he
was before Pharaoh; a man of fortitude who willingly took on a leadership
position. Could this be the same
Moses? How are we to take these two
seemingly contradictory pictures and come up with the same man?
The answer is found by looking at the man from God’s
viewpoint – not man’s. Yes, Moses
wavered, and fled in fear, and settled for a menial job, and balked at being
God’s man. That’s the human way of
looking at him. But what God saw was the
man Moses would become. He grew to be
committed, and loyal, and trustworthy, and unswerving in his faith. The clue to all of this is Hebrews 11:27;
“He saw him who is invisible.” When we are able to see God for how He really
is (not for how we want Him to be – or how we think He should be), then the
courage we want, the faith we need, the perseverance that keeps us going with
success will be ours to possess in abundance.
How do you see God; the invisible One? Is He a tyrant ready to punish, or a loving
Father wanting to embrace? Is He a judge
poised to convict, or your advocate prepared to intercede on your behalf and set
you free? All of this will depend on how
you mature to “see” Him.
He
sees you for who you can become, not for who you are at the moment. He knows you can be a person of great faith. His continual patience provides you with the
time necessary to be molded into one – if you will allow Him to do so. We were all created with the potential for
greatness. Just let Him have His way
with you. Then, like Moses, you too will
be empowered to do awesome things because you will be enabled to see Him who is
invisible.
Doug