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Avoiding Hackneyed...Making Sense

13 Thoughts From Moses’ Second Forty Years

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Good intentions is no substitute for careful deliberation

The One Quality That Separated Moses
From The Average Israelite
Was Resolve

AT the end of the first forty years, Moses had both ability and faith (Hebrews 11:24) but he still wasn’t where he needed to be.

Moses ranked well above average in the area of personal development. I doubt he could achieve much more but you need more than personal development alone to serve God.

Moses was in the right place to grow further but he wasn’t fully ready to serve his ultimate purpose. That’s where the second stage is important.

STAGE TWO: THE RESOLUTION STAGE
(Exile in Midian, Exodus 2:11-21).

This stage started with a skirmish but then settled into monotony:

  • At the age of 40 (Acts 7:23) Moses kills an Egyptian in a failed attempt at alleviating the suffering of the Israelites.
  • Rejected by the Israelites and threatened by Pharaoh, he escapes to Midian.
  • In Midian, he defends a group of shepherd girls.
  • He meets Jethro, the shepherd girls’ father, and marries one of his daughters, Zipporah, with whom he has two sons.
  • He works for Jethro, shepherding his flocks for the next forty years.

At the end of forty years as a shepherd, God commanded Moses to return to Egypt. Only eleven verses cover this stage but Acts 7 provides more details.

A few additional observations are helpful.

Additional Lessons

Moses continued to learn in this second stage but it involved different lessons. The lessons in the first stage were mostly mental and physical.

  • Moses was trained in all the wisdom of Egypt – he could think.
  • And he developed the skills of a military leader – he could fight.

But he needed more.

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There were still emotional and spiritual lessons to be learned:

  • How to follow God
  • And how to lead people.

Both lessons were hard to learn and according to his experience, they proved hard to live with.

His Abilities Were Apparent But Insufficient

There’s not much detail from the second forty years but three things are worth mentioning.

  • He killed an Egyptian slavemaster.

His excuse for killing the slavemaster was his desire to deliver Israel but the effort was ineffective so it’s a moot point. What he wanted to do and how things turned out were very different. Israel wasn’t delivered and Moses had to run.

Moses wanted to do the right thing and his effort was an expression of faith but the only thing he really did was vent frustrations.

From this experience, Moses learned that his natural abilities, though extraordinary, weren’t sufficient for the job.

  • He was an able fighter.

Physically, Moses was no slouch. Killing an Egyptian slavemaster single-handedly would have been difficult for the average individual. Not for Moses. If a problem could be solved with physical dominance, Moses was the man.

But, again, he needed more than his natural abilities to solve the problem.

  • He knew God had called him to deliver Israel and he was committed to that calling.

Moses was frustrated with Israel’s continued repression and slavery.

For forty years he watched his parents suffer at the hand of Pharaoh. His parents, particularly his mother, had reminded him often that God had promised to solve their national problem (Gen. 15:13-14) and she surely planted the seed that he was God’s chosen man for that job.

Armed with that knowledge and a determination to follow through, he was going to do something, anything to deliver Israel. [Read more…] about 13 Thoughts From Moses’ Second Forty Years

4 Lessons From Moses’ First Forty Years

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The beginning or bottom is life's only starting point which is no where yet.

The First Forty: Development

The pertinent details of Moses’ life are well documented in the Bible. Thankfully, it doesn’t include his entire bio. Just the important details.

Moses lived long enough (120 years) that a full-length bio would arguably be longer than the Bible and that length would make it difficult to isolate important lessons.

Instead, his life is divided neatly into three separate stages of 40 years each and only the most important details from each stage are included. The first two stages provide very little detail but it’s enough to gain important insights.

The Broad Strokes

Before we get into the lessons, let’s look at the details of the first stage in broad strokes.

STAGE ONE: THE DEVELOPMENT STAGE
(Infancy to adulthood in Pharaoh’s house, Exodus 2:1-10).

Here’s what happened:

  • Israel was enslaved.
  • Death was decreed for all male born Israelites.
  • Moses was miraculously saved from destruction.
  • And was adopted into Pharoah’s house, enjoying the privileges of a family member.
  • Tradition (Josephus) says he successfully led military campaigns.

The Book of Exodus only provides ten verses on this stage but several lessons emerge.

Growth Is The Only Option

The first stage of life for everyone is the growing stage or to put it differently, the stage at which people tend to balk. Growth starts on day one. It’s the only option but we generally find it uncomfortable.

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People want to be grown but they don’t enjoy the process of growing.

They want to be well informed but that achievement requires hard work, the kind we tend to avoid.

No one starts at the end.

The beginning, or the bottom, is the only starting point, which in real terms is nowhere yet. [Read more…] about 4 Lessons From Moses’ First Forty Years

How Did Inspiration Work

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The Bible doesn't mention toilet paper and toothbrushes but it says enough about hygiene to justify the use of both.

Genesis Was Human History
Before It Became Inspired Text

For years Bible believers have taught that the Bible is an inspired book, and for good reason. The Bible says exactly that.

All Scripture is given by inspiration of God. (1 Timothy 3:16)

But the word inspiration needs clarification. The meaning is very different to what most people think.

It translates the Greek word theopnuestos which is a compound word that literally means God-spirited but recent translations have opted for God-breathed because it is closer to how we express words.

The NIV reads:

All Scripture is God breathed.

And many translations follow suit. The clarification is helpful.

Nice, neat, straightforward, and clear.

What I’ve said so far is generally understood and agreed to. There’s very little debate.

How Did Inspiration Work

However, many questions about how inspiration worked are not explicitly detailed in the Bible and the topic gets very little attention.

  • We know the Bible is special revelation – check.
  • We know the revelation was ultimately from God – check.
  • We know that God used humans from all strata of society to record the revelation – check.

What we don’t know is exactly how the mechanics of inspiration worked.

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We accept that the end result of inspiration was words – specific words – on paper.

We accept that human opinions, thoughts, feelings, and preferences have no bearing on the meaning of those words but the answers as to how these words moved from God to/thru humans and eventually onto paper are sound bites at most, and when discussions expand they run in circles and are full of vagaries.

It reads more like a he-said, she-said, they-said back-and-forth full of accusations, disputes, and triple-barrelled words than a fair, even-handed discussion.

Those big words, none of which are in the Bible, are thrown in to make unsubstantiated arguments seem sophisticated and prevent further discussion.

Superintend is a good example. The word is used to explain God’s part in the inspiration process but it is found nowhere in the Bible in relation to inspiration.

It’s a good word but it is neither the beginning nor the end of the story. [Read more…] about How Did Inspiration Work

20 Reasons Every Person Should Increase In Wealth

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Making money isn't just allowed, it is imperative.

Money Is Not The Enemy
But It Can Be

Let me start with a disclaimer. Money is not evil.

Earning money, receiving money, making money, spending money, and enjoying the benefits of money are not evidence that you are misaligned with God or His purposes.

The LOVE of money is the root of all evil, not money but the obvious next question is what does it mean to love money. We all need it, we all enjoy having it, and we dread the idea of being short. Do any of those ideas qualify as loving money?

Money Is Beneficial

Although we should never love money, we should develop a healthy appreciation for it.

The truth is everyone benefits from having money. It keeps the electricity on, puts food on the table, keeps the roof over our heads, and provides us with clothes. It pays for a slew of other necessities too like education, medical care, and recreation.

Those are good things, all allowed in the Bible.

A few religions disallow the ownership of property for some while at the same time accepting large donations from others. That stance sends a confusing message. It seems a bit suspicious that property ownership is good for some but not others.

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The Catholic Church, for example, does not allow members of Orders to possess material things. The motivation is not spiritual elevation, as some presume, but something more suspect. It’s a gimmick to maintain the financial heft of the church as this article reveals.

Catholicism isn’t the only religion to take this approach but they do have a large footprint. If they are wrong, they are spreading their philosophy widely. Should we consider their approach the norm? Better yet, if property ownership is wrong for so many, should it be disavowed for everyone? Should wealth be shamed?

Those are fair questions. If property ownership is wrong, if wealth building is disallowed, then everything we do to earn money and manage it is implicated too.

Money Is A Necessity

Money is NOT a necessary evil or a bad thing we tolerate.

Money is an important part of our lives. In fact, I would say it is a core issue. How we relate to money – how we earn it and manage it – is motivated from within and says a lot about us as individuals. [Read more…] about 20 Reasons Every Person Should Increase In Wealth

1 Ultimate Goal For Every Christian

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Personal evangelism is to Christian living what scoring is to football.

Living Apart From Sin
Doesn’t Mean You’re Above It

Personal Evangelism is paramount. Of all the things Christians do, this is the most important.

It is the reason we do anything at all.

You could say that Personal Evangelism is to Christian living what scoring is to football.

Football has many facets and every detail is carefully measured and monitored during training. Running speed, balance, toughness, reflexes, vision, discipline, upper body strength, and lower body strength to name just a few.

Offensive linemen are even tested for right-left eye dominance and attitude is an important factor for every member on the team.

But none of these details matter if the end result is not attained: points on the board.

How important a player is to the team has little to do with his raw ability and a great deal to do with how much he contributes to the team’s ability to score points.

To complete the analogy, winning souls in the Christian life is like scoring points in a football game.

Two Benefits

The Bible clearly teaches that Christians will receive rewards in heaven and some people see that as a negative. They suggest we’ll be called out for doing sinful things. I don’t see it that way. I’ll share more about specific rewards just now but first a little perspective…

Let’s start with a fact. You will never change your basic nature. You will never be anything other than a sinner. There is no such thing as a sinless saint.

But that observation provokes a question. If no Christian will ever cease to be a sinner, why is clean living a worthy goal? If I can’t elevate myself spiritually why bother?

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That question applies to everyone. Even the likes of Mother Theresa in her most spiritually sacrificial moments still grappled with a sinful nature.

The reality is you may find ways to live apart from sin but you’ll never be above it.

So, what’s the point? Why do we bother at all? That question has a two-part answer. [Read more…] about 1 Ultimate Goal For Every Christian