Moses was raised in the palace of Pharaoh. He was trained in the wisdom of the Egyptians. He was powerful in speech and in deed (Acts 7:22). And at forty he stepped out — and killed an Egyptian taskmaster at the threshing floor. One sword. One murder. One day the fugitive years began. Forty years in Midian. Tending the sheep of Jethro. Marrying Zipporah. Fathering Gershom — "a stranger in a strange land," he named his son. Forty silent years between the fire of the palace and the fire of the bush. What looks like a wilderness is the schoolroom.
And then the bush. "And the angel of the LORD appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush: and he looked, and, behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed." (Exodus 3:2.) And the Lord said, "Come now therefore, and I will send thee unto Pharaoh, that thou mayest bring forth my people the children of Israel out of Egypt." (Exodus 3:10.) The reluctant deliverer. "Who am I, that I should go unto Pharaoh?" (Exodus 3:11). The stutterer. The slow of tongue. The burning bush did not call a polished man — the burning bush called a fugitive. And the line drawn forward is to Christ, the greater Deliverer, who went to a greater Egypt (John 6 for the bread of life) and trampled the greater Pharaoh at the empty tomb. This letter walks Moses' full arc, draws the line to Christ as the greater Deliverer, and speaks directly to the men rebuilding after incarceration who are walking through their own Midian right now. The burning bush does not call the polished. The burning bush calls the fugitive.
Part One: The Prince of Egypt (Exodus 2:1–10 · Acts 7:20–22)
Read Exodus 2 slowly. A Levite couple has a son. The mother hides him three months. When she can no longer hide him, she weaves a basket of bulrushes, daubs it with slime and pitch, and lays the baby in the flags by the river's brink. "And the daughter of Pharaoh came down to wash herself at the river; and her maidens walked along by the river's side; and when she saw the ark among the flags, she sent her maid to fetch it." (Exodus 2:5–6.)
The baby cries. Pharaoh's daughter has pity. "And she said, This is one of the Hebrews' children." (Exodus 2:6.) Miriam — the baby's sister, standing nearby — says, "Shall I go and call thee a nurse of the Hebrew women, that she may nurse the child for thee?" (Exodus 2:7.) The baby's own mother is hired to nurse her own son — and the salary is paid by Pharaoh's own house. God is already writing the line. The rejected child is being woven into the palace of the very king who tried to kill him.
Then Exodus 2:10. "And the child grew, and she brought him unto Pharaoh's daughter, and he became her son." The baby the Levite mother saved becomes the son of Pharaoh's daughter. Moses is now raised in the palace — trained in all the wisdom of the Egyptians. Stephen preached it in Acts 7:22. "And Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was mighty in words and in deeds."
Now draw the theology of the long arc. The Lord uses the rejection to weave the calling. The Hebrew child who should have been killed at birth is preserved at the river. The family that should have lost its son is given his salary. The same Lord who hides a man in the bulrushes of an obscure season uses that obscurity as the seed of the calling. What looks like being hidden is the Lord lining up the dissertation.
"And the child grew, and she brought him unto Pharaoh's daughter, and he became her son. And Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians; and he was mighty in words and in deeds."
— Exodus 2:10 · Acts 7:22Notice the call inside the call. Moses is being raised in Pharaoh's house while his own people are slaves. He is being trained by the empire to lead — and he is a Hebrew. The Lord is preparing the deliverer inside the very structures of the empire that is enslaving his people. What looks like compromise is the Lord placing the deliverer at the seat of strategic information. The palace is not the Lord's abandonment of Moses. The palace is the Lord putting Moses in the very room He needs him in to prepare for the day the burning bush will call him out.
Then Hebrews 11:24–26. "By faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter; choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season; esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt: for he had respect unto the recompence of the reward."
Read that sentence carefully. Moses refuses the palace. He refuses to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter. Moses — the adopted son — chooses the side of the enslaved rather than the seat of the privileged. The man who would later lead Israel out of Egypt chose first to identify with the enslaved rather than with the empire. And the Lord writes of this choice as faith. The refusal is a refusal to grow comfortable in the empire while your brothers and sisters are crushed under the empire's hand. If you are rebuilding from incarceration — the refusal to be called a son of the world that has been crushing your people is the first choice of the deliverer.
Part Two: The Murder at the Threshing Floor (Exodus 2:11–15 · Acts 7:23–29)
Then comes the day the long arc cracks. "And it came to pass in those days, when Moses was grown, that he went out unto his brethren, and looked on their burdens: and he spied an Egyptian smiting an Hebrew, one of his brethren." (Exodus 2:11.) Moses goes out. He sees a Hebrew being struck by an Egyptian. He looks right and left. "And he looked this way and that way, and when he saw that there was no man, he slew the Egyptian, and hid him in the sand." (Exodus 2:12.)
One sword. One murder. One hidden body in the sand. The Hebrew audience Moses has been preparing to deliver — they have just become the witnesses of a killing. "And when he went out the second day, behold, two men of the Hebrews strove together: and he said to him that did the wrong, Wherefore smitest thou thy fellow? And he said, Who made thee a prince and a judge over us? Intendest thou to kill me, as thou killedst the Egyptian?" (Exodus 2:13–14.)
The line that crushes Moses is the line from his own people. Who made thee a prince and a judge over us? The Hebrew brothers reject Moses' deliverer credentials. They will not be delivered by a murderer. The deliverer has just lost his moral standing with the very people the Lord has been preparing him to deliver. And Pharaoh hears of it. "And Pharaoh heard this thing, and sought to slay Moses." (Exodus 2:15.) The deliverer is now hunted by both sides — by the Hebrew slaves whose liberation he tried to lead, and by Pharaoh who now sees him as a threat.
"And he looked this way and that way, and when he saw that there was no man, he slew the Egyptian, and hid him in the sand. And he said, Who made thee a prince and a judge over us? Intendest thou to kill me, as thou killedst the Egyptian? Then Moses feared, and said, Surely this thing is known."
— Exodus 2:12–14Apply the arc. The deliverer is the man who has been preparing for the calling — and who has just compromised the calling with the sword. The man who would one day part the Red Sea has first shown what his hand can do with a sword. The Lord does not skip the murder. The Lord does not jump from the palace to the burning bush. The Lord works the long arc — palace → murder → Midian — and the burning bush lands at the end of it. Stephen preached the order at Acts 7:23–29. And Stephen makes clear: the murder is not the disqualifier. The forty years are. The Lord uses the forty years in Midian to do what the burning bush could not do in a day.
Now the theology of the unrepeatable sin. Moses' murder does not cancel the calling. The Lord does not strip Moses of the calling because of the unrepeatable sin. The Lord strips Moses of the illusion that the calling was deliverable by Moses' own hand. The Hebrew brothers' rejection — Who made thee a prince and a judge over us? — is the sword the Lord uses to do the surgery. The Lord uses the rejection of the very people you tried to deliver to send you to the schoolroom where the calling can be re-formed. If you have come out of a season of incarceration — if there is an unrepeatable sin in your past — the Lord has not stripped you of the calling. The Lord has sent you to the schoolroom. And the schoolroom is the wilderness.
Part Three: The Forty Years in Midian (Exodus 2:15–22 · Exodus 3:1)
Then the four-decade wilderness begins. "But Moses fled from the face of Pharaoh, and dwelt in the land of Midian: and he sat down by a well." (Exodus 2:15.) Moses flees. He flees from Pharaoh. He sits down by a well. The deliverer — the man who tried to deliver by his own sword — is now sitting by a well in a foreign land.
Seven daughters of the priest of Midian come to draw water for their father's flock. "And the shepherds came and drove them away: but Moses stood up and helped them, and watered their flock." (Exodus 2:17.) The deliverer learns to help. The deliverer learns how to draw water for another man's flock. The deliverer takes a foreign wife — Zipporah. The deliverer fathers a son — Gershom — and names him "a stranger in a strange land." (Exodus 2:22.)
Forty years. Moses was forty when he killed the Egyptian (Acts 7:23). Moses was eighty when he stood before Pharaoh (Exodus 7:7). The forty years between the sword and the bush is the schoolroom. The schoolroom is not wasted time. The schoolroom is the years the Lord uses to break the deliverer of his self-deliverance. The man who tried to deliver Israel with his own sword has to learn to draw water for another man's flock before the Lord can give him the calling.
Now draw the line. The deliverer is being formed in the wilderness of a foreign land. The Hebrew prince of Egypt — the man adopted into Pharaoh's house — is now watering the flock of a Midianite priest named Jethro. The man who would one day lead Israel across the Red Sea is learning faithfulness in the small. The Lord gives Moses a wife named Zipporah — a Gentile woman, the daughter of a priest of Midian. The Lord weaves a foreign family into the deliverer's schoolroom. The Lord gives Moses a son named Gershom — "a stranger in a strange land," a name that names what Moses is feeling in the schoolroom.
The forty-year schoolroom. This is the part the LTL series needs to say out loud. Sometimes the Lord sends a man to the schoolroom for a generation. Not for one season. Not for one wilderness circle. For a generation. The deliverer's schoolroom is forty years. The schoolroom is the years the Lord uses to break the deliverer of the sword. The schoolroom is the years the Lord uses to give the deliverer a wife and a son and a flock and a priesthood that is not his own. The schoolroom is the years the Lord uses to teach the deliverer to be a stranger in a strange land.
Now apply the arc to the men rebuilding after incarceration. The Lord is not in a hurry. The Lord has a schoolroom. If you have come out of a season — the burning bush is not the kindling moment you imagined. The burning bush is the moment after the schoolroom. The schoolroom is the years the Lord uses to teach you the deliverer is not you. The deliverer is the Lord. And the Lord does not call a deliverer who has not first been broken of his own sword.
Part Four: The Burning Bush and the Reluctant Deliverer (Exodus 3:1–4:17)
Then the bush. "Now Moses kept the flock of Jethro his father in law, the priest of Midian: and he led the flock to the backside of the desert, and came to the mountain of God, even to Horeb." (Exodus 3:1.) Forty years into the schoolroom. Moses is keeping the flock of his father-in-law. The Hebrews who were enslaved in Egypt have not been delivered. The deliverer who tried to deliver at forty has not delivered at eighty.
"And the angel of the LORD appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush: and he looked, and, behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed." (Exodus 3:2.) The bush burns. The bush is not consumed. And Moses said, "I will now turn aside, and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt." (Exodus 3:3.)
And the Lord calls. "And when the LORD saw that he turned aside to see, God called unto him out of the midst of the bush, and said, Moses, Moses." (Exodus 3:4.) The Lord speaks the deliverer's name. The Lord speaks the name twice. The deliverer answers, "Here am I." (Exodus 3:4.)
Then the Lord speaks the line of the calling. "And the LORD said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters; for I know their sorrows; and I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land unto a good land and a large, unto a land flowing with milk and honey." (Exodus 3:7–8.) The Lord knows. The Lord has come down. The Lord has a land.
Then the commission. "Come now therefore, and I will send thee unto Pharaoh, that thou mayest bring forth my people the children of Israel out of Egypt." (Exodus 3:10.) The Lord does not send a polished man to deliver. The Lord sends the same man who killed the Egyptian at the threshing floor, who lived forty years in Midian, who fathered Gershom — to deliver Israel. The burning bush does not call a different man. The burning bush calls the man who has been through the schoolroom.
"And the angel of the LORD appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush: and he looked, and, behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed. And Moses said, I will now turn aside, and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt."
— Exodus 3:2–3Now the reluctance. "And Moses said unto God, Who am I, that I should go unto Pharaoh, and that I should bring forth the children of Israel out of Egypt?" (Exodus 3:11.) Who am I? The reluctant deliverer is naming what every reluctant deliverer names. Who am I to go into the palace I fled? Who am I to face the king whose hand I had to escape from? Who am I to lead the people who rejected my first attempt?
Then the stutterer. "And Moses said unto the LORD, O my LORD, I am not eloquent, neither heretofore, nor since thou hast spoken unto thy servant: but I am slow of speech, and of a slow tongue." (Exodus 4:10.) The Lord has to give Moses a brother — Aaron — to be his mouth. The deliverer is broken of his confidence in his own eloquence. The schoolroom has done its work. The deliverer at forty was a man who wanted to do it by his own sword. The deliverer at eighty is a man who will only do it by the Lord's word and with the Lord's brother at his side.
Now apply the arc. Here is the third lesson of this letter for a man walking through reentry. The burning bush does not call a polished man. The burning bush calls a fugitive. The bush calls the man who has been broken of his own sword. The bush calls the man who has been broken of his own eloquence. The bush calls the man who has been broken of his own timing. The bush calls the man who has been broken of his own reputation. If you have come out of a long season — prison, addiction, the wilderness of waiting — the bush is calling. And the bush is calling the same man. The same man who fell hard. The same man who served a long schoolroom. The same man who named a son in the schoolroom. The Lord has not given up on the calling. The Lord has been preparing the deliverer for it.
Part Five: The Deliverance at the Red Sea (Exodus 12–14 · 1 Corinthians 10:1–2)
Then the Passover. "And they shall take of the blood, and strike it on the two side posts and on the upper door post of the houses, wherein they shall eat it." (Exodus 12:7.) The Lord institutes the Passover on the night before the deliverance. The blood is on the doorposts. The Lord passes over. The Lord does not deliver Israel without a substitute. The deliverer's calling is being paid for by the blood of the lamb.
Then the Red Sea. "And the LORD said unto Moses, Wherefore criest thou unto me? speak unto the children of Israel that they go forward." (Exodus 14:15.) Moses cries out. The Lord answers. Speak unto the children of Israel that they go forward. And the Lord says to Moses, "Lift thou up thy rod, and stretch out thine hand over the sea, and divide it: and the children of Israel shall go on dry ground through the midst of the sea." (Exodus 14:16.)
And Moses stretches out his hand over the sea. The same hand that swung the sword at the Egyptian stretches out the rod at the sea. But the same hand is now stretched in obedience. The same hand is now stretched only at the Lord's command. And only at the moment the east wind has already blown all night. (Exodus 14:21.) The Lord parts the sea on the Lord's schedule. Moses lifts the rod at the Lord's instruction. The deliverer is no longer a man acting by his own sword. The deliverer is a man fully synced to the Lord's timing.
"And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the LORD caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night, and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided. And the children of Israel went on dry land through the midst of the sea; and the waters were a wall unto them on the right hand, and on the left."
— Exodus 14:21–22Then Paul. "Moreover, brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant, how that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea; and were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea." (1 Corinthians 10:1–2.) All our fathers. Every Israelite passed through the sea. Every Hebrew family who has just been liberated from slavery passed through the same sea on the same night. The Passover is a corporate work. The passage through the sea is a corporate work. The deliverer is not a sole operator. The deliverer is a deliverer of a people. If you are rebuilding after incarceration — the calling is not solo. The calling is the calling of a deliverer who delivers a people. And the people walk through the sea.
Now draw the line to Christ. The greater Passover is the cross. The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world — John 1:29. The Passover is fulfilled in Christ. The blood on the doorposts in Egypt is the blood of Christ on the cross. The Angel of Death passing over the Hebrew houses is the Lord pouring His wrath on the Son instead of on the sons.
The greater sea is the empty tomb. The waters are parted at the Red Sea. The stone is rolled at the empty tomb. The same Lord — the Lord who parts the sea by the east wind — raises the Son from the dead by the Father's mighty hand. And the same Moses is a type of Christ. The prince of Egypt. The leader of a people. The mediator of a covenant. He is the greater Moses — and Christ is even greater. (Cf. Hebrews 3:1–6.) Christ is the prophet greater than Moses — the Son over the Father's house. And Christ is the greater Deliverer — He who went to a greater Egypt (the grave) and trampled the greater Pharaoh (death) and brought a greater people (the church) through the greater Red Sea (the resurrection).
And Christ is the one who has been walking beside the deliverer all along. The same Lord who parted the Red Sea for Moses is the same Lord who is parting the wilderness for the man rebuilding after incarceration today. The same Lord who led Israel as a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night is the same Lord who is leading you out of your own cocoon. The deliverer is not abandoned in the wilderness. The deliverer is led by the same Lord who led the Son out of the tomb.
Part Six: What This Letter Means for a Man Rebuilding After Incarceration
If you have walked through the long arc — prison, addiction, the wilderness of a divorce, the waiting of a season — and you have wondered whether the Lord will ever use you again, this letter is for you. Moses is the proof. The Lord does not waste a schoolroom. The Lord does not strip a man of the calling because of the unrepeatable sin. The Lord sends a man to the schoolroom until the calling can be re-formed in him.
The first lesson is this: the unrepeatable sin does not cancel the calling. Moses killed an Egyptian at the threshing floor. The Lord did not strip him of the calling. The Lord stripped him of the illusion that the calling could be delivered by his own sword. If you have an unrepeatable sin — and you have named it before the Lord — the Lord has not stripped you of the calling. The Lord is preparing the deliverer. The Lord is sending the deliverer to the schoolroom. The schoolroom may be long. The schoolroom is the years the Lord uses to break you of the sword.
The second lesson is this: the schoolroom is not wasted time. Moses served forty years in Midian — drawing water for another man's flock — before the burning bush. The deliverer learned faithfulness in the small. He learned to be a stranger in a strange land. He learned to father a son he could not have named in the palace. The schoolroom is the years the Lord uses to give the deliverer the relationships he will one day lead from. Zipporah. Jethro. Gershom. The flock. All of it happens in the schoolroom — and all of it becomes the foundation of the calling.
The third lesson is this: the burning bush does not call a polished man. The burning bush calls a fugitive. The bush calls the man who has been broken of his own sword. The bush calls the man who has been broken of his own eloquence. The bush calls the man who has been broken of his own timing. And the bush calls the same man at eighty that the Lord would have called at forty — except the man at eighty has been through the schoolroom. If you are walking through the schoolroom right now — the burning bush is coming. And the bush is calling the same man.
The fourth lesson is this: the deliverer learns to be the deliverer of a people. The Passover is a corporate work. The passage through the sea is a corporate work. All our fathers (1 Corinthians 10:1). The deliverer is not a sole operator. The deliverer is a deliverer of a people. If you have been called to deliver — you have been called to deliver a people. And the people walk through the sea with you. The same Lord who parts the sea for Moses is the same Lord who is parting the wilderness for you.
The fifth lesson is this: the line of Moses points past itself to Christ. Acts 7 — Stephen preached Moses as a type of Christ. The deliverer is a type of the greater Deliverer. The Passover is a type of the cross. The Red Sea is a type of the empty tomb. The burning bush is a type of the resurrection — a fire that does not consume, a Word that calls by name. The greater Moses is the Son who is also the greater Son — the Son of God (Hebrews 3:1–6). Christ is the prophet greater than Moses. Christ is the deliverer greater than Moses. Christ is the Lord greater than Moses.
And the same Son is the One who is walking beside the deliverer during the long arc of the schoolroom. He is not absent from the wilderness. He is the bush's quiet Companion. And when the schoolroom has done its work — when the deliverer is ready to lead the people through the sea — the Son will say, as He said to Peter at the lake, Lovest thou me more than these? — and the deliverer will answer, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee — and the Son will say again, Feed my sheep. The calling is coming. But the calling is not the next stop. The next stop is the schoolroom. And the schoolroom is sacred ground.
Pastor's Corner
I have walked with men who came out of a long season — prison, addiction, the wilderness of a divorce — and wondered whether the Lord would ever use them again. And I have to tell you, the Lord does. But the Lord does not skip the schoolroom.
Moses tried to deliver at forty with his own sword. He killed an Egyptian at the threshing floor — and the Lord sent him to Midian for forty years. The schoolroom was the years the Lord used to break Moses of the sword. And the schoolroom was the years the Lord used to give Moses a wife named Zipporah, a son named Gershom, a father-in-law named Jethro — and a God who meets at the bush.
The burning bush does not call a polished man. The burning bush calls a fugitive. And the bush calls the same man at eighty that the Lord would have called at forty — except the man at eighty has been through the schoolroom. If the Lord has marked you, the Lord is not late. The Lord is filling the schoolroom with the men and the seasons He intends for you to learn from.
And the unrepeatable sin does not cancel the calling. Moses killed an Egyptian. The Lord still used Moses. The Lord did not strip Moses of the calling. The Lord stripped Moses of the illusion that the calling could be delivered by Moses' own sword. For the men who have fallen — the unrepeatable sin is not the end of the line. The unrepeatable sin is the start of the schoolroom. And the schoolroom is the path to the bush.
And the Line of Moses points forward to Christ. The greater Moses is the Son who is also the greater Deliverer. The Passover is a type of the cross. The Red Sea is a type of the empty tomb. Christ is the Lord greater than Moses — and the same Christ is the One who is walking beside the deliverer during the long arc of the schoolroom. He is not absent from the wilderness. He is the bush's quiet Companion.
That is what I want to say to the men in the audience who are in their own schoolroom right now. The Lord has not left you. The Lord is filling the board with the men He intends for you to learn from. The Lord has not stripped you of the calling — He has stripped you of the sword. The next chapter is the burning bush. And the burning bush is calling the same man.
The bush is coming. But the bush is not the next stop. The next stop is the schoolroom. And the schoolroom is sacred ground.
— Deacon Benny Tiller Jr.
A Closing Prayer
Father, I have walked through Moses' arc today — through the bulrushes by the river, the palace of Pharaoh, the murder at the threshing floor, the forty years in Midian, the burning bush, the Passover and the Red Sea — and I have seen my own arc in every one of them.
I confess that I have been raised in a place that was not my own. Forgive me for the sword I have swung too early. Teach me to live in the rivers and the palaces You have placed me in as the schoolroom for the calling. And teach me to refuse the calling that the Lord has not yet given me.
I confess that I have swung my own sword at the threshing floor. Forgive me for the unrepeatable sin. I have killed. I have hidden it in the sand. I have been rejected by my own people. I have been hunted by the empire. The Lord has not stripped me of the calling. The Lord has sent me to the schoolroom. And the schoolroom is the years the Lord uses to break me of the sword.
I confess that I have sat by the well in a foreign land. Forgive me for the time I have wasted in the schoolroom. The schoolroom is not Your punishment. The schoolroom is Your preparation. And the burning bush has not stopped burning while I have been away. Teach me to hear the bush. Teach me to turn aside. And teach me to see the burning bush as the call of the same Lord who has been with me in the schoolroom all along.
I confess that I have balked at the slow-of-tongue diagnosis. Forgive me for thinking the calling requires my eloquence. The calling requires Your word. And Your word requires my obedience. Strip away the sword. Strip away the eloquence. Strip away the timing. And let me be a deliverer who only lifts the rod at Your instruction.
I confess that the greater Moses walked the same arc — and walked it without sin — and walked it to the cross. The Passover lamb is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. The Red Sea is a type of the empty tomb. The burning bush is a type of the resurrection — a fire that does not consume. And Christ is the prophet greater than Moses — and the deliverer greater than Moses — and the Lord greater than Moses (Hebrews 3:1–6). And the same Christ is the One who is walking beside the deliverer during the long arc of the schoolroom.
And to the men reading this letter who are in their own schoolroom right now — let them hear the bush. The bush is calling the same man. And the bush is calling the same Lord. And the Lord is calling a deliverer who has been broken of his own sword. And the deliverer is being formed in the schoolroom. And the schoolroom is sacred ground.
In Jesus' name — the greater Deliverer, the One who went to a greater Egypt and trampled the greater Pharaoh and brought the greater people through the greater Sea at the empty tomb — Amen.
Reflection Questions
- What unrepeatable sin is the Lord still working in you? Where in your life is the threshing floor — the unrepeatable moment the Lord is using to send you to the schoolroom? Have you been wrestling with the rejection of your own people — or have you been receiving the schoolroom as the surgery?
- Where is your own schoolroom in Midian? What is the foreign land the Lord has placed you in — the well you are drawing water at, the wife and the son and the father-in-law the Lord is giving you in the schoolroom? Have you been receiving the schoolroom as Your preparation — or have you been treating it as Your punishment?
- The burning bush does not call a polished man. The burning bush calls a fugitive. Where in your life is the Lord calling you — and have you been naming yourself Who am I? rather than receiving the calling? Have you been treating the slow-of-tongue diagnosis as disqualification rather than as the signs the schoolroom has done its work?
- The deliverer is not a sole operator. The deliverer is a deliverer of a people. What people is the Lord shaping you to lead? All our fathers (1 Corinthians 10:1) — the people who will walk through the sea with you? Have you been solo-ing the calling — or have you been letting the Lord bring a people to walk the wilderness with you?
- Christ is the greater Deliverer — the Lord greater than Moses. Where is Christ walking beside you during the long arc of the schoolroom? And what post-Passover, post-Red-Sea assignment is the Lord preparing at the end of the schoolroom?
"By faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter; choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season; esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt: for he had respect unto the recompence of the reward."
— Hebrews 11:24–26S.A.A.L.T. Ministry
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