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Part 15 of 16
A Cloud Of Witnesses
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Moses stands as one of the most extraordinary figures in scripture. Deuteronomy 34:10 provides this powerful summary: "Since then, no prophet has risen in Israel like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face, who did all those signs and wonders the Lord sent him to do in Egypt, to Pharaoh and to all his officials and to his whole land. For no one has ever shown the mighty power or performed the awesome deeds that Moses did in the sight of Israel."
Yet understanding how Moses arrived at such a rare place requires peeling back the layers of his story. His journey reveals themes and principles that illuminate God's work in our own lives.
Joseph's story sets the stage. His brothers betray him, sell him into slavery, and he eventually gains Pharaoh's favor through his gift of dream interpretation. Joseph rises to become the second in command in Egypt and is reconciled to his family during a famine. In that moment, the people of God—still a large family rather than a nation—move to Egypt with Joseph.
The Hebrews grow comfortable in Egypt, unaware that God's original promise to Abraham and Isaac was to give them a different land entirely. His intent was never for them to settle permanently among the Egyptians.
C.S. Lewis captures this beautifully: "Along our journey, God blesses us with pleasant inns, but he does not want us to mistake them for home." A hotel is wonderful for a few days—the room service, the continental breakfast, the little toiletries. But before long, the body wash causes chafing, your suitcase overflows with dirty clothes, and what seemed comfortable becomes uncomfortable.
The same happens spiritually. God provides breakthrough, and we assume, "Maybe this is where God wants me to settle. Maybe this is where I call it quits." We fail to realize our God is always on the move, always with something in store, wanting us to move forward in His promises and purposes.
The Hebrew people made exactly this mistake. After Joseph's influence faded and a new Pharaoh rose to power—one who despised the Hebrews—everything changed. This Pharaoh saw the Hebrews as a threat to his authority and security. Over a million Israelites now lived in Egypt, and rather than tolerate their allegiance to another God, he issued a decree: every young Hebrew boy must be murdered.
It is into this horror that Moses is born. His parents make an audacious, bold, faith-filled decision to place him in a basket made of sticks, tar, and pitch—literally the leftovers of an animal. They put him in the river, and Pharaoh's daughter finds him and raises him in Pharaoh's palace.
For 40 years, Moses lives with every luxury, privilege, power, money, wealth, and prestige that comes with being Pharaoh's grandson. Yet he is still being raised by a man who despises and hates what he is and what he represents. Just outside the palace doors, his own people face oppression and injustice daily.
At one point, Moses decides enough is enough. He takes a man's life who was mistreating fellow Hebrews. In that moment, Moses becomes a murderer—overwhelmed with shame and guilt, realizing this is not the right approach.
We often experience this ourselves: the right conclusion but the wrong application. Moses was right that something needed to be done, but wrong in how he did it. Facing the death penalty for his crime, he flees into the wilderness.
Moses' life breaks down into three 40-year periods: forty years in Pharaoh's house, forty years alone in the wilderness, and forty years leading Israel through the wilderness until age 120.
There is profound leadership wisdom here. Moses cannot lead his people through the wilderness anywhere he has not personally been himself. It is in those wilderness moments that God shapes, develops, and readies him for the task ahead.
Moses' dream and vision to liberate his people was not incorrect—but he had to grow into that vision. He had to mature into the dream. We often face this same challenge. God captivates our heart with a purpose, a dream, a vision, a promise laid out in scripture. We want it to happen immediately. When it doesn't, we assume the vision was wrong, the dream was wrong, the purpose was wrong.
No. Often it is simply the reality that a big dream requires the development of the dreamer.
After forty years in the wilderness, Moses encounters what is known as the burning bush. He notices a bush engulfed in flames yet not being consumed. It captures his attention, and as he gives it his focus, he discovers God's calling upon his life.
Most of us may never see something so obviously miraculous. However, most of our journeys include our own variations of burning bush experiences. If you give margin in your life and create space to pay attention to what God might be doing around you, you will discover His willingness and desire to inform, instruct, and empower you for what He wants to accomplish.
The challenge is that we redline life at peak RPMs, eliminating any margin, any space to breathe, consider, and pay attention to what God might be doing. We have such tunnel vision that we miss God's spectacular, supernatural work. But Moses paid attention.
In that moment, God tells him: "I want you to go back to Egypt. I want you to stand toe-to-toe with Pharaoh, and I want you to deliver this message: let my people go."
Moses immediately pushes back. Most of us push back when we bump into God's calling and instruction. We think, "God, you clearly have the wrong person."
Your calling will almost always have you questioning your capacity. The road to confidence seems to run through confusion. "God, are you sure? Do I have what it takes? Am I the right person? Am I qualified? Have you forgotten I just murdered someone the last time I was there?"
Moses is full of self-doubt and riddled with feelings of inadequacy. Life has a way of making us acknowledge our shortcomings and limitations. But I believe many of our feelings of inadequacy are completely off base and unnecessary. We foster insecurity in ways I do not believe God desires.
Humility is not insecurity. Humility is simply an accurate confidence: I know who I am and I know who I'm not, and I'm not overextending myself trying to be something else.
I personally believe insecurity is a strange form of atheism. You have been knit together in your mother's womb on purpose and for a purpose. If you insult the product, you insult the manufacturer. Our God doesn't make junk. Every time you doubt who you are, how God made you, and the purpose upon your life, you are ultimately doubting the Creator, the Architect of heaven, the one who put a purpose in front of you.
It's learning to stand in the authority of Christ and know who you are as a son and daughter of the most high King, and learning to combat the lies of the enemy that trip us up.
I believe we fall into feelings of inadequacy mainly for three reasons.
First, unfair criticism. Everyone has an opinion or reflection upon your life, and sometimes you just have to learn to dismiss it. Consider the source. I have a nephew with autism who is tall and athletic for his age. When people see him in the community, they make unfair criticisms about his behavior, not knowing where he's at or what he's managing. Sometimes you have to learn to walk past petty criticism, guard your heart and mind, and not allow things to set root that carry no real weight.
Second, unwise comparisons. The social media era has created a snowball effect. We used to hear "keeping up with the Joneses." Now it's keeping up with everybody. We post our most polished moments to impress people we don't like, people who don't like us, people we don't know. We compare the reality of our lives to the highlight reels of someone else's life. There's no win in comparison. Your feelings of inadequacy might result from comparing yourself to people whose whole story you don't know. Laying those things down and stopping the comparison brings freedom, joy, and peace.
Third, unrealistic compliments. You can place pressure on a person by overinflating affirmation. When you tell someone, "You're the best ever," they think, "No, I'm not. Now I feel like I have to maintain that in your point of view." Some people struggle under the pressure of unrealistic expectations and compliments.
Whatever your reason, pay attention to times when feelings of insecurity, inadequacy, and self-doubt get too much traction. If it's causing you to develop fear, timidity, jealousy, and shrinking back in your courage and diminishing in your peace and joy, you might need to start fighting back against those lies and thoughts.
Moses had good objections. He said, "I can't go back and speak to Pharaoh. I am a man of faltering lips. I'm not good with communication."
God pushes him through it anyway. I pray you get to a point in your journey with Christ where God pushes you through your objections, your hesitation, your fear, your timidity, and your self-doubt, so you can discover who He is and what He has in store for you.
If you break the word "inadequacy" into two words, that's what Moses discovers: he's feeling inadequate, all the way to stepping into a very adequate God—a very adequate presence where the Lord goes with him and before him. In your inadequacy, if you are in Christ, you stand in the adequacy of Christ. The goodness of our God, His power, His might, His ability. God specializes in bringing men and women to the end of themselves so He can fully display His glory and might in their life.
Moses heads back and squares off with Pharaoh. What he gets to experience is insane. All the miracles: his staff turns into a serpent, water turns into blood, all the plagues God unleashes on Pharaoh, the parting of the Red Sea, the Ten Commandments, leading them by fire at night and cloud by day, providing manna in the morning, water from a rock—so much water it quenches the thirst of millions of people.
Think about the stuff Moses got to encounter and experience. It's amazing. And Moses goes back and tells Pharaoh, "Let my people go." And Pharaoh resists.
When Moses returns to Pharaoh demanding freedom for the Israelites, a negotiation unfolds that reveals three distinct pressure points we all face in our faith journey.
First, Moses asks Pharaoh for space to seek the Lord and make sacrifices. Pharaoh's response is simple: "Okay, do your God thing. Just don't leave Egypt."
Egypt represents a place of slavery and bondage. This pressure comes early in faith—the message is: be a Christian, wear the banner, but don't actually walk out of your place of bondage. Continue going through the motions, enslaved to the sinful things that entangle your life.
Many of you face this pressure from family members, coworkers, teammates, friends, or romantic partners. The subtle message is: be a Christian, just don't change. But this contradicts God's entire purpose. God's desire for you is not to call yourself a Christian while remaining bound by the very things Christ came to set you free from.
When Moses insists they must leave, Pharaoh responds: "Okay, well, if you have to leave Egypt, don't go too far."
This is the second pressure many face. You've stepped out of bondage and begun allowing God to liberate you from dysfunctional thinking and disruptive relationships. But now comes the pressure: don't take it too far. Are you really going to church every weekend? Are you really going to quit activities to join a life group? Are you really going to serve, give, and go on mission trips?
"One step won't take you very far. You've got to keep on walking. One word won't tell folks who you are. You've got to keep on talking. One inch won't make you very tall. You have to keep on growing. One deed won't do it all. You have to keep on going."
Go the distance. Sell out for God. He didn't sell himself short for you, so we give our all for the one who gave his all for us. You can be a fanatic about anything in this world except God himself—and that's a tragedy.
Finally, Pharaoh says: "Okay, if you have to leave Egypt and go as far as you're saying, then just don't take anybody with you."
This pressure targets your witness. You're a Christian. God's redeeming your life. You're laying down the former you and stepping into new life in Christ. But now comes the pressure: don't tell others about Jesus. Don't share your faith with your friend group, your family, your teammates, your school hallways, your coworkers.
When we fall prey to this, we lay down one of the greatest opportunities to experience an exhilarating, life-giving, fulfilling journey with Christ. The more you witness and share your faith, the more you get a front row seat to see God do it again in someone else's life.
"I'm just one beggar telling other beggars where I found the crumbs."
Go out with humility, thoughtfulness, and gentleness, but with persistent patience that says: I want to stand ready to share this Jesus with anyone and everyone I possibly can.
Moses squares off with Pharaoh. God displays His might through miracles—the staff turning into a serpent, water turning to blood, plagues, the parting of the Red Sea, the Ten Commandments, fire by night and cloud by day, manna in the morning, water from a rock quenching the thirst of millions.
They finally escape Egypt and enter the wilderness. What should have been a few weeks of travel becomes 40 years of wandering. The quickest route from A to B is a straight line, but rarely do we ever walk a straight path. We scribble, take detours, go off the road into ditches, turn around, and find ourselves in a cul-de-sac for years going in circles.
There comes a point where they're circling a mountain over and over, and the Lord says: "Okay, how much longer are we going to circle this mountain? It's time to head north."
How much longer are you going to continue circling—going through the motions in the same season, same predicament, managing the same thoughts, feelings, doubts, questions, beliefs, and opinions—without saying, "I am moving past some of this stuff"?
Moses leads a difficult people. God calls them stiff-necked for their pride. They're rebellious and repeatedly fall into idolatry. When Moses comes down from the mountain with the Ten Commandments—where the first commandment is, "Thou shalt not have any other gods before me"—he finds his own brother, who should be the first priest, building an idol with everyone worshipping it.
Many object that God has rules because He's a cosmic killjoy trying to rob us of fun and pleasure. That's nonsense. You appreciate rules and regulations far more than you realize. Football would be meaningless without rules. Rules make things make sense and productive.
The group coming out of Egypt had been enslaved for 400 years. Think about how far back your family goes over 400 years—how many grandparents and great-grandparents. The people who walked out of slavery only knew slavery. They didn't know how to live free lives.
Many of you have been redeemed by God and touched by grace, but you don't know how to live a free life. Without clear instruction and God's standards, it's confusing and unproductive. God's boundaries for your life are God's blessings for your life.
Young person, if you wake up every single day with the target of honoring God to the best of your ability, you will do pretty well. The best Christian you can be is the best spouse, parent, business owner, boss, and friend you can be. If your eyes are set on honoring God, you will function at a standard glorifying to God and influential and impacting to those around you.
Moses is amazing but not perfect. He's a liberator who comes up short at times, and he makes us all desire for a perfect liberator who not only sets us free but carries us the full distance into the ultimate promised land. Moses is a prototype and foreshadow of Christ—the ultimate liberator not just for Hebrews in Egypt, but for all humans on planet Earth.
Toward the end of his journey, after witnessing the parting of the Red Sea, all the plagues, the burning bush, meeting with God in the tabernacle, receiving the Ten Commandments, experiencing fire by day and cloud by night, manna in the morning, and water from a rock, Moses says to God: "Show me your glory."
Think about all he's seen and experienced. And still, he says: Show me your glory. What confidence! What hope!
"If your presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here. How will anyone know that you are pleased with me and with your people unless you go with us? What else will distinguish me and your people from all the other people on the face of the earth?"
Moses stands toward the end of his journey with the conviction that his best days are still in front of him. No matter how great what God has done, he still believes there's more. There's a side of God he's yet to experience. There's greatness, goodness, power, and provision. There's delight in ways he's yet to taste.
Which carries more weight in your life—your dreams or your memories? Are your best days behind you, or do you wake up every day saying: My God is still good. My God is still faithful. No matter where I'm at in this journey, no matter how much time I have left, I am still moving from glory to glory to glory, and in the end, I find myself in the presence of the Almighty in full harmony, peace, joy, and delight with my maker. My greatest days are still ahead of me.
Not only does Moses have confidence and optimism, but he has an unyielding appetite. "God, I want more of you. I want more of you, and I don't want to go anywhere you're not going with me. If your presence is not with me, I don't want anything to do with it."
What would it look like if you raised the confidence, trust, optimism, and faith that your best days are in front of you? What would it look like if you began to stir the embers of your faith to cultivate a greater appetite for the things of God?
There are three ways to understand God's presence:
The Essential Presence of God — God is everywhere. His fingerprints are on all creation. Sometimes His nearness makes Him hard to see. If you're standing with your nose against a brick wall, you have no idea what you're looking at until you step back and gain perspective.
The Manifest Presence of God — A supernatural peace in a hospital room awaiting difficult news. A sudden wisdom and boldness when you were unsure and timid. God manifesting His presence in tangible ways to comfort and strengthen you.
The Cultivated Presence of God — Through worship, prayer, and study of God's Word, we stir our sensitivity and awareness of God. What margin do you create? What daily rhythms do you develop that foster greater sensitivity to God's activity in your life, awareness of His desires for you, and deeper intimacy with your maker?
Moses says: "What else will distinguish us if not your presence?"
You can always tell when a person has spent time with the Lord. Let us be people who set aside time to cultivate our relationship with God, so when we go out into the world, they look and realize: "Now, that's someone who's been with the Lord."
