Drawn out of water

12 . 19 . 11

Exodus 1-4

Because what I wrote about yesterday - sunsets & purity - is still today sticking to the sides of my spirit, I decided to begin reading the book of moses. Glad I did...

I read the first four chapters this morning. I read of his birth, his mother faithfully following the order of the Pharaoh to “throw every infant boy into the nile” so the growth of the hebrew nation would subside. It didn’t (surprised?). She - a young hebrew mother - followed this order and the Lord brought her son out of it... Glory. He was born into and out of obedience, and the lord used him...

I read of Moses’ upbringing by Pharaoh’s daughter, his defense of a fellow hebrew in killing a fellow egyptian, his shame in what he had done, and his fleeing to a foreign land.

Wandering in this foreign land, he was taken into the house of the priest of the land of Midian, and would eventually marry one of his seven daughters, Zipporah.

Stay with me...

A shepherd now, Moses was in the fields tending the flock of his father in law, and saw the burning bush. Imagine... the “bush was on fire, but did not burn up.” crazy.. hmm..

“this bush will be the sign to you (moses) that it is I who have sent you: when you have brought the people out of egypt, you will worship God on this mountain.”

The lord promises to deliver him to a “land flowing with milk and honey, the home of the canaanites, hittites, amorites, perizzites, hivites and jebusites.”

Wait a sec... who are these which already reside in this great land? The israelites are God’s people, but is he wanting to bring them to a new land already occupied? A metaphor? Could god have more people, people who might already be experiencing this ‘land of milk and honey’ who are different from us? I digress.. but think about it.

God then builds Moses’ confidence by commanding him to do miraculous things on this mountain... things that if you saw them, you would believe the deliverer.. things like turning his staff into a snake, or making his hand leprous and healing it again instantly, then there was the final act of pouring out water which upon meeting the soil immediately turned into blood.

A foreshadow of the first three plagues maybe? What was to eventually come before Pharoah... locusts? plagues? the nile’s water turned to blood?

He builds his confidence, but he continued to doubt... for Moses himself - even after doing these things - said “I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since you have spoken to your servant. I am slow of speech and tongue.” I can’t lead these people!!?!?!!

This is the man God chose to use to free his people. A soft spoken stuttering orphan with another mans blood on his hands.

Of course he doubts... right?

The lord promises him and assures his place in saying, “who gave man his mouth? who makes him deaf or mute? who gives him sight or makes him blind? Is it not I, the Lord? Now go; I will help you speak, and will teach you what to say.”

Love this.

Remember, we can call on this same power.!!. by the power of the spirit. The gift of Christ’s death...

But Moses still doubts (!!), and pleads for the Lord to send someone else... so the lord gives him a companion, his well spoken brother, Aaron... “he will speak to the people for you, and it will be as if he were your mouth and as if you were God to him.” Beautiful. The way this relationship evolves is beautiful...

So moses, having now spent a significant amount of time in this ‘foreign land, would soon leave with his “wife and his sons”, going now to meet his well-spoken little bro and turn over the rule of Pharaoh and with the power of the Lord, free his people.

That is where I stopped...

But I can’t wait to read on...

I love it... early in the text it says Pharaoh’s daughter “named him Moses, saying, ‘I drew him out of the water.’”

What a beautiful name.

Moses. Drawn out of water.

I chose to dive into this story yesterday after pondering the timely process with which the earth filters it’s water, and how the same can go for our lives and things of the spirit... requiring time. Time, whisping away that which hinders as the intensity and focus of our gaze towards our maker increases.

I like the story of moses. Already he has been brought through a series of experiences which have and will, with time, bring him to realizing the Lord’s purpose for his life.

Excited to read on. But for now, be well friends :)