Growing into a calling

If you asked most Christians who Moses was they would probably say something like, “The guy who led the Israelites out of Egypt” or “The guy who parted the Red Sea.” This is not surprising, since Moses is one of the best-known characters in the Bible. Through Moses God accomplished many amazing things. But undoubtedly the one he is most remembered for is leading God’s people on their exodus out of Egypt.

Moses was not simply some guy God happened to use on the spur of the moment to do a job for him. From his birth onward, Moses was destined to be a deliverer – the one who would lead God’s people out of bondage and into their promised land. Even though the Israelites of Moses’ generation never actually entered their promise land because of their unbelief, Moses nonetheless successfully delivered them from their slavery in Egypt, thereby fulfilling his calling and destiny to be a deliverer.

But as we look at Moses’ life, we find out that even though he was called and destined to be a deliverer from his very birth, it took him many years to grow into that calling. In Exodus 2:10 we find out that Moses’ name means “To pull out, or rescue” because of the circumstances in which Pharaoh’s daughter found him. God used an Egyptian princess to prophetically declare Moses’ calling, as the one who would rescue God’s people, pulling them out of Egypt. Then, from the time he was taken into Pharaoh’s daughter’s house until the time he was 40 years old, a veil is pulled over his life. We have no record of this period, only the knowledge that he grew up in Pharaoh’s daughters house, where he undoubted was given a good education.

Then, according to Acts 7:23, “when he was approaching the age of forty, it entered his mind to visit his brothers.” On this “visit” Moses witnessed first hand the hard labor and bondage that the Israelites were enduring. Undoubtedly the deliverer within him found it hard to see such oppression – particularly against his own people. Then, when he actually saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew slave, Moses could not restrain himself and “defended him and took vengeance for the oppressed by striking down the Egyptian.” (Acts 7:24)

Inside, Moses knew he was called to deliver Gods’ people. Acts 7:25 even indicates that he expected other people to know this about him as well, but they didn’t. By delivering his fellow Hebrew from the unjust and cruel hand of the Egyptian, Moses was simply trying to fulfill his rightful calling. Unfortunately, he was trying to do it at the wrong time and in the wrong way. And many of us are like Moses in this regard. We may have a sense or even a firm conviction about something God has called us to do, but in the process of growing up in that calling, we will sometimes act both prematurely and / or inappropriately. And like Moses, we may be disappointed to find that no one else is convinced of our calling.

After this, Moses fled Egypt and settled in the land of Midian, where he immediately encountered another unjust situation, in which a group of shepherds were being unfair to the daughters of Jethro. Once again, the deliverer in Moses rose up and defended the oppressed, helping the women against the shepherds and watering their flock.

Though it would still be many more years before Moses would lead the Israelites out of Egypt, this story shows us that even after the incident with the Egyptian he continued to exercise the strengths and skills of his calling. If you have made some mistakes as you grow into your calling, put them behind you, and keep growing!