Fiery Faith: the faith of Moses’ persistence

You will find much of my material and my mindset comes from Oswald Chambers’s My Utmost for His Highest. I recommend that book to anyone that is looking for a devotion that will challenge them to draw closer to God. He may not be right on everything, but I can’t tell you how many times I have been going through something and turned to the devotion of the day from him and found it to be exactly what I needed. I don’t even realize how much I use his material because I have internalized so much of it. I think that it only helps you more and more the more consistent you are with reading it.

What we find in v.27 is a record of Moses forsaking Egypt not fearing the wrath of the king.

To figure out what this is talking about, let’s go back to Ex. 2 and get the account from there. We will pick up in Moses’ life after he starts his focused faith and gets his eyes on the things of God instead of the things that the world has to offer. Let’s start in Ex. 2:11.

READ EX. 2:11-15

I. The fleshly failure

Moses tried before God’s call to do something to help his people, but he miserably failed.

A. Righteous intentions

What Moses wanted to do was good. He was not desiring something that was evil. He wanted to deliver the people of God from those that were persecuting them as He knew God promised that someone would do. He wanted to do the work of God.

B. Reckless impatience

Despite all the good reasons that Moses could give for doing the things that he did, he still was outside the will of God because he was not in God’s time.

The when was just as important as the what in the will of God because as Moses found out that he could not complete the work of God without the help of God.

Even though Moses already had the burden to do the work of God, he had to wait for the timing of God to do anything for Him.

Because of Moses’ failure to adhere to God’s timing, we found that he failed miserably in trying to accomplish the work of God. All his great spiritual aspirations ended in nothing more than a fleshly failure.

Application: having great aspirations for God is a good thing. It is good to want to help people and do the work of God, but God’s work cannot take precedence in your life over God’s time. If you try to do the tasks of God outside the time of God, you will be forced to do them in the flesh because God will not bless your work. However, you will find is that the flesh is weak and will only lead you to failure.

II. The fearful fleeing

after Moses’ attempts to free God’s people himself, he found himself full of fear and fleeing for his life away from the king of Egypt.

Exodus 2:15 KJV

Now when Pharaoh heard this thing, he sought to slay Moses. But Moses fled from the face of Pharaoh, and dwelt in the land of Midian: and he sat down by a well.

Now let’s look back at Heb. 11:27 and see if that sounds anything like what we have heard so far.

Hebrews 11:27 KJV

By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king: for he endured, as seeing him who is invisible.

Look at the difference in the wording. In Ex.2, he is fleeing; but in Heb.11, we find him forsaking.

Flee: to run with rapidity, as from danger; to attempt to escape; to hasten from danger or expected evil

Forsake: to quit or leave entirely; to desert; to abandon; to depart from; to renounce; to reject.

These are two completely different reactions which leads me to believe this verse in Heb is not talking about Moses’ first time of leaving Egypt: that was a departure of fearful fleeing. I believe it is talking about the second time that he leaves Egypt; that is his time of facing Pharaoh without fear and leading out Israel with a mighty hand. That is a time of faithful forsaking, when he turns his back on the enemies of God and fulfills God’s promise to Israel.

What turned the fearful fleeing into a faithful forsaking? What brought that great transformation in Moses’ life? That question brings us to the next point of the message.

III. The forming fire

Moses had to go through some things to get to the place of God’s using him. As Heb. 11:27 says, “he endured, as seeing him who is invisible.” Moses had to endure some things and trust that God was there and God was working even when it did not seem that He was. What am I talking about? I am talking about 40 years that Moses spent in the wilderness waiting on the power of God to come in his life so that he could do what he tried to do years earlier, so that he could do what he had such a great burden to do for the people of God. (Acts 7:30 says it was 40 years)

A. Separated love

What Moses wanted to do was deliver the people of God from the bondage that they were in, but the will of God took him away from all the Jews to a place that did not understand his burden. He wanted to help God’s people, but God took him far away from that possibility.

Application: If you serve God for anything other than God Himself, He will take that thing away to see if you want it more than you want Him. Sometimes we find ourselves worshipping not God Himself but our idea of God: God will destroy that idea and see if we walk on with Him. Sometimes we find ourselves desiring the peace that comes from God or the blessings we feel in His presence: He will take those things away to see if we will still serve Him.

Chambers says, “My goal is God Himself, not joy nor peace, Nor even blessing, but Himself, my God.”

God will make sure it is not a thing that we want but that it is Someone: God Himself.

B. Simple labor

Moses was stuck doing boring work for someone else. He was not in some fancy ministry position getting attention from God’s flock: he was stuck with his father-in-law’s flock on the backside of the desert. He probably did not think that he was getting the experience that he needed to lead the people of God out of the bondage of Egypt. How was God using him here?

“It takes Almighty God Incarnate in us to do the meanest duty to the glory of God.” - Oswald Chambers

Application: While you are waiting on God’s time, there may be some things that you have to do that are not what you envisioned as part of your walk with God. There are things that must be done, times you must walk through, drudgeries that you must endure to get to the next step of closeness with God and to get from the place of fearful fleeing to faithful forsaking.

Acts 7:30 KJV

And when forty years were expired, there appeared to him in the wilderness of mount Sina an angel of the Lord in a flame of fire in a bush.

Moses wanted to do a work for God in delivering His people from their persecution, but he had to walk through the wilderness before he finally found the burning bush in Ex. 3 and got the call of God in his life. It was the fire of God that brought a change in his life, but it took 40 years to find it.

Everyone must go through some time in the wilderness. As Terrell Jackson says, “Nobody skips any steps.” When you look at the lives of great Christians, the lives of people that did things for God, you will find times that they did not feel the power of God working in them, but they had to push through anyways. You will find that Jesus had to even endure a time of tempting in the wilderness before He could fully start His ministry.

Not everyone’s story is the same; in fact, probably no one’s story is the same. But I would like to talk to you tonight about my journey through my wilderness. When I started studying the life of Moses, I found I could relate to some of the things that he had to endure.

MY JOURNEY

I started into this wilderness about 7 years ago at a teen camp. I felt that God withdrew from me, and I could not feel His presence like I wanted to.

I thought it was just a small famine that I was going to have to endure for a time.

I still wanted God and the power of God in my life, but as I went on, I found that what I wanted more than anything else was a real relationship with God. I wanted to wake up in the morning and feel the presence of God. I wanted to pray and know that He was listening.

I still sought God. This wilderness was not due to a lack of seeking or a lack of desire. I sought God with all that I had and did all that I knew how to do, yet still I could not feel Him.

I heard preachers say, “You have as much God as you want.” I think that is true in a sense, but it may be also interpreted, “You have as little God as you want.” I think that saying is meant for people that do not want God because I was doing all I could and still felt like I didn’t have any God.

I wanted to feel God and know God, yet even in the times that I knew God was moving in a church service or in one of our campmeetings at Shady Acres, I could watch everyone else get a blessing, but I could not feel God in my life, and I could not shed a tear for Him.

I would sit and weep after the services because I knew God was working, yet God seemed like He would not touch my life or let me feel His presence. I would talk to my dad for hours about it, and we would pray and ask God to move, but there was still nothing.

I would still do my devotions and pray, but everything felt mechanical, and my prayers felt like a recital. All I wanted was realness, yet all I seemed to get was hypocrisy. I felt nothing.

During this time, it was one foot in front of the other. Even if I felt like I was just going through the motions, I was determined to go through the motions for God. I wasn’t going to give up because I wanted Someone: God Himself. I was not going to give up.

It got so bad at one point that I started to doubt my salvation. How could I be saved if I was so indifferent to the things of God and so cold toward Him? I started to wonder if I could be saved at all.

I talked to Bro. Terrell Jackson one night about salvation for probably an hour and a half. I eventually came to the conclusion the next morning that I had to simply trust God. About two minutes later, Bro. Terrell got up and preached from Psalm 116:1 (KJV) I love the LORD, because he hath heard my voice and my supplications. The Lord spoke directly to me with “he hath heard my voice”, and I knew beyond the shadow of a doubt that God had heard my prayer for salvation all those years ago. I actually felt God moving in my life!

After that, it was back into the wilderness, and I thought, “How long is this going to last?”

I decided that if this was what my Christian life was going to be all the way through, I would still grind on to find God because He was what I wanted.

BUT then in March 2020 after nearly six years in the wilderness trying to find God, at a time I did not expect, God started to work in my life like He never had before.

After all those years of seeking Him, I came in contact with the fire of God. God began to kindle a passion in me for Him and the things of Him.

I’m not saying that every day is a mountain top experience and that every time that I bow my head I feel like God is right beside me. I’m not saying that I have no more problems and live a life in perfect victory.

But I am saying that I have found what I was looking for. I have found a passion for the things of God like I never had before. And I want to say that IT WAS ALL WORTH IT.

If you endure through the wilderness and find the fire, you will not be sorry. You will not be disappointed because God is even greater than you think He is. The fire of God is even better than you imagined, and it is worth every second in the wilderness to get a relationship with God like you have after the fire.

It was the forming fire that changed Moses’ fearful fleeing. It had to come before he could return to Egypt and do the will of God. It took years to finally come, but it was worth it.

What did Moses get with this experience with God?

IV. The faithful forsaking

After the fire, Moses was able to do something for God. It is here we see that Moses can forsake Egypt instead of fleeing from it. He can face Pharoah instead of fearing him. The fire of God transformed this man into a man of tenacity instead of a man of timidity.

A. Powerful mouth

Moses before the burning bush thought that he could not speak. He could not face Pharaoh and get the people to follow him, but he underestimated the power of God in his life. After saying to the Lord how he could not speak and had a slow tongue, when it came time to talk to Pharaoh, you did see Moses and Aaron together. But when it came to answering Pharaoh, Moses seemed to forget how slow a tongue he had because you find him talking in 8:9, 8:26, 8:29, 9:29, 10:9, 10:25, and 10:29. For a man that can’t talk, he sure had a powerful mouth. God transformed him.

Application: before God worked in my life, you had to guilt me into preaching a sermon. My dad would say, “In between songs, you can say a couple things. Just speak from the heart.” Sounds easy right? Not when nothing is in your heart. But when God started moving in my life, suddenly, I could not contain the things that God gave me to say. My dad went from saying we need to talk more to saying, “You may want to try to keep the testimonies short.” What I couldn’t force myself to do, now I cannot stop myself from doing.

It's a long journey to finding God and His power, but when you do, you will do things you did not even think you could because it will be God doing them through you.

B. Personal meeting

Moses spent all this time seeking for God. Heb. 11:27 says, “for he endured, as seeing him who is invisible.” After all that time of longing to see God work and move, do you know what happened?

Exodus 33:18–23 KJV

And he said, I beseech thee, shew me thy glory. And he said, I will make all my goodness pass before thee, and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before thee; and will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will shew mercy on whom I will shew mercy. And he said, Thou canst not see my face: for there shall no man see me, and live. And the Lord said, Behold, there is a place by me, and thou shalt stand upon a rock: And it shall come to pass, while my glory passeth by, that I will put thee in a clift of the rock, and will cover thee with my hand while I pass by: And I will take away mine hand, and thou shalt see my back parts: but my face shall not be seen.

After all that time of enduring and seeing Him Who is invisible, Moses got what he was looking for. His faith became sight. He that was invisible showed Himself to Moses.

Application: if you endure through the wilderness, if you have the faith to get to the fire, if you seek after the Lord, you will find that God manifests Himself in your life in ways you could not have imagined. He will do more for you than you thought possible.

I have found what I was looking for, and I can say that Jesus satisfies my longings. But I still want more. The more of God you get, the more God you want.

Are you willing to have the faith to find God? What does the Bible say about this?

Hebrews 11:6 KJV

But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.

Are you willing to seek that reward? Moses had the fiery faith that gave him the persistence to push through the wilderness and find the fire.

One of my favorite verses during my wilderness was this:

Matthew 5:6 KJV

Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.

He will fill if you hunger and thirst. I say today, seek on, child of God. God wants to use you, but the wilderness is part of the plan. Hunger on, thirst on, you shall be filled.