Moses: 40 years of learning to be a nobody

1. Introduction.

As we saw last week, Moses spent the first 40 years of his life being a somebody. Being a somebody led to Moses arrogantly trying to deliver Israel in his own strength, a strength that came from his worldly Egyptian training.

Moses failed miserably in his own strength and ran away in fear.

As we saw last week, Moses had made the conscious choice to be part of God’s chosen people and not the worldly Egyptians, but God could not use Moses until Moses totally trusted God and not in his own abilities.

Moses had to learn what all of us need to learn. God wants to do through us, but he does not want us to do in our own abilities. He wants to lead us in His strength, and it took 40 years for the Prince of Egypt to become the man of God.

2. God’s cure for Moses’s pride.

Did you know that God hates pride?

Do you know what two sins are addressed in the New Testament more than any other sins? Gossip and Pride.

Let me share some passages of Scripture.

Philippians 2:3 “Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself.”

1 Corinthians 1:28–29 “and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are, that no flesh should glory in His presence.”

In the Old Testament, there is one passage that sums up the grip pride had on Moses.

Proverbs 11:2 “When pride comes, then comes shame; But with the humble is wisdom.”

Yes, Moses had his B.A. degree, born-again degree, but how, he was about to get his B.D. degree, the backside of the desert degree. The Prince of Egypt ran in fear from Pharaoh.

Exodus 2:15 “When Pharaoh heard of this matter, he sought to kill Moses. But Moses fled from the face of Pharaoh and dwelt in the land of Midian; and he sat down by a well.”

This is one of the great verses in all the Bible that explains why so many of us fail spiritually.

Pharaoh represents Satan and his authority on earth. Moses represents every Christian who tries to fight Satan in his or her own strength.

When you and I try to fight Satan in our own strength, we will lose, and Satan will put us on the run.

When you and I try to fight Satan in our own strength, we will lose, and Satan will put us on the run every time, but when we allow God to fight the battle, we will win every time, and that was a lesson Moses had to learn.

Think of David and Goliath. David was the only Israelite there that day that was willing to let God fight the battle. The others cowered in fear because their own strength was insufficient, but in God’s strength, a wimpy little 13-year-old boy weighing about 100 pounds could defeat a 9’ tall giant without any of the king’s weapons or armor.

Do you remember what the Bible says about fighting Satan?

James 4:7 “Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.”

It is incredibly simple.

If we submit to God, we are able to resist Satan’s advances, and in frustration, Satan will leave us alone.

Moses needed to learn that lesson, and so do you and I. The only way we can ever defeat Satan is to submit to God.

Moses tried fighting Satan using his worldly, and he failed miserably resulting in 40 years on the run in the desert. Dear friend, how many times have you failed miserably against Satan because you tried to fight him in your own strength? You cannot win if you do.

Now, let me ask you a question.

Do you think it is important for us to know how the Devil works in the lives of Christians?

In the New Testament, Paul tells us exactly how Satan works in the lives of Christians, and the only way Satan can work in a Christian’s life is because that Christian allows him to go to work.

That’s right. Satan works in our lives because we allow it. Do you believe that? Well, let’s see what Paul says about it. You may want to write these verses down.

Ephesians 4:24 “and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness.”

When you and I were saved, we became new creatures created in righteousness and true holiness.

At the moment of salvation, you have been forgiven of everything with no sin in your life. You are totally righteous and holy at that moment because of Christ’s righteousness and holiness.

The Book of Hebrews tells us when Moses became a new creature.

Hebrews 11:24–25 “By faith Moses, when he became of age, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin,”

How are you saved? By faith. How was Moses saved? By faith.

Now, when we are saved, that is when the Devil goes to work coming after you. When Moses chose to be an Israelite instead of an Egyptian, Satan went to work, but notice how Satan did it to Moses and how he does it in our lives.

Satan can only do in your life what you allow him to do. Let that sink in for a minute. Satan can only do in your life what you allow him to do. Eph. Chap 4:24-32.

Here is the passage that tells us this.

Ephesians 4:26–28 ““Be angry, and do not sin”: do not let the sun go down on your wrath, nor give place to the devil. Let him who stole steal no longer, but rather let him labor, working with his hands what is good, that he may have something to give him who has need.”

Ephesians 4:29–30 “Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.”

Ephesians 4:31–32 “Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice. And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.”

As a Christian, if you practice any of those behaviors in those verses, you give Satan permission to go to work in your life.

What did Moses do that gave Satan permission to attack him? He murdered that Egyptian.

Actually, Moses almost did all those behaviors listed by Paul. Dear friend, if you and I would understand this we would be so much better off. Satan has no authority over you. He can do nothing in your life unless you give him permission.

Moses did those things that gave Satan permission to launch an all-out attack against him, and he did not repent. He ran. He tried running from God and from Satan, and he spent 40 years in the desert learning to be a nobody.

You can sin if you want to as a Christian, but you better believe God has a prescription to get you back in good standing, and that prescription might not be what you want to take. I am sure that Moses did not know he was going to spend 40 years in the desert.

3. Submission prepared Moses for great service.

I am telling you. dear friend, that you will never be what God wants you to be until you are submissive. Now, this is really hard for us to accept, but God has established an order to this universe, and we are to be submissive to His order.

Submission does not mean surrender. Surrender has within it the sense of giving up, that is definitely not what submission is.

Submission means placing everything you are and everything you have under God’s authority.

That means many things, but let me just say this.

When you submit to God’s authority, God will go to work in your life. In Moses’s life, we can see exactly when that happened.

Briefly let me tell you what we know about Moses after he fled Egypt.

He settled in Midian. He got married. He was a shepherd of the sheep that belonged to his father-in-law, Jethro. I want you to pay careful attention to verse 19 of this passage.

Exodus 2:18–19 “When they came to Reuel their father, he said, “How is it that you have come so soon today?” And they said, “An Egyptian delivered us from the hand of the shepherds, and he also drew enough water for us and watered the flock.””

Exodus 2:20–22 “So he said to his daughters, “And where is he? Why is it that you have left the man? Call him, that he may eat bread.” Then Moses was content to live with the man, and he gave Zipporah his daughter to Moses. And she bore him a son. He called his name Gershom, for he said, “I have been a stranger in a foreign land.””

Moses had gotten so far away from God that Jethro’s daughters identified him as an Egyptian and not as an Israelite. What does that tell us? It tells us that Moses had the marks of someone living a worldly life. Nothing distinguished him from the Egyptians.

Moses was content. He had a wife, a child, a father-in-law that welcomed him, and he had peace, or did he have peace?

Pay careful attention to these verses because I believe they are tied directly to the restlessness in Moses’s life.

Exodus 2:23–24 “Now it happened in the process of time that the king of Egypt died. Then the children of Israel groaned because of the bondage, and they cried out; and their cry came up to God because of the bondage. So God heard their groaning, and God remembered His covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob.”

Now, I am reading between the lines a little, but I believe as God heard the cries of the Israelites that He was wearing Moses out. Why? Because God had chosen Moses to be the deliverer, and even Moses knew it, but instead of submitting to God’s authority, Moses acted in his own strength and ran in fear of his life.

God did not choose Moses when He heard the cries of the Israelites. He had already chosen Moses, and Moses knew it.

Acts 7:25 “For he supposed that his brethren would have understood that God would deliver them by his hand, but they did not understand.”

Moses assumed his brethren knew what he knew and would recognize him as their deliverer, but Moses had not submitted himself to God’s plan or God’s authority.

Can I tell you something?

God will get your attention. I promise you this is true. You can ask any preacher who has surrendered to the call of the Holy Spirit to preach, and I promise you they will tell you they knew what God wanted them to do, and many times, most will say they did not submit to that call originally.

Moses was just like that. He wanted to deliver the Israelites in his authority as an Egyptian, but God did not need Egypt to set His people free. He just needed a submissive Moses.

I believe even after 40 years Moses tossed and turned every night in fear of the Egyptians. He had not yet submitted himself completely to God, but God was not through with him.

Exodus 3:1–2 “Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian. And he led the flock to the back of the desert, and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. And the Angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire from the midst of a bush. So he looked, and behold, the bush was burning with fire, but the bush was not consumed.”

Exodus 3:3–4 “Then Moses said, “I will now turn aside and see this great sight, why the bush does not burn.” So when the Lord saw that he turned aside to look, God called to him from the midst of the bush and said, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.””

If God is calling you to do something, He is not going to stop until you surrender to that calling. God had chosen Moses. Only Moses could do what God wanted Moses to do, and God did not give up on Moses, and He will not give up on you.

God just had to get Moses to the place where Moses would listen, and dear friend, that is what He has to do to us too.

For the first time since Moses made the choice to not be in the world, he answered God’s call, and the first thing Moses did was to repent and submit.

Exodus 3:5–6 “Then He said, “Do not draw near this place. Take your sandals off your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground.” Moreover He said, “I am the God of your father—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look upon God.”

The proud Prince of Egypt was lying face down before God in total submission to God.

Now, God had Moses where He wanted him. Yes, God had chosen Moses to deliver Israel, but when Moses tried in his own strength, he failed miserably. His calendar and God’s calendar did not mesh. It was not time, but now, 40 years later, God was ready to act.

God was just waiting on Moses to get to this place of submission.

As a church, we need to be careful not to be like Moses. Yes, we need to be ready to do what God desires, but we must let God lead. It was not God’s will that Moses murder that Egyptian. How do I know that?

John 8:44 “You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it.”

Exodus 20:13 ““You shall not murder.”

Murder is always a tool of the Devil, and when did God ever need the tools of the Devil to complete a task?

Now, Moses was in a position for God to use, and I want you to pay careful attention to what Moses tells God.

Exodus 3:10–11 “Come now, therefore, and I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring My people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.” But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh, and that I should bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?””

The great Egyptian prince in humility asks God who was he (Moses) that he should go before Pharaoh demanding the release of the children of Israel.

I want you to compare Exodus 3:11 with Acts 7:25.

Exodus 3:11 “But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh, and that I should bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?””

Acts 7:25 “For he supposed that his brethren would have understood that God would deliver them by his hand, but they did not understand.”

Do you see a change in Moses? It is a change that only be produced by submission to God’s will.

Do you see the difference? When Moses met God at the burning bush, pride had been replaced by humility and submission, and when Moses got to that point in his life, God was ready to deliver His people.

Exodus 3:12–14 “So He said, “I will certainly be with you. And this shall be a sign to you that I have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain.” Then Moses said to God, “Indeed, when I come to the children of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they say to me, ‘What is His name?’ what shall I say to them?” And God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.” And He said, “Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’ ””

Dear friend, if you are saved, you have the Great I Am living in you, and you can accomplish anything God has for you to do.

Luke 1:37 “For with God nothing will be impossible.””

God wants you, just as He wanted Moses to do, to get to the point where you realize the One in you is far greater than the one against you.

1 John 4:4 “You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.”

When Moses was a somebody, he could not accomplish what God had chosen him to do, but when Moses learned he was a nobody totally reliant upon God, he was ready for the job God had for him to do.