Running from the Problem

Who remembers where we left off on Moses’ story?

-Moses is born

-Where country is Moses born in?

-So Moses is born in Egypt and why is that a problem at this time?

-What law did Pharaoh pass that would affect little baby Moses?

-What did Moses’ mother do?

-How long was Moses’ mother able to hid Moses? 3 months

-So Moses ends up being raised by Pharaoh’s daughter, in a royal palace. And he spends 40 years there.

The story jumps from Moses being adopted into this royal family to Moses being a grown man at 40 years old. So lets continue this story together.

Exodus 2:11–15 ESV

One day, when Moses had grown up, he went out to his people and looked on their burdens, and he saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his people. He looked this way and that, and seeing no one, he struck down the Egyptian and hid him in the sand. When he went out the next day, behold, two Hebrews were struggling together. And he said to the man in the wrong, “Why do you strike your companion?” He answered, “Who made you a prince and a judge over us? Do you mean to kill me as you killed the Egyptian?” Then Moses was afraid, and thought, “Surely the thing is known.” When Pharaoh heard of it, he sought to kill Moses. But Moses fled from Pharaoh and stayed in the land of Midian. And he sat down by a well.

Exodus 2:11-

We must remember this very important thing. Moses knew that even though he was raised like an Egyptian, he dressed like an Egyptian, he talked like an Egyptian, he lived among the Egyptians, he was still an Israelite.

So Moses goes out and one day and he looked at how the Israelites were living. Remember that they are slaves. And Moses saw their burdens. He felt bad for what they were going through. He probably thought about how that would have been him if he would have been raised like an Israelite. How that if it was up to Pharaoh he would have been killed. And then he sees this Egyptian beating up this Hebrew.

Even if the Egyptian man killed his own slave, that would have not been a capital offense. Moses had no legal authority to punish the Egyptian.

But, So Moses looks around and sees no one and then he kills this Egyptian and buries him in the sand.

So Moses looks around and sees no one and then he kills this Egyptian and buries him in the sand.

Do you know someone who can never keep a secret? Are you that someone that can never keep a secret? If only three people saw Moses kill this guy, one was Moses himself, the other was the Israelite slave, and the last one was the Egyptian who got killed.

It doesn’t take the FBI to figure out who was the one telling everyone what Moses did. So the next day Moses is out walking around and sees two Israelites fighting. He breaks them up and begins reprimanding him for starting this fight.

This guy sounds like a jerk and basically says, who are you to tell me what to do? What are you going to do? Kill me like you killed that Egyptian yesterday?

So Moses goes into panic mode. Moses who is an Israelite, just killed an Egyptian. He knows that when Pharaoh finds out it is not going to be a good situation. Pharaoh already doesn’t like Israelites, and he especially doesnt like it too much when they kill Egyptians.

Mose freaks out and runs away. He runs away from his problem, he runs away from his sin. Murdering someone, even when they are in the wrong, is not the answer. So Moses runs away from his punishment. If he would have stayed, he would have been killed for what he had done. and Rightfully so.

He runs to Midian, finds a well and sits down.

He knows no one other than the Egyptians living in Egypt, he owns nothing at this point. At 40 years old. Moses is sitting down by this well out in the middle of nowhere with nothing.

Here is a picture of Midian

Here is a picture of what a well would look like in Moses’ day.

I don’t know about you but i would have been absolutely desperate to go and live in a place like that. It’s an open desert in the middle east. It’s really hot during the day, and then really cold at night. It’s not a place you want to go and hang out in. Its hard to survive out there and at this point in Moses life he hasn’t had any experience living out in a desert like that.

That would be the same as us, always living in homes and in the city, with the ability to go to the grocery store when we need food, and going to the kitchen when we want to make something, and having water whenever we need it. And then one day taking us out on one of those survival shows and just leaving us out there.

That shows you how desperate Moses was. He ran from his problem. Instead of facing his problem he ran.

Have you ever ran from your problem instead of confronting it?

How often does that work? It never does. Problems that are unaddressed don’t fix themselves.

People like to run from problems because they don’t like confrontation. They don’t like having to address the issue. Whether that be with another person, friend, family member, or even with themselves. People are more comfortable running from the problem and just pretending like it doesn’t exist. But just because you run from a problem does not mean it goes away.

All of us have problems, all of us have issues. Look at your neighbor right in the eye and say, “I have issues.” God has called us not to just run from the issues. But to address them.

What are some issues that some people could have?

Anger

Feeling like they aren’t good enough

Sin

Family Issues

Illness

Issues with Friendships

Loneliness

Feeling abandoned

Regret

God has not called us to ignore problems, he has called us to be victorious in life. And we cannot have victory when we are running scared of our problems.

1 Corinthians

1 Corinthians 15:56–57 ESV

The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Jesus gives us the victory. What he did on the cross gives us the power and authority to overcome our problems.

Moses had a big problem. He is a murderer. He can’t go back and change it. But he had a whole lot of other issues before he ran from Egypt.

He felt like he didn’t belong. The Egyptians really didn’t view him as one of them and neither did the Israelites. And he let that issue and conflict get so great on the inside of him that he murdered someone.

if we don’t confront our problems, they will only get worse.

Problems always start small!

Stealing a little here or there starts with taking a candy bar, but will turn into some major shop lifting if not addressed.

A little drug use at a party, turns into a drug problem down the road.

Drinking with your friends, can turn into an alcohol problem.

Allowing yourself to think your not good enough, could lead to a life where you feel like you don’t deserve anything.

we have to confront the issues that we have because what doesn’t get dealt with now, becomes a bigger problem in the future.

Tree example: It was small, easy to pull up, but waited too long now its too big to do on your own.

Moral of the story: God still used Moses even though he had issues!