The Rejection and Flight of Moses - Acts 7:23-29

Stephen continues his address, discussing the rejection and flight of Moses. Moses, at 40 years old, saw his people being mistreated and took matters into his own hands by killing Egyptians. However, this was not the way to fulfill God's will. Moses had to flee after being exposed. Moses' actions caused suffering and put himself in danger. It is important to wait on the Lord and do His will in His way and time. Moses' worldly education did not give him spiritual wisdom. Trying to do God's will in our own strength leads to negative consequences. We should respond with humility, prayer, and reliance on the Holy Spirit. Moses was rejected by his own people, just as Jesus was. We can receive Jesus as our deliverer and be saved. Today we're continuing on with Stephen's address, this is the next chapter 7, and we're getting to the part about the rejection and the flight of Moses. So let's take a look at this section of Scripture today, the rejection and the flight of Moses. Stephen recounts that when Moses was 40 years old, he went to see his people. Perhaps he felt God's call on his life, however, as often as the case, when he felt God's call on his life, he went about to do God's will in his own strength and wisdom. So this teaches us the lesson of, you know, many times we're stirred up to do God's will, but we've got to remember that we need to do God's will in God's way and according to God's timing and in God's strength. And Moses was going about doing things in his own way, in his own time, in his own carnal power. So this is a lesson that we need to remember when we're serving the Lord. When Moses visited his people, he saw one of the Hebrews mistreated by the Egyptians. So in retaliation, Moses killed those Egyptians. But that's not the way to go about becoming a deliverer for Israel, taking things in his own hands and killing somebody like that. And but then the next day he went to arbitrate between two Hebrews and they said, are you going to kill me like you killed the Egyptian? And he realized that he was exposed and so he had to flee. Moses would become the deliverer of God's people, but he attempted to do this in his own strength, what only God could accomplish. As a result, Moses' action led to the death of one man and a rebuke from others. By attempting to perform God's will in his own strength, Moses only brought suffering upon other people. And he also put himself in a dangerous position. This shows us how important it is to always wait upon the Lord and allow the Lord's work to be done in the Lord's way and also in the Lord's time. You see here also the worldly education did not lend itself to giving Moses spiritual wisdom. Moses only knew carnal power and worldly intellectualism at this point in his life. And we see the results of carnal power in the wisdom of the world. It leads to death, suffering, and being put on the back burner. In the beginning, Moses was brave enough to confront and to kill a man, but now he is running for his life. This is what happens when men of God strive to do God's will in their own strength and carnal power. Bravado gets people killed. And I think that it's so important that we stick with the Scripture and wait upon the Lord and humble ourselves. Our response should not be protesting or taking political action. Instead, our response should be humility, prayer, and asking God to fill us with the Holy Spirit. We need God's wisdom so that we can do God's will in God's way and in God's timing. Moses was rejected by his own people, and this is another way that Moses typifies the Lord Jesus because Jesus came to his own and his own received him not. We can humble ourselves now and receive Jesus as our Lord and Savior. He is our deliverer. He delivered us from self, sin, the world, and Satan when he died on the cross. He was buried in a tomb and he rose from the dead on the third day. Call upon the name of the Lord and be saved today. Amen. The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make His face shine upon you, and the Lord give you peace.