The Secret in the Desert
Exodus 2:11-4:17When Moses had grown up, his mother took him to the royal palace to return him back to the princess of Egypt. The princess adopted Moses, but she loved him as her own blood child. Moses was taught and trained to become a prince of Egypt. Although he enjoyed all the luxurious things in royal palace, but when he became an adult, Moses never forget that he was a Hebrew. At that time Hebrew people were still slaves for Egyptians, they were treated badly by Egyptians. Even though living in the royal palace, and since Moses knew his people were living utterly miserably, he was not happy. All the time he was thinking to find a way to help the Hebrews. One day, Moses went out to see how the slaves were working. He saw an Egyptian hit a Hebrew slave. Moses couldn't take it so he tried to save the slave and over hit the Egyptian to death. Moses hid the body in the sand. The next day, Moses came back to see the Hebrews working. This time He saw two Hebrews fighting together. Moses then tried to make peace between them. Seeing that, one of those people said to him: "Who made you judge over us? Do you want to kill us like you did to the Egyptian yesterday?" Moses was very afraid when he heard that, because he knew there was someone who saw he killed the Egyptian yesterday. When the King of Egypt knew what Moses had done, he became very angry; he ordered his servants to find Moses and kill him. Therefore, Moses had to fled far away from the royal palace. He feared to live in Egypt any longer; therefore, Moses went to a desert, which called Midian desert. After several days tiredly walking on the streets, Moses saw a well-water beside the road, he came to the well-water, drank some water, and rested there. A while after that, there were seven sisters - from a family coming home after tending their sheep - also came to drink water at the well-water. Right at that time, there were some shepherds came along and drove them away. Moses got up and came to their rescue and watered their flock. These sisters were touched by Moses' good heart; therefore they invited him to their home and introduced him to their family. The sisters' father invited Moses to stay with his family. Because of that deserted and wild place, Moses didn't know where to go, so he accepted this offer. Moses stayed there, helped that family to take care of their flock. Later, he got married to one of the sisters in that family. From that day on, Moses felt comfortable with his current life. He didn't fear the king of Egypt to look for and kill him any more. Also, no one knew that he was the prince of Egypt. Moses thought, from now on, that he would be a shepherd, live quietly in this desert until he died. Yet, Moses didn't know that God had a special plan for his life. One day, Moses was tending the flock in the desert as usual. Suddenly, he saw a bush burning by itself. The bush kept burning and never stopped. It was strange to him, so Moses came near to see. But when he just came near, he heard a person's voice coming out from the bush. Moses was scared but still tried to be calm and listen to the voice. That voice called his name and said: "Moses! Don't come near here. Take off your shoes because the place where you are standing is the holy ground." Moses hurry took off his shoes. That voice continued: "I am the God of your ancient." When hearing that was the God, Moses was too afraid, so he covered his face by his hands because he knew that no one could see God since whoever saw the glory of God would die. While Moses was afraid, God said: "I have chosen you to go and save My people. You must go back to Egypt, see Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, and ask him to free My people; then you will lead them to the land flowing with milk and honey." When Moses heard God commanded him to go back to Egypt and see Pharaoh, he was afraid even more. How could he dare to go back to Egypt? Surely, the king of Egypt would kill him right away. Therefore, Moses said: "Dear Lord, who I am that I should ask the king of Egypt to free Your people." God said: "Don't be afraid, I will be with you and help you. I will give you the power to do miracle. The king of Egypt will believe you and let My people go. Even though God promised Moses those things, Moses still didn't want to go back to Egypt, he said: "Dear God, the Hebrews will not believe that You have sent me to bring them out. What should I use for the proof that You have sent me?" God also gave more power to Moses so he could do more miracles, but he still didn't want to accept the job that God assigned him to do. Moses tried to find some other reasons to refuse. He said: "Dear God, I don't have a good way of speaking, my mouth and tongue usually halt, so no one will listen to me." God patiently asked Moses: "Who created human's mouth? Is it Me who created your mouth and tongue? Go, and don't worry! I will be with your mouth and teach you what to say." Although God has promised Moses everything like that, but Moses still didn't want to go back to Egypt to help the Hebrews. He said: "O Lord, please send someone else to do it." Seeing Moses kept refusing, didn't want to do what He said, so God became angry. He asked Moses: "Is Aaron your brother? I know Aaron who can speak well, and Aaron is coming to meet you. You will tell him what I have said to you. Your brother will go and speak to the people, and you, go and use the staff in your hand to perform miraculous signs." Now, Moses didn't have any reason to refuse the job that God wanted him to do, so he silently accepted. From then, Moses and his brother, Aaron, obeyed to God's Words and came back to Egypt, to meet Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, fight and bring the Hebrews out of the slavery of Egypt. Moses became the great leader of Hebrews. QUESTIONS:
To read and listen to other Bible stories, please click here. Written by Minh Nguyen
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