Exodus 2:11-3:12 (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.
Now the priest of Midian had seven daughters, and they came and drew water and filled the troughs to water their father’s flock. The shepherds came and drove them away, but Moses stood up and saved them, and watered their flock. When they came home to their father Reuel, he said, “How is it that you have come home so soon today?” They said, “An Egyptian delivered us out of the hand of the shepherds and even drew water for us and watered the flock.” He said to his daughters, “Then where is he? Why have you left the man? Call him, that he may eat bread.” And Moses was content to dwell with the man, and he gave Moses his daughter Zipporah. She gave birth to a son, and he called his name Gershom, for he said, “I have been a sojourner in a foreign land.”
During those many days the king of Egypt died, and the people of Israel groaned because of their slavery and cried out for help. Their cry for rescue from slavery came up to God. And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. God saw the people of Israel—and God knew.
Now Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law, Jethro, the priest of Midian, and he led his flock to the west side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. And the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush. He looked, and behold, the bush was burning, yet it was not consumed. And Moses said, “I will turn aside to see this great sight, why the bush is not burned.” When the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.” Then he said, “Do not come near; take your sandals off your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.” And 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 at God.
Then the Lord said, “I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters. I know their sufferings, and I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. And now, behold, the cry of the people of Israel has come to me, and I have also seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them. Come, 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 bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?” He said, “But I will be with you, and this shall be the sign for you, that I have sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain.”
The wilderness is a training ground for our faith in God as well as a proving ground for God’s faithfulness to us.
1. Moses’s story (Exodus 2:1-22)
a. From rags to riches (2:1-10)
*b. From palace to wilderness (2:11-22; 3:1)*
2. Why the wilderness is not a waste (3:1-12)
a. God leads Moses in the wilderness (3:1)
b. God prepares Moses in the wilderness (3:1)
• Application 1: To navigate the wilderness, flip the mental script and change your thoughts about and responses to the wilderness.
• Application 2: To survive in the wilderness, you’ll need some essential tools, including prayer, reading, and reflection.
c. God reveals Himself to Moses in the wilderness (3:2-12)
1) God responds to His people’s prayers (2:23-25; 3:7-9)
2) God is faithful to His promises.
3) God is a mighty, redeeming God.
4) God is holy.
5) God is self-existent.
6) God is sovereign, powerful, and possessing authority over all.
7) He is a generous God who loves to bless His people.
8) God is a speaking, communicating God.
9) God is merciful and gracious.
10) God is present and with us.
d. God instructs and calls Moses in the wilderness
• Application 1: God’s calling isn’t dependent on us but on God being with us.
• Application 2: It’s never too late to be used by God.
• Application 3: All our objects about what we’ve done get answered by the gospel message about what Jesus has done for us.
“The day had probably begun much like any other, with Moses out in the wilderness tending sheep. He was simply minding his own business, but a person never knows when his life might be changed forever by an encounter with the living God. Not a chance encounter, for it was God’s providence that led Moses to the far side of the desert. Here it is worth noticing that God did not meet Moses where Moses was but brought Moses to the place where God was.” (Phil Ryken)
“The wilderness was the Oxford and Cambridge for God’s students. There they went to the University, and he taught and trained them, and they took their degree before they entered into the promised land. There is no University for a Christian like that of sorrow and trial.” (Charles Spurgeon)
For this week’s sermon application guide, click this URL: https://storage2.snappages.site/QG8D8X/assets/files/Wilderness_exodus-3.docx