Principle
God prepares specific people to fulfill His specific purpose.
Explanation
Throughout the Bible, one common theme is how GOD prepared specific individuals so that they might fulfill specific purposes according to GOD’s will.
Moses is one of these individuals.
1 Now a man of the house of Levi went and took as wife a daughter of Levi. 2 So the woman conceived and bore a son; and seeing he was a beautiful child, they hid him three months. 3 But when she could no longer hide him, she took an ark of bulrushes, daubed it with asphalt, put the child in it, and laid it in the reeds by the river’s bank. 4 Now his sister was watching from a distance to learn what would be done with him.
5 Then the daughter of Pharaoh came down to bathe at the river, and her maidens walked along the riverside; and seeing the ark among the reeds, she sent a maid to get it. 6 So when she opened the ark, she saw the child crying, and the daughter of Pharaoh had compassion on him and said, “This is one of the Hebrews’ children.” 7 Then his sister said to Pharaoh’s daughter, “Shall I go and call a nurse for you from the Hebrew women, that she may nurse the child for you?” 8 So Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Go.” Then the maiden went and called the child’s mother. 9 Pharaoh’s daughter then said to her, “Take this child and nurse him for me, and I will pay you.” So the woman took the child and nursed him. 10 Now when the boy was grown, she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter, and he became her son; and she called his name Moses, saying, “Because I drew him out of the water.”
Exodus 2:1-10 OSB
GOD foreknew Moses before He created the world. Moses’ mother had faith, entrusting her son to GOD rather than surrendering him to be drowned. Placing the male child in an ark must not have been common, for Pharaoh’s daughter was moved by the scene.
Moses was 80 years old when GOD called him as GOD’s agent to deliver Israel from Egyptian slavery. Moses lived to 120 years old.
This means that two-thirds of Moses’ life was spent preparing him for his life’s ultimate purpose.
When the time came, Moses felt totally inadequate for the mission. He gave GOD every excuse he could imagine:
- Who am I to go to Pharaoh? (Exodus 3:11)
- Suppose Israel asks me Your name. What do I tell them? (3:14)
- Suppose they say that GOD is not with me? (4:1)
- I’m incapable and am not a good public speaker. (4:10)
Ultimately, Moses went, along with his brother Aaron, and eventually, Moses became a good friend of GOD, with whom GOD spoke in a face-to-face manner unlike other prophets after him.
There are many others in Scripture who fulfilled specific roles in service to GOD in key situations. And there are other individuals who—albeit by their own free will—were foreknown by GOD to have specific roles of destruction and evil in the Bible story. Judas Iscariot comes to mind, for Jesus said it would have been better if he had never been born, because of the evil Judas did in betraying the Son of man (see Matthew 26:24; Mark 14:21).
Rarely does a person know what their mission and life’s purpose is before they fulfill or undertake it. This is because, while GOD foreknows all, we don’t. We must have faith in the moment where critical life choices are made so that we can be found to be an agent of GOD’s will. Yet, because we don’t know when those critical moments will occur, we must be consistent in having faith in every situation.
Who knows, perhaps GOD will use you for some important purpose in His-story.
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