Moses: Making Life’s Tough Decisions Exodus 2:1-15

1. Moses: Making Life’s Tough DecisionsExodus 2:1-15 • We are all presented with many critical decisions that can change the direction of our lives. • Moses reached that decision point in his life. • Moses was a great leader of God’s people – the nation of Israel. • Moses was a human being like you and me and we have much to learn from him.

2. Background history: • Joseph’s family has grown into a great nation of people in Egypt • Hundreds of years have passed • Exodus 1:9,10 (NIV) - “Look,” [Pharaoh] said to his people, “the Israelites have become much too numerous for us. Come, we must deal shrewdly with them or they will become even more numerous and, if war breaks out, will join our enemies, fight against us and leave the country.”

3. Moses reached the age of 40  faced a tough life changing decision: • Hebrews 11:24,25 (NIV) – “By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh’s daughter. He chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a short time.” • How do you make a decision like that?

4. 1. Recognizing God’s Work of Preparation • How has God prepared me for this moment of decision? • Hebrews 11:23 (NIV) - By faith Moses’ parents hid him for three months after he was born, because they saw he was no ordinary child, and they were not afraid of the king’s edict. • Moses learned about faith in the living God through his parents.

5. God also prepared Moses physically and intellectually • Acts 7:22 (NIV) - Moses was educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and was powerful in speech and action. • Moses would have had access to the best teachers; the best resources; the best training • God was continuing to prepare him for future leadership.

6. 2. Lessons from Moses Regarding Life’s Big Decisions • a. Understand the Cost of the Decision • Hebrews 11: 24-26 (NIV) - By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh’s daughter. He chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a short time. He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt, because he was looking ahead to his reward.

7. God asks every person who desires to be a follower of Christ to make the same kind of decision Moses made. • What are we making a priority in our life ahead of following God? • Luke 14:26 (NIV) “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters—yes, even his own life—he cannot be my disciple.

8. b. Don’t Run Ahead of God • Exodus 2:11,12 (NIV) One day, after Moses had grown up, he went out to where his own people were and watched them at their hard labor. He saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his own people. Glancing this way and that and seeing no one, he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand. • Moses already had a sense of God’s purpose for his life while he was still living among his people in Egypt.

9. Acts 7:23–25 (NIV) “When Moses was forty years old, he decided to visit his fellow Israelites. He saw one of them being mistreated by an Egyptian, so he went to his defense and avenged him by killing the Egyptian. Moses thought that his own people would realize that God was using him to rescue them, but they did not.

10. He dedicated himself to the will of God but not to the God whose will it was. You and I can become so dedicated to the will of God, we can be so driven by a false sense of purpose, that we might inadvertently take matters into our own hands and leave God completely out of the loop. • Chuck Swindoll: Moses, A Man of Selfless Dedication • Exodus 2:15 (NIV) When Pharaoh heard of this, he tried to kill Moses, but Moses fled from Pharaoh and went to live in Midian, where he sat down by a well.

11. c. God Is There When We Fail • God knows that we often learn best through failures  through making poor decisions. • “Such experiences come to us all. We rush forward, thinking to carry all before us; we strike a few blows in vain; we are staggered with disappointment and reel back; we are afraid at the first breath of human disapproval; we flee from the scenes of our discomfiture to hide ourselves in chagrin.

12. Then we are hidden in the secret of God’s presence from the pride of man. And there our vision clears; the silt drops from the current of our life; our self-life dies down; our spirit drinks of the river of God, which is full of water; our faith begins to grasp His arm and to be the channel for the manifestation of His power; and thus at last we emerge to be His hand to lead a [people]”  • F.B. Meyers. The Life of Moses

13. Jesus reminds us: • John 15:5 (NIV) “I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. • What tough decisions are you facing today? • Have you counted the costs? • Are you waiting patiently to make sure you are not rushing ahead of God? • Are you relying on him to guide you in making a decision that will honor him?

14. Let’s commit all of life’s decisions to the Lord. • Jesus said: • Matthew 6:33 (NKJV) “Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness.”