Today’s reading includes Exodus 2:11-3:22, Matthew 17:10-27, Psalm 22:1-18, and Proverbs 5:7-14.
In yesterday’s reading, another main character entered the stage, one who may be the most recognizable names of all the names in the Bible (except for Jesus, of course!) Everyone has heard of Moses. But the story of Moses is more than just staffs and plagues and parted seas. Moses was a real man, an ordinary man called by an extraordinary God. We don’t hear a lot of information about Moses’ parents, but we know that they were both from the tribe of Levi. Who were the Levites? They were the priests of the Lord; the ones who served as a liaison between God and man.
So, Moses was a Levite, which makes a lot of sense when we think of the details of his story. He was used of God to be a liaison between God and His people. When we think of Moses, we think of the chosen one; the great and mighty. When we think of Moses, we think of the anointed one of God, used as a mighty instrument—a small reflection of what was to come through Jesus, the One who frees all men from the eternal slavery of sin and death. But Moses was used of God in spite of himself.
Let’s look at who Moses was leading up to his mighty days:
- He did have a special anointing, even as a child. The Bible says that his parents “saw that he was a special child…” Yet, he was still born a slave with a death sentence on his tiny head. It would be literally impossible for greatness to occur in his life. Yet, as Jesus told us in Mark 10:27, “With man this is impossible, but with God, all things are possible.”
- As an act of faith by his parents, he was delivered from a sure death sentence. The vehicle of deliverance was an ordinary basket used by slaves for ordinary tasks. God can and will use the ordinary to deliver the extraordinary.
- As the Lord intended, this ordinary basket caught the eye of royalty. The princess ordered the basket to be snatched from the river, and a slave child was discovered. What could the princess be thinking to want to save a slave child, especially in light of all of the killings that were going on at the time—killings ordered by her own family! Do you not see a parallel of the prompting that resulted in the action? It was God who prompted her to retrieve that slave basket, for God, too, saw more than just an ordinary slave basket. God saw inside the basket. God saw more than a slave child. God saw His anointed chosen one.
Do you realize that no matter what ordinary wrappings that you have, God sees you as a chosen one? “You did not choose me, I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit—fruit that will last” (John 15:16). He chose you for a special appointment, just as he chose Moses for his special appointment. Will you accept the appointment and choose your “chosen-ness”? And then God says to go and bear fruit: the fruit of the Spirit—love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness and self-control. And only with the power and anointing of the Holy Spirit will it be healthy fruit that will last.
Yes, people can do good things that help our society. Humanitarian and social efforts can produce good changes. But true, lasting fruit can only be produced when someone starts to realize and act like a chosen one who has accepted an appointment. With that first step, with that surrender of our own will and feeble efforts, God is pleased. And when God is pleased, great things begin to happen! We step aside, and He steps in. He uses our ordinary status and brings about His extraordinary work. Today, choose your chosen-ness!
