“Moses named his first son Gershom,” for he explained, “I have been a foreigner in a foreign land.” Ex.2:22b NLT
Adopted by the Egyptian daughter of Pharoah, Moses had grown up as a foreigner in a foreign land. Whether it was his skin color or something else about his appearance, it was obvious to Moses all his life that he was different from the Egyptian family and others around him. At the same time, he saw Israelites, people who looked like him, serving his surrogate grandfather, Pharoah, the King of Egypt, as slaves.
What must that have been like? To grow up identifying as an Egyptian, when he was in fact, a Hebrew?
Apparently, it got the better of him after he grew up, because as 2:11-12 relate, when Moses “saw an Egyptian beating one of his fellow Hebrews,” … “Moses killed the Egyptian…”
When Pharoah learned what Moses had done, he wanted to kill him, which is what led Moses to Midian. 2:15
If Moses felt like a foreigner all his life, how much more did he feel like a foreigner in yet another culture? He apparently looked different from the Midianites, as the daughters of the priest of Midian recognized Moses as “an Egyptian.” 2:19
How striking that Moses never really had a home. That he was always a foreigner.
It reminds me of Hebrews 13:14, where the writer says, “For this world is not our permanent home; we are looking forward to a home yet to come.” NLT
And Philippians 3:20, “But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there the Lord Jesus Christ.” NIV ‘84
In a very real sense, like Moses, we believers are aliens in this world.
It makes the beginning of the one Psalm Moses wrote all the more poignant: “Lord, through all the generations, You have been our home.” Ps. 90:1
Throughout the book of Exodus, Pharoah and Egypt, are portrayed as oppressors and enemies of God’s people. But this reality is not just a historical reality. Slavery in Egypt is also a powerful metaphor for our natural slavery to sin.
In fact, the entire book of Exodus can be read as illuminating the Christian life.
The way the exodus of God’s people from slavery begins in Ex. 2:23-25 is striking. Verse 23 says the Israelites groaned “under their burden of slavery. They cried for help…” Interesting that the text doesn’t say that they cried to God. Just that they groaned and cried.
The beauty and kindness it reveals about God that it didn’t matter whether they were crying to Him or not. The fact they weren’t crying to Him didn’t keep Him from hearing or acting.
How many times do people share testimonies of their misery and how God turned to them and moved them to turn to Him? I’ve heard countless stories like that. And that is my own story too.
As an eighteen-year-old freshman in college, I was convinced something was wrong with me that made me incapable of being loved. Being a child from a broken home left me feeling like I never really had a home. And like so many, I sought to fill the emptiness with so many of the world’s enticements, as if eating those fruits would give me the joy I so longed for. But they only left me starving for more. My desperation grew to the point that I decided to end my life. But God heard my groaning. He heard my cries. And He moved me to turn to Him instead. He gave me hope that He loved me. He became my Home.
How that moves me to pray for my prodigal and so many wandering ones who are seeking to find wholeness in this world. The nature of what they’re doing to find satisfaction doesn’t really matter. It will never satisfy. It will never be enough.
How I pray that God will hear the groaning and cries of my prodigal and all the wandering ones my Father has led me to pray for. That He will hear their groaning. And remember His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. That He will look down on these wandering ones, dearly loved covenant children, and know it is time to act.
Exodus 3:9 begins with the word, “Look!” Since the writers of Scripture didn’t use boldface font or italics or underlining, when they wanted readers to really pay attention to what they were about to say, they would begin with the word, “Look!” or in some translations, “Behold!” In other words, “Pay close attention to what I’m about to say.” Gaze at these words. Think about them. Ponder.
And what is it that God wants Moses to pay attention to? To know? To meditate on?
“The cry of the people of Israel has reached Me, and I have seen how harshly the Egyptians abuse them.” V. 9
Likewise, we can plead that the cries of we and our covenant children have reached God’s ears. That He sees how harshly this world abuses them.
That knowledge moves me to persevere in prayer for my prodigal and others. How thankful I am for the many people who tell me they are praying for him. The Holy Spirit is so kind to move us to pray and to intercede on our behalf.
And so, as the Bible reading plan I’m using also has me in Luke 6:27-36, I gain new insight in what it means to love our enemies. Especially when those enemies—those who hate us—are our own family. God tells us to love them—to do good to them. Because then we “will truly be acting as children of the Most High, for He is kind to those who are unthankful and wicked.”
As the story of God’s people in Exodus goes forward, we will see just how wicked they were. And in seeing their love of sin, we see our own wickedness. I see my own love of this world. My godly nature hates this world, but my sinful nature loves it.
But God has been kind to me—one who is so often unthankful and wicked. And that moves me to want to show His kindness and mercy to those who are like me.