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Mystery of the Mundane

Words of Faith Final

Mystery of the Mundane
Words of Faith 9-12-2022
Dr. Jeffrey D. Hoy © 2022
Jeff.Hoy@faithfellowshipweb.com
Faith Fellowship Church - Melbourne, FL
www.faithfellowshipweb.com
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Exodus 2
[16] Now a priest of Midian had seven daughters, and they came to draw water and fill the troughs to water their father's flock. [17] Some shepherds came along and drove them away, but Moses got up and came to their rescue and watered their flock.
[18] When the girls returned to Reuel their father, he asked them, "Why have you returned so early today?"
[19] They answered, "An Egyptian rescued us from the shepherds. He even drew water for us and watered the flock."
[20] "And where is he?" he asked his daughters. "Why did you leave him? Invite him to have something to eat."
[21] Moses agreed to stay with the man, who gave his daughter Zipporah to Moses in marriage. [22] Zipporah gave birth to a son, and Moses named him Gershom, saying, "I have become an alien in a foreign land."

In this text, we see a second event that reveals the character of Moses. One day Moses was sitting near a well and met the daughters of Reuel (also called Jethro). The daughters were trying to fill the water troughs for their father's flocks when some shepherds began harassing them. The shepherds were bullies trying to gain access for their own flocks rather than waiting their turn. A few shepherds were no match to Moses, who had been a leader and warrior in the Egyptian army. He drove them off.
Reuel was impressed and asked that Moses be invited to his home. It wasn't long before Reuel gave his daughter Zipporah to Moses in marriage. The name Zipporah means "little bird." ("Little Bird" is Tevye's pet name for his third daughter Chava, in Fiddler on the Roof, in case you didn't know.) Moses and Zipporah had a son they named Gershom, which means "expulsion" or "resident alien," probably because this was the child of Moses' banishment to a foreign land.
We know very little of Moses' thoughts or feelings during this time. I have often thought it must have been something of a mid-life crisis for Moses. Life would have seemed very mundane for this 40-year-old guy. He had returned from war, probably expecting to marry a princess and live an easy life, but his sense of justice got him in trouble and forced him out of the country. After growing up in the excitement of the big city, Moses was now tending sheep in a foreign land. What a switch! All that he could do was make a living as best he could in this new family.
For forty years, Moses tended flocks in the desolate areas around Midian. This may have seemed like a useless period of time for him. He may have thought that his life was over in terms of anything meaningful. But God was preparing him in yet another significant way for the task ahead! Moses was learning about desert life. He was learning the terrain of the Sinai desert, where he would shepherd nearly 2 million people one day! He was also learning to listen. If there is one thing we know about the solitude of a shepherd's life, it is that one learns to listen.
We often don't know what God is preparing us for. Moses probably thought his life was all washed up, but God had an enormous mission still in mind. The things that seem mundane to us may, in fact, be part of God's preparation for the next adventure He has for us.
Have you ever had the feeling you were stuck or "set aside"? Just remember, God is not finished with you yet! He may not have a national liberation of two million planned in your near future. Still, God is always preparing us for the next challenge. It may be to share the love of Jesus in a particular place, serve on a mission team or help in the church office. It may be to teach in the Sunday School, help at a Rescue Mission, start a new outreach, disciple someone younger, or start a small study at work or in the neighborhood. God is not finished. Wherever you are, learn the terrain and listen.

Lord, show me what it is You are preparing me for. Reveal Your plan and empower me for what is ahead. Give me Your eyes to see and Your heart to respond. In Jesus' name.

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© Jeffrey D. Hoy 2022
Dr. Jeffrey D. Hoy - Faith Fellowship Church (EFCA)
2820 Business Center Blvd.
Melbourne, Florida 32940 (321)-259-7200
Jeff.Hoy@faithfellowshipweb.com
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The Words of Faith devotion is published five days a week by E-mail, excluding Federal holidays. Please feel free to forward this devotion to a friend who might be blessed by this devotion. Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture is quoted from the New International Version (R) of The Holy Bible. Copyright (c) 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved. Words of Faith (c) 1997, 2022 Jeffrey D. Hoy. All rights reserved. Permission is granted to forward this copyrighted material or use portions of it with appropriate notation of the source for non-profit purposes.