God Never Wastes an Experience - Life of Moses Part 6

Well, one beautiful spring afternoon, Mom and Dad checked the mailbox and there was a letter there from their daughter at college. They opened it very excitedly and here's how the letter began.

Dear Mom and Dad, just thought I'd drop you a note to clue you in on my plans. I've just fallen in love with a guy named Jim. He quit school after the 11th grade to get married.

About a year ago, he got a divorce but his ex-wife took the children. We've been together for two months now and plan to get married this summer. Until then, I've decided to move into his apartment.

I sold my car to help him make his mortgage payments. By the way, I'm not sure but I think I may be pregnant. At any rate, I dropped out of college last month but I plan to go back and finish sometime in the future. On the next page, she continued, Mom and Dad, everything I've written so far is a lie. None of it is true.

However, it is true that I got a C in French, a D in chemistry and my money has run out. That's a pretty smart young lady, huh? She understood that even bad news can look like good news depending on your perspective. Now this is what we want to talk about today. We want to talk about perspective. We want to talk about how we look at the things in our life, how we see the circumstances in our life because the older I have grown as a follower of Jesus Christ, the more I have become convinced that the secret to living a healthy functional Christian life is to have a biblical perspective on our circumstances, a perspective that is based solidly on the truths of the Word of God. And so we're going to use an incident out of the life of Moses as our springboard today.

Let's go back and talk about what happened to Moses first and then we'll bring all that forward and we'll talk about, well, what difference does that make to you and me? So if you brought a Bible today, I'd like you to open with me to Exodus chapter 2. It's the second book in the Bible, the second chapter. And if you didn't bring a Bible, reach under the armrest right next to you in your chair and you'll find a copy of the Bible. We're going to be on page 41. Page 41 in our copy, Exodus 2 in your copy.

And while you're turning, let me give you just a little bit of background. We learned in Exodus chapter 1 that the Israelites had grown into a massive nation inside Egypt. Also, we saw in Exodus 1 that Pharaoh, Thutmose I set out to reduce the Hebrew population and after a couple of failed attempts, he then set out on the strategy authorizing each and every Egyptian citizen to kill on sight each and every Hebrew baby boy. And so here in Exodus 2 when Moses is born, it is open season, if you will, on Hebrew baby boys in Egypt.

And with that little bit of background, let's look beginning in chapter 2 at verse 1. Now a man from the line of Levi married a Levite woman and she became pregnant and gave birth to a son. And when she saw that he was a fine child, she hid him for three months. Now friends, the birth of Moses was one of the most important events in all of Hebrew history because this little child was to become the greatest man of God to live during the 2,000 years between Abraham and the Lord Jesus Christ. Moses was born sometime around 1525 BC. We know that he had an older sister named Miriam and he had an older brother named Aaron. And as soon as Moses was born, the Bible says his mother recognized something very special about him.

She felt a sense of spiritual destiny about him, which explains what she did next. Verse 3, but when she could hide him no longer, his mom got a papyrus basket for him and coated it with pitch and tar. Then she placed Moses in it and put it among the reeds along the bank of the Nile.

His sister Miriam stood at a distance to see what had happened. Now when Moses' mom cast this little boy into the Nile, well the human odds were pretty badly stacked against little Moses. I mean if a loyal Egyptian citizen found him, he'd be drowned and if a Nile crocodile found him, he'd be lunch.

And yet aren't you glad that we have a God who is bigger than human odds, huh? Because look what really happened. Verse 5, then Pharaoh's daughter went down to the Nile to bathe and her attendants were walking along the river bank. She saw the basket among the reeds and sent her slave girl to get it. She opened it and saw the baby. He was crying and she felt sorry for him. Literally in Hebrew she had pity on him. She had compassion on him and she said this must be one of the Hebrew babies.

Now friends this was an amazing thing that God did here. Pharaoh's daughter certainly knew the edict that her father had given out regarding Hebrew baby boys. She certainly knew that above all people her father would expect her to carry that edict out and drown that child right there on the spot. But the Bible says that she had compassion on Moses. She took pity on Moses.

And friends this was just a sovereign act of God, pure and simple. I love what Proverbs 21 says, verse 1. It says the heart of the king, and by the way the heart of the king's daughter, is in the hand of the Lord and the Lord turns that heart wherever he wants it to go. And right here the Lord sovereignly turned this lady's heart straight towards little Moses and gave her pity and compassion for him. Verse 7, then Moses' sister ran up to Pharaoh's daughter and asked, shall I go and get one of the Hebrew women to nurse the baby for you? Yes, she answered, and the girl went and got the baby's mother, Moses' mother. And Pharaoh's daughter said to Moses' mother, take this baby and nurse him for me and I will pay you. So the woman, Moses' mom, took the baby and nursed him. You talk about another sovereign act of God, by God's wonderful grace Moses' own mother now gets royal permission to not only save his life but to nurse him and to nurture him and she gets paid for doing it.

What a great deal, huh? Now you know based on Egyptian history we actually know who Moses, I mean forgive me, who Pharaoh's daughter was here in Exodus chapter 2. Her name was Hatshepsut, or as we love to call her, hot cheap soup.

That's how I remember her name. Anyway, here's a picture of her royal tomb down in Luxor in central Egypt, a very famous tomb. Here's a picture of Hatshepsut herself. She was a fairly attractive young lady. Hatshepsut was the only child, male or female, of Pharaoh Thutmose I and his royal wife Akhmose to survive to adulthood, making her the royal heiress to the throne of Egypt. And here in Exodus 2, when she fished Moses out of the Nile, she was somewhere between six and ten years old. Now that's all we need to say about hot cheap soup right now, but hold on to her name.

You say, Lon, how can I forget hot cheap soup? Well, then I'm doing a good job. My job's to teach you so you won't forget. Hold on to her name because she is going to become a major player in the events of Moses' life in the next few verses.

We'll come back to that later. Verse 10. And when Moses grew older, he was probably about three years old, his mother took him to Pharaoh's daughter and Moses became her son and she named him Moses.

Pharaoh's daughter adopted Moses as her own son, if you will, and brought him right into the palace where he was treated in every respect as a member of the royal family with all of the rights and the privileges appertaining thereunto. I actually got that off my college degree. Do you like that? I've always wanted to say that. I've never, I think it's kind of cool, appertaining thereunto.

Don't you think that kind of rolls off the tongue? Well, anyway, that's never mind. Anyway, now archaeology, it's interesting, has just provided us with an amazing confirmation of the biblical account here in Exodus chapter 2.

Let me explain it to you. Exodus 2, as you know, gives us the clear impression that during the reign of Thutmose I, during the reign of Moses' early life, during the 18th dynasty when this is found in Egypt, that the Egyptian royal family was living in a palace right along the Nile River where this young girl could have gone out and taken a bath with a little walk and where Moses later in Exodus chapter 2 verse 11 can go out for a stroll in the afternoon and see an Egyptian beating up a Hebrew slave. Now we know that the formal royal capital of Egypt during the 18th dynasty, the time of Thutmose, was actually in Memphis, 13 miles south of Cairo.

Let's show you a map. This was 100 miles from the Goshen Delta where the Hebrews were living. And so for centuries, scholars pointed to this as proof positive that the Bible is historically wrong, that the Bible is factually unreliable. I remember one scholar who even said, do you suppose, do you want us to really believe that Pharaoh's daughter got into a chariot and rode 100 miles to the north to take a bath just so she could be there in the river where Moses was?

Well, all of that was true until 1993. In 1993, Dr. Manfred Beitac, who is an eminent archaeologist and a professor of Egyptology at the University of Vienna in Austria, over in Egypt doing archaeological work in 1993 discovered a huge palace complex at Tell el-Daba right at the time of Moses, dating from the time of Moses. Let's show you a picture of what we think that palace looked like. And the key point for us, we'll show you a map, is that he found that palace in Tell el-Daba, which is 100 miles to the north of Memphis and is right in the Goshen Delta, right where the Israelites were living. What's more, it's right along the Nile River, making it therefore entirely logical that the Pharaoh's daughter would have walked out and taken a bath in the Nile, making it entirely plausible that Moses living in this palace on an afternoon stroll would have seen an Egyptian beating in a Hebrew. In other words, we found this palace, this royal palace, from the time of Moses right where the Bible says it was supposed to be, right there in the Goshen Delta next to the Hebrew settlement. Dr. Bryant Wood said, and I quote, the discoveries at Tell el-Daba strikingly corroborate the accuracy of the Exodus account.

He went on to say, Moses quite likely played among these buildings as a child, walked the halls of these palaces as an adult, and confronted Pharaoh here with God's message, let my people go. Friends, the point is that for thousands of years the Bible has been historically correct and contemporary scholarship has been historically wrong. Or as I love to say, the more we dig out of the ground, the more the Bible proves to be correct, to be right. Now if you're here today and you've never trusted Jesus Christ as your real and personal Savior, and one of the things that's been hanging you up is that you doubt you have misgivings about whether the Bible is really true and accurate and reliable as a document.

Friends, I'm here to put your concerns at rest. I'm here to tell you that the Bible has been subjected archaeologically, historically, and text critically to the most intense scrutiny over the last 150 years of any document in the history of the world, and the Bible has not only passed that test, but it has passed it with flying colors. The Bible is a historical, reliable document, and if the Bible goes to the effort to tell us the truth about history and chronology, then believe me, the Bible is not going to lie to you about spiritual truth. You can trust the Bible.

And so if you're here today and you've never trusted Jesus in a real and personal way, I'm here to tell you that you need to believe what the Bible's telling you, that the people who trust what Jesus did for them on the cross are the only ones that go to heaven, and you need to appropriate that, and you need to trust Him for yourself. I hope you'll do that. Well, that's as far as we're going to go in the passage for today, because now it's time for us to stop and ask our most important question. And so I want you to give me a Christmas present and we'll yell this real loud. Will you do that? All right, here we go.

One, two, three. Oh, that's wonderful. Thank you.

Merry Christmas to you too. You say, Lon, so what? You say, you know, tell El Daba, tell El Shmaba, tell El Waba. What do we care about that crazy town? I mean, what difference does that make to me when I walk out of my house tomorrow morning to go to school, to go to work?

What difference does this make? Well, let's talk about that for a moment, shall we? We said a moment ago that Moses was raised in the royal palace of Egypt, where he was treated in every respect as a prince of Egypt, as a member of the royal family with all the rights and privileges appertaining there unto.

Gosh, I love saying that. All right. And these privileges that Moses had included his receiving the best education in the world at that time. Dr. Joyce Tildesley, who wrote a book entitled Hot Ship Soot, the Female Pharaoh said, and I quote, the household of the royal children in Egypt was the most prestigious school in the land. Here young male royals received the instruction which would prepare them for their future lives as some of the highest ranking nobles in the land.

End of quote. It's interesting that in the Bible, Stephen Acts chapter seven in the New Testament said the very same thing. He said, verse 22, Acts seven, Moses was educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and became a man who was powerful in speech and in action. Please remember that in Egypt at this time, there was no public education. Please remember that the only people in Egypt who were given an education at this time were royalty.

But you see, because of Moses being adopted by Pharaoh's daughter, the point is he was royalty. And as a result, Moses was taught reading and writing and arithmetic and medicine. He was taught organizational skills, administrative skills. He was taught foreign relations. He was taught jurisprudence. He was taught military skills and military tactics. He was taught leadership skills and command skills. The truth is, my friends, with the possible exception of the prophet Daniel, Moses was the most highly educated and the most intellectually trained person in the entire Old Testament.

May I repeat that? Moses, apart from perhaps Daniel, was the most highly educated and the most intellectually trained person in the entire Old Testament. Now, can't you see that this was important? Can't you see how much Moses was going to need all of this training to fulfill the plan for his life that God was going to call him to think about it now? Moses needed to know how to read and write because God was going to ask him to write the first five books of the Bible. Moses needed to have organizational and administrative skills because God was going to ask him to organize and lead two million people through the desert. Moses was going to need jurisprudence skills because God was going to ask him to adjudicate the Israelites' legal cases for 40 years. Moses was going to need military training because God was going to ask him to mold the Israelites into a fighting force that was capable of invading and conquering the Promised Land.

And finally, Moses was going to need leadership and command skills because he was going to have to lead this motley crew for 40 years through the Sinai wilderness. Here we have the first 40 years of Moses' life and can't you see, my friends, the one thing that stands out is that God wasted nothing that happened to Moses in those first 40 years of his life. Every single event played its perfectly designed role to get Moses exactly where God needed to get him and to prepare Moses for exactly what God had for him to do in the future. Now, sitting here in the 21st century with the benefit of hindsight, I mean, we can all see how perfect God's leading was in Moses' life, can't we?

We can all see that every event fit in precisely with God's plan. But jumping back 3500 years, I wonder if Moses' mom could see that while it was happening. I wonder if she didn't sit around many a night going, Dear God, how could you take my baby away from me? I wonder if Moses' dad could see that 3500 years ago. I wonder if he didn't spend many a night on his knees saying, Dear God, how could you send my little boy into the corrupt and immoral and debauched palace of Egypt? I wonder if his brother and sister, Miriam and Aaron, didn't sit around at night and say, Dear God, how could you take our little brother away from us like this and away from our home? I wonder if Moses didn't sit around himself and say, God, what are you doing to me? What am I doing here?

When my family's out there, I want to be with my family. I doubt very seriously if the people going through that circumstance understood what God was up to. But friends, God was in complete control all the time.

Can you see that? That's what we need to understand. And David's not the, I mean, Moses is not the first person who's ever had to go through this kind of a wondering experience. I mean, I think of David. I'm sure David wondered why God sent all these lions and all these bears to keep taking his father's sheep when he was out there tending them and he had to go out and shwack them and bring the sheep back. I'm sure he sat around going, God, what is the deal with the lions and the bears here?

But you know what? When he walked out to face Goliath that day, suddenly I believe David understood what God was up to. And I think of Joseph in jail for thirteen years when he was an innocent man. I'm sure there was a many a day he wondered why God stuck him in his jail for thirteen years. But you know, when he came out of jail to interpret Pharaoh's dream and became prime minister of all of Egypt, I think suddenly he understood. I think of the Apostle Paul. I'm sure he wondered why God stuck him in jail and let him sit there for two years in Caesarea and then shipped him off to Rome in chains.

But you know, when he suddenly stood in front of Emperor Nero and in front of the entire elite Praetorian Guard and had the chance to preach Jesus Christ to the Emperor of Rome, I think Paul understood why God had done it. And I think of Joni Eareckson Tada, who I'm sure many a time must have wondered why God allowed her to dive into a river head first not far from here and break her neck as a teenager. But friends, now that she leads the largest ministry to people with disabilities anywhere in the world, I think she understands. And you know, folks, I believe as followers of Jesus Christ here today, many of us have things in our lives that we don't understand as we sit here this morning, things that confuse us, things that we wonder why in the world God sent these things into our life. Friends, may I say to you, as followers of Jesus Christ, we don't need to understand.

As followers of Jesus Christ, we don't need to be able to explain everything that's happening to us. All we need to do is to believe God and trust Him. We need to believe God when He tells us that He has a perfect plan for our lives, just like He did for Moses. We need to believe God when He tells us that every event in our life is working together to fulfill that plan, just like it did in Moses's life.

And we need to believe God when He tells us that every single detail in our lives is every detail is under His sovereign control, just as it was with Moses. I love Jeremiah 2911. It's one of my favorite verses. God says, For I know the plans I have for you. You say, But Lord, I don't know him. God says, Well, so what? You don't have to know him. As long as I know him, and I'm running the universe, you can relax. I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for good and not for evil to give you a future and a hope.

God says, So trust me, will you? Trust me, I never waste an experience. I never waste one, whether you initially understand that experience or whether you don't. Friends, God didn't waste an experience with Moses. He didn't waste an experience with David or with Joseph or with the Apostle Paul or with Johnny Erickson Tada. And he's not wasting an experience with you.

But you're just gonna have to trust him like they did. You know, in 1975, January, to be exact of 1975, I was finishing my seminary work over at Capital Bible Seminary over in suburban Maryland. And one day, the dean of the seminary asked me if I'd be willing to come into his office and meet with a local pastor who might be interested in offering me a job.

And I said, Well, I guess all right. And so I went in and I met with this guy. He was from a little church over in northern Virginia named McLean Bible Church.

Here was the picture of the building at that time. He offered me a job. And since I didn't have another job, I agreed to work for him. And I came over here in January 1975 and spent six months at McLean Bible Church at the little yellow building you see, I did a little bit of Sunday school teaching and a little bit of hospital visiting and a little bit of counseling and a little bit of preaching and, and I enjoyed my time at McLean. But you know, I really felt the Lord was calling me elsewhere. And so in June of 1975, after six months, I left. I went back and taught at Capital Seminary for five years.

I pursued my doctoral degree at Johns Hopkins up in Baltimore. But as 1980 approached, I began to get restless. You know, I began saying seminary teaching is wonderful and Capital Seminary is a great place. But man, I want to be on the front lines. I mean, I want to be where the bullets are whizzing.

You know what I mean? I mean, I don't want to be part of the supply train. I want to be on the front line. I want to be the pastor of a church where I can lead people and where I can teach people and where we can make an impact on our world. I didn't really tell anybody.

I just started praying about it. And that spring, the spring of 1980, the pastor here at McLean resigned. Now, the pulpit committee, when they got together, my name came up as a possible candidate. I had no experience as a senior pastor.

I had not applied for the job. And ordinarily, no pulpit committee in their right mind would have given me a second look, except that I had been here for six months, five years before, and they kind of knew who I was. You know, for all five of those years, I said to myself, God, what was the deal with that six months at McLean Bible Church?

I mean, that just seems like to be a complete anomaly. It's like my life is going like this in McLean Bible Church. Those six months are kind of like, I mean, what is the deal with that?

I had no idea. I couldn't make any sense out of why God brought me over here for six months. But all of a sudden, the pulpit committee called me up and they ended up offering me the job here at McLean Bible Church in 1980. And the rest, as they say, is history. And all of a sudden, it made perfect sense to me why I had been here for six months.

I almost didn't get the job even having been here six months, but I definitely wouldn't have got it if I hadn't have been. And you know what, I'll bet you there are a lot of things in your life right now that you they're just like those six months at McLean Bible Church were for me. You're looking at those things either in the past or in the present and saying, God, what is the deal? It doesn't seem to make sense.

It doesn't seem to fit in. This makes absolutely no connection with my life. I don't understand why you're doing this to me. This is hard.

This is painful. Friends, let me just tell you, God did not waste those six months at McLean Bible Church. I thought he did. I thought he had.

But God knew exactly what he was doing. He was so far ahead of me, friends. It wasn't even funny. And I'm here to tell you that God is so far ahead of you.

It isn't even funny. He was so far ahead of Moses. He was so far ahead of David. He was so far ahead of the Apostle Paul. He was so far ahead of Johnny Erickson. And he is so far ahead of you.

It's not even funny. And friends, God didn't waste a single experience with Moses. He didn't waste six months with me.

And he's not wasting the experience you're going through on you. God didn't make a single mistake with Moses. He didn't make a mistake bringing me over here for six months in 1975. And friends, he has not made a mistake with you. God never makes a mistake.

God never goes, oops, ever. He knows what he's doing. And what he wants you and me to do is two things. Here's our simple job description.

You ready? Number one, relax. Relax. Everything's under control. Relax.

And number two, trust him. That's your job description. That's my job description. My job description is not figure it all out.

Your job description is not be able to explain and understand it all. Relax, God says. I got this.

Relax. And trust me, I know what I'm doing with your life. I got a plan. And I got it all worked out.

In fact, I had it worked out before you were even conceived in your mother's womb. Trust me. Relax. You know, let me close by saying this. One of the distinguishing marks of a true man or woman of God is that person's quiet confidence that God is in complete control.

May I repeat that? One of the most distinguishing characteristics of a true man or woman of God is that person's quiet confidence that God is in complete control. Friends, this is the kind of person that God wants you to be, both for your own benefit and so that you are an effective representative for the living God in our world. Because if in the middle of crisis, you can be calm and people when they ask you why hear you say, hey, I'm relaxed because I got a God who's in complete control.

Friends, that is a wonderful, wonderful testimonial to the power, the awesomeness and the reality of your God. So this is not just about you and me. It's also about our being ambassadors for the Lord Jesus Christ in our world.

Let's become those people. Remember our job description. Relax, relax and trust Him. He's got it all under control. Let's pray. Lord Jesus, thanks for reminding us that you are an awesome sovereign God. Thanks for reminding us today that this universe is under your absolute and utter control. Thanks for reminding us today that you already have our lives planned out to the tiniest detail. And Lord, thank you for reminding us today of what our job description is.

Our job description is to relax and to trust you. And Father, I pray that you would enable us as your followers to do that. Give us such a large view of God. Give us such an exalted understanding of His omniscience, His omnipotence, His incredible sovereignty and power that we are able to relax because we know we are safe in the arms of Jesus. And Lord, may we not only live a more enjoyable life by doing that, but may we be better witnesses for the Lord Jesus Christ in our world. Change our lives, Father, in the very way we see life, our very perspective on life because we were here today and we learn from the Word of God and we pray these things in Jesus' name. And God's people said, what'd you say? There you go.

All right. It's a tough world out there. We need a solid rock to make it this week. We need a solid rock to make it this week.