Student Devotional Week 17: Moses: Sent by God, Reluctant to go

Key Verse: 2 Corinthians 12:9
^"But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me."

When the book of Genesis ended, the Hebrew people were living the good life in Egypt. Now the book of Exodus opens with them working as Egyptian slaves. So what happened during the 400 years between the two books? An Egyptian regime came into power that didn't recognize the importance of the Hebrews. In fact, the new Pharaoh enslaved God's people and used them for cheap labor. He also ordered all male Hebrew children to be killed in an effort to slow down their explosive population growth.

This is the world into which Moses was born. Jochebed-his mother-didn't want her baby to die, so she hid Moses in a basket in the brush. Then one of Pharaoh's daughters found Moses and adopted him as her own child.

Moses grew up as a prince of Egypt. But after years of living in privilege, Moses killed an Egyptian and fled both his lavish lifestyle and his homeland. His journey took him to Midian, where he married and settled into the life of a shepherd.

The life of a nomad might have been fine for some people, but not for a man with a call of God on his life. God spoke to Moses through a burning bush and told him he'd lead the Hebrew people out of captivity and into the Promised Land. With much reluctance and very little faith. Moses accepted the challenge and obeyed God. That simple act of saying "yes" to God started one of the most amazing human transformations ever recorded in the Bible.