Dear Friends,
Like Joseph, Moses was also described as a type of Jesus. This is partly because he led the Israelite on the journey from Egypt to the promised land (Canaan), a journey described as a foreshadow of our journey of salvation from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of light.
However, for the purpose of this blog, we are taking a snapshot of the early part of Moses’s life as he trained to become a Shepherd of God’s people.
Pyramids of Egypt
THE STORY:
Most Bible scholars believe that the first five books of the old testament; Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy were written by Moses. He is one of the most popular old testament characters. We however only focus on the first few Chapters of Exodus as he trains to become the leader.
We pick the story from Chapter 2 where Moses was born at a troubling time for the Israelites in Egypt, he was adopted by Pharaoh’s daughter and raised in the Palace as her son.
Moses of course knew he was a Hebrew, and he was passionate about the wellbeing of his people. That is why he killed the Egyptian who was beating a Hebrew and he hid the body in the sand.
He had to flee Egypt when Pharaoh found out about his crime and was trying to kill him.
He fled to Midian, started living with the Priest of Midian who gave him his daughter Zipporah as wife.
Moses was tending the flock of his father in-law when he met with God on Horeb (the mountain of God). An angel of the Lord appeared to him in flames of fire from within a bush.
God spoke to Moses saying, ‘so now go, I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelite out of Egypt’.
God equipped Moses with HIS name ‘I AM who I AM’, gave him the ability to turn his Shepperd staff into a snake, his hand to become white as leprous, and the ability to turn Nile water to blood on the ground. He also gave him someone to speak for him in the person of his brother Aaron.
A Shepherd watches over the sheep
THE LESSONS – The making of a Leader.
The story of Moses is an example of God’s training template of how to become a Shepherd of God’s people.
Moses was recorded to have lived a total of 120years which can be distinctly divided into three portions. He lived his first 40 in the Palace, the next 40 as a Shepherd in the desert of Sinai and the last 40 doing what God has used the last 80 years to prepare him.
For the first 5 years before adoption into Pharaoh’s family, God made sure Moses had his mother to nurse him and created the much-needed attachment in his early years. He was obviously taught about the history and beliefs of his people the Hebrews from that early age. Then beginning from age 5 he had access to the best education that anyone could afford at that time and he rose to become a mighty General in the Egyptian Army. The Bible records that he was educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and was powerful in speech and action (Acts 7:22).
At age 40, Moses decided to take the matter of delivering his people into his own hands by killing the Egyptian who was beating a Hebrew. He knew what he did was wrong and then tried to cover it up.
Moses’s action of un-lawful taking of another life, even for what some may call justifiable reason, illustrated that he was not yet ready to take hold of the task God had for him.
Because of Moses’ action, and of course as part of God’s plan for his training, he had to flee to Midian to learn a new set of skills. He had to go to the wilderness school for the next 40 years. This was where Moses was fully trained and made ready for his life mission.
Moses needed the four decades in the desert to get over his pain of rejection and disappointed in Egypt. He was rejected by the same people he was trying to help by killing the Egyptian. He lost his fame, popularity and power and he became a nobody.
For forty years he had to learn to take care of sheep as a Shepherd. He learnt to survive on his own and keep his own counsel. He was taught directly by God and he learnt to depend only on God. This training was a complete reversal of what he learnt in his first forty years.
The Bible later described Moses, after his training in the desert, as the most humble man on the face of the earth (Numbers 12:3).
Reference: Some of the illustrations used in describing the life of Moses are taken from a series of devotionals from Dr Michael Youssef in 2016. These can be accessed using the link: Moses: Portrait of a Hero – Part 3 (ltw.org)
God calls to Moses from the burning bush
PRACTICAL APPLICATION TO US
Just like Moses, God has called each of us for a particular mission in life. He is patient and will ensure that we are trained and equipped for the task. The length of time we spend in the school of training for our mission depends on how quickly we learn and get ready for each stage of the journey.
Learning is a lifetime activity, and we must permanently enrol in God’s university as he equips us for each stage of our life mission.
As for Leadership training, God cannot use an unbroken man to Shepherd His people. God needs Leaders who will not rely on their own strength but will always look up to Him. Leaders, like every other person need to learn to depend only on God. Moses had to be stripped of everything he had acquired in Pharaoh’s Palace in order for him to learn to depend on God. God will do the same for us if that is required for us to learn.
Leadership can also be a very lonely place and so a leader need to learn to survive when everything and everyone seems to be against them.
I believe the biggest leadership learning from Moses’ story is ‘without God we can do nothing but with God, everything is possible’. We will be ready for God’s plan for our lives when we have learnt this.
Be the light of the world
HOW SHALL WE CONCLUDE?
In terms of Leadership training, Jesus, as always is the perfect example. He said in John 10:11 “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep’. That is exactly what He did when He lived the perfect and obedient life we fail to do, and then took the punishment meant for us by giving His life for ours on the Cross.
Jesus has called each one of us who have the privilege of knowing Him to do the same, being a Shepherd of His people, sharing sacrificial love and teaching others to recognise and follow Him too. This is our main role in the workplace.
In order for us to fulfil this mission, we need to stay in tune with God, humbly, listening and obeying every word as He leads us each step of the way.
Please remember that we are all leaders if we are in Christ. For further reading on our leadership role please read our previous blog: Principles of work – ‘Leadership’ – Fishers of Men Ministry (fmministry.co.uk)
I hope you have benefited from reading this blog and if so, please share with others. Please also continue to send your feedback and comments to hello@fmministry.co.uk or use the comment box below.
God bless you and let us keep growing in the image of our Lord Jesus Christ
Adesina
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