Is It My Way or God's Way

 Exodus 2:11-25

11 Now it came to pass in those days, when Moses was grown, that he went out to his brethren and looked at their burdens. And he saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his brethren. 12 So he looked this way and that way, and when he saw no one, he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand. 13 And when he went out the second day, behold, two Hebrew men were fighting, and he said to the one who did the wrong, “Why are you striking your companion?”

14 Then he said, “Who made you a prince and a judge over us? Do you intend to kill me as you killed the Egyptian?”

So Moses feared and said, “Surely this thing is known!” 15 When Pharaoh heard of this matter, he sought to kill Moses. But Moses fled from the face of Pharaoh and dwelt in the land of Midian; and he sat down by a well.

16 Now the priest of Midian had seven daughters. And they came and drew water, and they filled the troughs to water their father’s flock. 17 Then the shepherds came and drove them away; but Moses stood up and helped them, and watered their flock.

18 When they came to Reuel their father, he said, “How is it that you have come so soon today?”

19 And they said, “An Egyptian delivered us from the hand of the shepherds, and he also drew enough water for us and watered the flock.”

20 So he said to his daughters, “And where is he? Why is it that you have left the man? Call him, that he may eat bread.”

21 Then Moses was content to live with the man, and he gave Zipporah his daughter to Moses. 22 And she bore him a son. He called his name Gershom, for he said, “I have been a stranger in a foreign land.”

23 Now it happened in the process of time that the king of Egypt died. Then the children of Israel groaned because of the bondage, and they cried out; and their cry came up to God because of the bondage. 24 So God heard their groaning, and God remembered His covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. 25 And God looked upon the children of Israel, and God acknowledged them.

Whenever challenges arise, there are two ways to respond—God’s way or our way. In today’s passage, we see what happened when Moses took matters into his own hands. Although his motives were pure—namely, the relief of his peoples’ suffering—his method was wrong. Moses ...

• Focused on the difficulty instead of the Lord. How often have you and I done the very same thing? If the unfairness or pain of a situation grabs our attention, we can lose sight of our all-powerful God. 

• Relied on his own strength and understanding. When a problem confronts us, the most natural response is to do whatever we can to make it right. Our way may seem so logical at the time, but it won’t accomplish God’s purposes.

• Acted impulsively instead of waiting on the Lord. If a situation seems urgent, fixing the problem as fast as possible easily becomes our top priority. 

At some point, we’ve acted similarly and suffered the consequences of self-reliance. But God didn’t reject Moses or cancel His plans for the man. Instead, the Lord refined his character through trials and gave him another chance. Don’t you think our loving Father will do the same for us?