Down but Not Out!

One of the challenges with reading the Bible so long after it was actually lived is that we lose the nuances of the human experiences of the characters we read about. Let's imagine for a minute if we had heard the story of a Moses character in our local communities. Here is a man whose mother saved him from infanticide. Not only was he saved from death but he was rescued by the King’s daughter! Today we might think of a child whose mother saved him from a life of famine or human trafficking. Instead of the child ending up in child slavery, as a drugs mule or dead, he is adopted by an extremely wealthy family and is treated as one of their own children. He attends the best schools, has access to the finest food and travels the world but is aware that he is an adopted child. One day he sees someone mistreating someone from the area he was saved from, gets into a fight and kills the person. He then goes on the run to avoid capture and prison.

Now if we heard this story, we might have some sympathy for our modern-day, Moses. But our strongest feelings would be regret and waste. Our conclusion would be he has thrown his life away. He was so fortunate. He had the best life he could have had. Why would he make such a life-altering mistake? Why hasn’t he taken responsibility? He shouldn’t have to run away. Some of us may even think, why was he even saved? It was a wasted opportunity someone else should have been found in his place.

Why is this important for us today? If we are able to see and understand how far Moses had fallen when God met him at the burning bush, it might give us hope that our current situation is not as bad as we think it is. If God can restore and turn around the life of a murderer, then whatever we are believing him for is completely and utterly doable! We may be down but we are not out!

Because…

Matthew 19:26 - …. “With people, this is impossible. But with God, all things are possible.” (NIrV)