“Let my people go!” Those famous words are associated with only one man: Moses. But a series of events led up to that encounter with Pharaoh.
First, at the time of his birth, the Pharaoh had made a declaration that every baby boy of Hebrew descent be killed. But Moses’ mother put him in a basket and floated him down the river, where he was spotted by the Pharaoh’s daughter. She adopted him and raised him in the Pharaoh’s palace.
Then when he was older, he went out to visit his people, the Hebrews. He watched the Egyptians force the Hebrew people to do hard labor. Upon witnessing an Egyptian kill a Hebrew, Moses looked around to make sure no one was watching before he killed the Egyptian. Moses hid the body in the sand, but when the king found out about it, he tried to have Moses killed. Moses fled to the land of Midian, where he met his wife.
Years later, Moses was taking care of his father-in-law’s sheep and goats when he came to Sinai, the holy mountain. An angel of the Lord appeared to him as a flame coming from the middle of a bush. The bush was on fire yet it was not burning up. God used that bush to call Moses to lead the Hebrews out of Egypt.
By that time, the king of Egypt had died, but the Israelites were still being forced to do hard labor.
What I find amazing is that although Moses was a murderer and slow of speech, God used him to lead the children of Israel out of Egypt and toward the Promised Land.
God can take a person who has a checkered past, who has made mistakes in their lives, who has a disability and use them to do mighty things in the Kingdom of God.
If you are willing to obey God, if you have an open heart toward Him and His commands, God will be able to use you as He did Moses, as He did Jacob, as He did Joseph.
“For I know the thoughts and plans that I have for you, says the Lord, thoughts and plans for welfare and peace and not for evil, to give you hope in your final outcome” (Jeremiah 29:11 AMP).
God has plans for your life. Plans that He laid out before the foundation of the Earth.
“Then I heard the Lord, asking, ‘Whom shall I send as a messenger to my people? Who will go?’” (Isaiah 6:8a Living).
The Lord is still asking that question today.
Our answer should be the same as Isaiah’s: “Lord, I’ll go! Send me.”
But for many of us, that isn’t our answer. For many of us, doing God’s work, fulfilling His plan, takes a backseat to the other responsibilities in our lives.
Think about this, though: you are only breathing because God has a plan for your life. You are only alive because God has a purpose for you. If it weren’t for God’s plan for your life, there would have been no need for God to create you.
Now when God asks you: “Whom shall I send as a messenger to my people? Who will go,’” what will your response be?
