February 16, 2023
Chosen by God!
Beloved one, don’t forget – God calls and uses people with a messed up past. Have you ever thought, ‘I come from a jacked-up family? No matter what has gone on in your lineage or your own life repent and move forward. God is a forgiving God! He has chosen you for such a time as this! We all love the story of Joseph because he was innocent and ended up in prison. After thirteen long years in a day, Pharaoh promoted Joseph to be the second most powerful man in Egypt. (Genesis 41:37-44) But have you ever considered Moses? Pharaoh had ordered all the women to throw their baby boys in the Nile River right after birth. Moses’ mother saw him and knew there was something special about this baby so she hid him for 3 months. Chosen!
She put him in a basket to float down the Nile, and it just so happened that Pharaoh’s daughter saw him and took her as her own, and she adopted, taught, and raised him. When he was around the age of forty, he went to see his own people and watched them at their hard labor. He saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his own people. Looking both ways and seeing no one was watching, he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand. (Exodus 2:11-12) Still Chosen! Pharaoh heard about it and threw him in a pit for ten years. During this time Zipporah Jethro’s daughter took him bread and water, then later she became his wife and gave birth to two sons.
Most scholars are not sure exactly when Moses separated from Zipporah and their two sons sending them back to her dad. But believe it was around (Exodus 4:18-26) In the midst of their journey, as they were at an “encampment”, God struck Moses with a very serious illness for failing to circumcise his son (likely the younger one Eliezer). It appears that he was so sick that he was not able to do it himself, so Zipporah did it. (Exodus 4:25) She was angry with Moses when she circumcised their son because he was going to teach others to circumcise their sons, but he was not living it in his own family. Still chosen! When she saw that God would take her husband’s life for failing to circumcise their sons, she stepped up to the plate! After she circumcised him, out of disgust she said, ‘surely you are a husband of blood to me. (Exodus 4:25) We don’t hear from her and the sons again until (Exodus 18:1-7) when they came with her dad Jethro to see Moses. He was separated from his wife and murdered a man and yet God had chosen him! Don’t tell me God can’t use you because your life is a mess! You are chosen!
