Moses' Middle Forty

The Lord will fulfill His purpose for me;
your love, O Lord, endures forever -
You will not abandon the works of your hands.
(Psalm 138:8)

No doubt about it, Moses led a uniquely exciting life.

His first 40 years were spent in Egypt. Having narrowly escaped infanticide, he was raised by the Pharoah's daughter, educated in the wisdom of the day. But after defending a Hebrew kinsman by murdering a man, he fled as a fugitive to Midian, where he spent his next 40 years.

At the end of the those 40 years, Moses heard God speak to Him from a burning bush, calling him to rescue the Israelites from more than four centuries of slavery. He returned to Egypt as an instrument of the Lord's power and judgment upon Egypt and its idolatry. After leading millions of Israelites to freedom, crossing the Red Sea in a dramatic miracle, he spoke with God atop Mount Sinai and received His law for Israel. In those final 40 years, Moses served God as Israel's Liberator and God's Prophet. The Lord Himself described Moses as a faithful and humble friend (see Numbers 12:3-8).

But as we review the spectacular events of this great man's history, we tend to overlook one large segment of it: the middle 40 years Moses spent in the wilderness, living among Midianite nomads, raising a family, shepherding his father-in-law's sheep. It's not hard to understand our oversight: the Bible spends a scant seven verses on this period! Moses led a quiet existence on the backside of a barren desert, all but invisible.

What was going through his mind during those decades? Did he count himself a flash in the pan whose time had come and gone? He named his first son Gershom, which means, "I am as a stranger in a strange land." Did he imagine his remaining days would be lived in exile from his home and his people?

A good friend remarked to me that the Lord was training Moses during those 40 long years in the practical skills necessary for his later ministry, most likely without his awareness of it. He would have learned of the flora and fauna of the region, along with methods of surviving such a harsh landscape. Notably, Midian was located in the desert of Sinai, where Moses would later lead Israel to God's promised land! Through those 40 seemingly uneventful years, God was strengthening Moses spiritually as well. The man who had once boldy delivered a slave by taking a man's life now shied away from God's call to deliver Israel, doubting himself worthy of such a task.

When outwardly it seemed virtually nothing was happening, God was in fact preparing Moses for a mighty work. The Lord used those years to form Moses into a man ready to follow God instead of his own rash impulses, equipped to obey God completely as he led a rebellious people through a forbidding wilderness.

What does this mean for us, all these centuries later? Do you feel like your best years are behind you, that God has used you in the past, but has now put you out to pasture? Do you see your life as descending into the daily grind, lacking purpose or direction or excitement?

Remember Moses' middle 40.

In those years, we see that God is always at work in and through His children, every step of the way, whether our steps are grand - like scaling a mountain to meet God - or common - like herding our flocks (of children!). There is no day or month or moment when God has overlooked us or His purposes for us.

We may spend our days doing unspecatacular things like changing diapers, comforting sick children, packing bag lunches or putting away groceries. We might envision the gifts and dreams that God has given us just sitting on a dusty shelf, all but invisible.

But through those ordinary tasks, in our daily faithfulness, God is working His plans in us, to humble us, to train us, to prepare us for His mighty work - for now and for the future.

May we be found faithful in serving Him and trusting His purposes wherever He may lead us.