18. What about the Plan? Moses, Pharaoh and the Faithful God Part 3

[00:00:00] Get A and Welcome to Stories of a Faithful God for Kids, the podcast where God kindly

[00:00:07] shows us things in the Bible that we could never have worked out on our own.

[00:00:12] Dave Whittingham here, remember if you have questions or comments about the show, don't

[00:00:17] forget to send them in at FaithfulGod.net, FaithfulGod.net.

[00:00:22] Also, if you like the show, make sure you share it with friends and family, people at your

[00:00:27] church, people who don't go to church or who don't know Jesus yet.

[00:00:32] Let's help people to get to know the Faithful God more, or even for the first time.

[00:00:37] Hey, have you ever felt like you're really happy with God?

[00:00:43] He's doing good things that feels easy to trust him, everything seems to be going well

[00:00:49] and then something goes wrong.

[00:00:52] Really wrong.

[00:00:53] So wrong, you actually have no idea how it can get better.

[00:00:58] And you're like, what happened there God?

[00:01:01] What are you doing?

[00:01:04] In our last episode, everything seemed bad.

[00:01:08] There was a baby who seemed like he was about to be killed, but then God turned it all

[00:01:13] over.

[00:01:14] Suddenly, everything was better than you could imagine.

[00:01:18] In today's episode, it's like that happens backwards.

[00:01:23] Everything's better than you could imagine, but then everything seems like it goes wrong.

[00:01:28] And you could think, what on earth happened to God's plan?

[00:01:33] Did it all go wrong?

[00:01:35] Has God forgotten the plan?

[00:01:38] Get ready for our next episode of Stories of a Faithful God for Kids.

[00:01:48] In our last episode, we saw how God had put Moses in a powerful position.

[00:02:17] He had rescued him from death, rescued him from slavery and had him growing up as the

[00:02:22] adopted son of the king's daughter.

[00:02:26] Moses was in a position of power.

[00:02:29] It would be easy to think that he was becoming so powerful so that he'd be able to free

[00:02:35] God's people, the Israelites or Hebrews as they're also called.

[00:02:40] Well, Moses grows up to be a man.

[00:02:44] In one day, he goes out to see his people the Hebrews.

[00:02:48] Even though he's been raised by Egyptian royalty, he still knows he's a Hebrew.

[00:02:54] And what he sees is really sad.

[00:02:58] In Exodus chapter 2, verse 11, we're told, he saw that they were forced to work very hard.

[00:03:06] Remember they've been made slaves by the Egyptians and treated really badly, doing

[00:03:11] the backbreaking work of making mud bricks, building cities, being whipped and yelled

[00:03:16] out by the people in charge?

[00:03:18] As Moses is watching all this, he sees something that makes him so angry.

[00:03:25] Verse 11 and 12 say, he saw an Egyptian man beating a Hebrew man, one of Moses' own

[00:03:33] people.

[00:03:34] Now, it may seem like Moses is really powerful.

[00:03:39] After all, he's been adopted into the royal family.

[00:03:42] Surely he could just tell this Egyptian to stop.

[00:03:46] But perhaps he isn't as powerful as things seem.

[00:03:51] He does make the Egyptian stop?

[00:03:54] Not with his words though, but with his muscles.

[00:03:57] The Bible tells us that Moses looked all around and saw that no one was watching.

[00:04:04] So he killed the Egyptian and hid his body in the sand.

[00:04:10] Hmm, that's not quite how you might have thought that'd go.

[00:04:16] Even though it's strange, even though it may not be the best solution, there's still

[00:04:22] something good here.

[00:04:24] Moses is starting to become the Savior, the one who'll save his people from slavery.

[00:04:31] This poor Hebrew man was being whipped and beaten, and then Moses came and saved him.

[00:04:37] Woohoo!

[00:04:38] It seems like the hopes and dreams around Moses are starting to come true.

[00:04:45] That is, until the next day, when things start to get a little bit disappointing.

[00:04:54] Moses goes out again, and he sees two Hebrew men fighting each other.

[00:04:59] This is another great opportunity for Moses to be the Savior, not just from slavery,

[00:05:04] but saving the Israelites from doing the wrong thing, treating each other really badly.

[00:05:10] And so in verse 13 he steps in, we're told he saw that one man was in the wrong.

[00:05:16] Moses said to that man, why are you hitting one of your own people?

[00:05:22] And he thinks the man says, oh, Moses, you're absolutely right!

[00:05:27] What am I doing?

[00:05:29] How can I treat my fellow Israelites like this?

[00:05:32] Ah, no.

[00:05:35] That's not really how it goes.

[00:05:37] In fact, this guy doesn't care what Moses thinks at all.

[00:05:42] In verse 14 he says to Moses, who made you our ruler and judge.

[00:05:46] Are you going to kill me like you killed the Egyptian?

[00:05:51] Uh oh.

[00:05:53] With all of Moses' power and importance, he can't even stop one Hebrew from doing something

[00:06:00] bad.

[00:06:01] Doesn't this guy realize that it's actually God who's making Moses their ruler and judge?

[00:06:07] Doesn't he realize that Moses is actually trying to do something really, really good?

[00:06:13] Suddenly, things seem to be going really badly.

[00:06:17] Moses can't do his job properly.

[00:06:19] The Israelites don't seem to be falling into line with what God wants.

[00:06:24] What's happening to God's plan?

[00:06:28] Then things get even worse.

[00:06:31] Moses had thought that he'd managed to keep what he'd done as secret.

[00:06:35] He thought that no one knew about him killing the Egyptian.

[00:06:39] Now, as his body starts to shake with fear, he realizes people know.

[00:06:48] And eventually, the news reaches the king.

[00:06:53] Verse 15 says, when the king heard about what Moses had done, he tried to kill Moses.

[00:06:59] The Moses ran away from the king and went to live in the land of medium.

[00:07:06] Wait.

[00:07:07] What?

[00:07:08] What kind of savior is this?

[00:07:12] Surely Moses was put in a position of power.

[00:07:15] He got to be part of the royal family.

[00:07:17] Surely God gave him all these special privileges so that he could save the Israelites.

[00:07:23] Now, he's running away.

[00:07:26] You can imagine standing on the edge of Egypt calling out, hey, Moses, come back!

[00:07:31] Where are you going?

[00:07:32] You've got a job to do!

[00:07:34] But all you see is a smaller and smaller spec in the distance.

[00:07:39] Kicking up a cloud of dust as Moses gets further and further away.

[00:07:45] Back in this possibly fit with God's plan.

[00:07:49] Well, Moses gets to the land of medium and he sits down by well, a hole in the ground

[00:07:56] to get water out of.

[00:07:57] There aren't any taps in those days.

[00:08:00] Now we're introduced to a new man, a guy who's a priest in medium and he has seven daughters.

[00:08:07] The daughters come to the well with all their dads' sheep to give them a drink.

[00:08:12] That's not an easy job.

[00:08:14] He got to lift the water out with a bucket or a jar on a rope and water's really heavy.

[00:08:19] They pour the water into the troughs and just as they've done all the hard work and

[00:08:24] they're about to water the sheep, some other shepherds turn up, some men.

[00:08:31] And let's just say they're not very nice people because they arrive and chase the women

[00:08:37] away.

[00:08:39] They're going to try and take all the water that the sisters have worked so hard for.

[00:08:45] Thankfully, Moses steps into his savior role again.

[00:08:49] He's not going to let the men get away with this.

[00:08:52] This time it's the shepherds who are chased away by Moses and then he brings over the

[00:08:57] lady's sheep and waters them, making sure that those other guys don't try their same old

[00:09:03] tricks.

[00:09:04] Phew!

[00:09:06] Maybe there's hope for Moses after all.

[00:09:09] Maybe God really can use him.

[00:09:11] Well, the daughters go home to their dad, his name is Ruel.

[00:09:16] Later in the Bible he's also called Jethro which gets a bit confusing, but now we'll

[00:09:21] stick with Ruel.

[00:09:23] And he's really surprised to see them back so early and so he asks them in verse 18.

[00:09:28] Why have you come home early today?

[00:09:30] When the girls answered, the shepherds chased us away but an Egyptian defended us.

[00:09:36] He got water for us and watered our sheep.

[00:09:39] That's great news, but Ruel is really surprised that they've left this man out by the will.

[00:09:45] In verse 20 he says, Where is this man?

[00:09:48] Why did you leave him?

[00:09:49] Invite him to eat with us.

[00:09:52] So Moses comes back for a meal.

[00:09:55] And then more than a meal.

[00:09:57] Ruel invites him to stay with them and gives one of his daughters Zipora to Moses as a wife.

[00:10:05] Getting married in those days was much simpler.

[00:10:08] There wasn't any lovely, ducky dating.

[00:10:10] The dad just said to his daughter, Right, you're going to marry him.

[00:10:15] Very simple.

[00:10:16] Hmm, I wonder if I can do that with my daughters.

[00:10:21] Oh, anyway, after a while they have a son who Moses calls Gershom.

[00:10:28] That's a name that means something like foreigner.

[00:10:31] Moses knows that he is a foreigner.

[00:10:34] He isn't in his own land, he isn't with his own people.

[00:10:38] But he doesn't seem to have any plans to go back.

[00:10:43] He doesn't think of himself as a savior, he thinks his life in Egypt is over.

[00:10:48] At the start of the story it seemed like Moses was going to rescue his people from slavery now.

[00:10:53] He's settling down.

[00:10:55] Starting a family, trying to put his old life behind him.

[00:10:59] What's God doing?

[00:11:02] Has he forgotten?

[00:11:05] Has he failed?

[00:11:07] Not at all.

[00:11:10] Do you remember last week?

[00:11:12] We saw how God does His most amazing work when everything seems lost,

[00:11:18] when all His plans seem weak.

[00:11:21] That's when you get to see just how powerful He is.

[00:11:25] That's what's about to happen now.

[00:11:28] In verse 23 we're told this,

[00:11:30] After a long time the king of Egypt died.

[00:11:34] The people of Israel groaned because they were forced to work very hard.

[00:11:39] They cried for help.

[00:11:42] Notice that we're not told who they cry to.

[00:11:46] Usually if they cry out to God in the Bible that's what we're told.

[00:11:50] But at this time they don't seem to know their God.

[00:11:55] They don't seem to know who to cry out to.

[00:11:58] This is just another sign of how bad things are.

[00:12:00] The people of God seem to have forgotten their God.

[00:12:06] But at the end of verse 23 even though they're not crying out to God specifically,

[00:12:12] we're told and God hurt them.

[00:12:17] You see, even if the people have forgotten God,

[00:12:22] He hasn't forgotten them.

[00:12:24] We're told in verse 24, God heard their cries

[00:12:28] and He remembered the agreement He'd made with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

[00:12:33] God saw the troubles of the people of Israel

[00:12:36] and he was concerned about them.

[00:12:39] When it says He remembered the agreement He'd made

[00:12:42] it doesn't mean that He'd forgotten

[00:12:44] and then suddenly slapped His head and said,

[00:12:46] Oh I knew there was something I was meant to be doing.

[00:12:50] No, it's saying He hasn't forgotten.

[00:12:53] It's on His mind and He's going to do something about it.

[00:12:57] God had promised to rescue His people from Egypt,

[00:13:00] give them the land of Canaan, bless them

[00:13:03] and make them a blessing to the world.

[00:13:05] And because God's faithful,

[00:13:08] He always keeps His promises.

[00:13:13] Last week when things ended so well with Moses,

[00:13:17] it was easy to say, yeah, God's in charge, we can trust Him.

[00:13:23] When things seemed good and then they become really bad,

[00:13:26] like in today's story, it can be much harder to trust Him.

[00:13:31] We can feel like He's failed

[00:13:34] or like He's forgotten us

[00:13:36] or He's forgotten His promises.

[00:13:39] But you know what?

[00:13:41] God never changes.

[00:13:44] God never forgets.

[00:13:47] God never gives up.

[00:13:50] He's always faithful so we can always trust Him.

[00:13:56] At the end of Exodus chapter two,

[00:13:58] God looks at His people who are crying out

[00:14:01] because of all the hard things they're going through.

[00:14:04] He loves them.

[00:14:06] He's concerned for them.

[00:14:08] He's determined to keep His promises.

[00:14:11] He's about to show everyone the Israelites

[00:14:15] and the Egyptians and us who He really is

[00:14:19] how faithful He is,

[00:14:22] how good He is, how powerful He is.

[00:14:26] But that's a story for next time.

[00:14:30] See you then.

[00:14:36] P.I.E.L.T.E.

[00:14:39] Thanks so much for listening.

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