Print(3)Moses Goes To School
When I go through some kind of desert experience, I am tempted to think that (a) I am the only one; (b) this is a form of punishment or, at least, an expression of God's displeasure; (c) I can't share this with anyone because of a stifling sense of isolation. But the truth is that many of those whom God has used over the years have found that the desert experience has been an essential component in their preparation for service in God's Kingdom.
Moses is a case in point. He was raised in the Royal Palace in Egypt and Acts 7:22 says that Moses was "educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and was powerful in speech and action". It sounds to me that by the time he was 40 years of age, every human resource was available to him to do God's work. But his first attempt to liberate God's people was a hopeless failure.
I'm not dismissing the place of a "good education". I'm simply saying that God's work must be done God's way if it is to achieve God's results. So Moses fled to the desert. For the next 40 years in that desert setting, Moses had to un-learn a lot of stuff and re-learn a lot of stuff. During that time in the desert he would become familiar with the terrain through which he would one day lead the people of Israel. He learned about sheep because there would come the day when he would lead a flock of people (who sometimes behaved like sheep!).
Were those 40 years in the desert wasted? I think not! Those years were critically important as God taught this man and equipped him for a massive event that would one day grip the imagination of the world. The "Exodus Event" continues to stir and challenge people of all ages and generations.
With the benefit of hindsight, I can see that those 40 years in the desert classroom were absolutely necessary for the bigger picture to become a reality. I don't ever expect to be called to do a "Moses-size task" but I do expect that, from time to time, God will lead me into a desert place because there is something further He wants to teach me and build into my life so that I may know Him better and serve Him more effectively.
Do these insights help me have a different and more positive attitude towards the desert experience?
