When you do the right thing - over and over and over again - you give yourself the best chance to be successful.
Doing the right thing doesn’t mean success will come quickly or easily, but doing the right thing at the right time and for the right reasons gives you the best chance to have success.
The hard part about doing the right thing is so often, people around us cheat or take shortcuts and still get rewarded. This can make us think that being selfish or doing what we want no matter who it affects might be okay, but don’t give in. No matter what, choose to do the right thing, the right way, at the right time, and have faith that all things will work out for good for you and the people around you.
Besides Jesus, Moses might be the most well-known person in the Bible. He was born to Jochebed and Amram, both from the tribe of Levi, when the children of Israel lived in Egypt as slaves. He was the youngest of three children, with a sister named Miriam and a brother named Aaron.
The Pharaoh of Egypt at the time was afraid of the Israelite slaves because they were growing in number and felt they might challenge his power, so he ordered all the midwives to murder all Israelite boys at birth.
So his mother built a waterproof basket put him inside, and let it float down the Nile River. Miraculously, Pharoah’s daughter found him, adopted him, and raised him, but Moses always knew he was really a Hebrew Israelite.
When he got older, Moses saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew slave, and he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand. When the Pharoah found out, he tried to have Moses killed, so he left Egypt and lived in the desert of Midian for 40 years, becoming a husband and a father.
Like us all, Moses felt fear, but God used Moses’s fear for good.
In Exodus 3:2, God appeared to Moses as a burning bush and told Moses to go back to Egypt and lead the Hebrews to freedom.
Again, Moses was afraid, and he tried to give God every excuse he could, including the fact that he couldn’t lead the people because he stuttered, but God recruited his brother Aaron to assist in overcoming his fear, promising to help them both.
Moses and his brother Aaron rose to the challenge and led the Israelites out of Egypt through the long story of the 10 plagues because of the Pharoah’s opposition, but their journey was just beginning.
After God parted the Red Sea, helping them get away from the Egyptian army, Moses and the Hebrews began their journey to The Promised Land.
The problem with their journey was that it was only supposed to take 11 days but ended up taking 40 years because of their fear and lack of faith. Too often, the Hebrews doubted Moses and God, and they refused to have faith that God would take care of them and bring them safely to The Promised Land, so they made bad decisions that set them back even further.
We all have things we are dealing with - confidence, imposter syndrome, fear, and doubt - but we don’t have to. All things work together for the good of those who believe (Romans 8:28). The thief comes to kill, steal, and destroy, but Jesus came so that we can have life and live it to the full (John 10:10).
The Hebrews eventually made it to The Promised Land because Moses never quit on them and never quit on God.
When we do the right thing, have faith and trust in God, and obey Him, we can make it to The Promised Land. On our journey, there will be tough times, setbacks, and doubters, but if we don’t quit and don’t lose our faith in God, we can make it to the Promised Land too.
The hope is that we can do it sooner than 40 years.
SOMETHING(s) TO THINK ABOUT
1 - What is The Promised Land for you? What do you need to feel love, joy, and peace?
2 - What is keeping you from arriving at The Promised Land? What is keeping you from feeling love, joy, and peace?
3 - What can you do to overcome those barriers so you can arrive at your own Promised Land of love, joy, and peace?
For a PDF version of this devotional, click here: The Faith and Works of Moses
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