Training for Life - Pt 2

Now a man from the house of Levi went and took as his wife a Levite woman. The woman conceived and bore a son, and when she saw that he was a fine child, she hid him three months. When she could hide him no longer, she took for him a basket made of bulrushes and daubed it with bitumen and pitch. She put the child in it and placed it among the reeds by the river bank. And his sister stood at a distance to know what would be done to him. Now the daughter of Pharaoh came down to bathe at the river, while her young women walked beside the river. She saw the basket among the reeds and sent her servant woman, and she took it. When she opened it, she saw the child, and behold, the baby was crying. She took pity on him and said, “This is one of the Hebrews' children.” Then his sister said to Pharaoh's daughter, “Shall I go and call you a nurse from the Hebrew women to nurse the child for you?” And Pharaoh's daughter said to her, “Go.” So the girl went and called the child's mother. And Pharaoh's daughter said to her, “Take this child away and nurse him for me, and I will give you your wages.” So the woman took the child and nursed him. When the child grew older, she brought him to Pharaoh's daughter, and he became her son. She named him Moses, “Because,” she said, “I drew him out of the water.” (Exodus 2:1-10 ESV).

Yesterday we began a short series in our “training for life.” I’ve based much of the foundation for this series in the life of Moses. What we will see is many methods of education for this pivotal man in the history of Israel. Suffering is a teacher, revealing that life is hard and that we are not able to fix life’s problems on our own. Moses spent his earliest years with that teacher, living with his family in slavery to the Egyptians. Today we will see that extravagance can also be used as a teacher. Moses’ mother took him, at some point, to the house of Pharaoh, where she handed him over to Pharaoh’s daughter. This Hebrew boy, who had been learning the lessons of suffering, spent the rest of his youth growing up as the grandson of Pharaoh. He was probably shaped by Egypt’s best tutors and professors, taught to speak, think, and behave as a highly educated and privileged Egyptian. Moses probably also witnessed great extravagance and power at the court of Pharaoh. Such things can wrench the fallen human heart farther from God and deeper into the illusion that one can fix the problems of life on one’s own. We must understand the lessons taught to us in the extravagance of life. Do you see the generosity, creativity, and bounty of God in your life, or do you see your wealth and its blessings as products of your cleverness and planning? Have you learned gratitude—or an attitude? The former of those is the only acceptable lesson for a truly successful life.