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Rise From the Dust from Refreshing Hope Ministries on Vimeo.

Moses was a fiery young man in Egypt, raised by the daughter of Pharaoh and reared with all the wisdom of the Egyptians (Acts 7:22). He was mighty in words and deeds, but when he turned forty years old, things seemed to fall apart. 

One day he went to visit his people, the Hebrews, who were enslaved in Egypt. He wanted to help them, and when he saw an Egyptian taskmaster beating one of them, he intervened. Moses ended up killing the Egyptian and hid the body in the sand. 

(Acts 7:23–25 NKJV)  "Now when he was forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brethren, the children of Israel. And seeing one of them suffer wrong, he defended and avenged him who was oppressed, and struck down the Egyptian. For he supposed that his brethren would have understood that God would deliver them by his hand, but they did not understand."

Moses had been born for this purpose, for such a time as this. He had been educated and trained for it. He was passionate and willing to fight the good fight. He had all the qualifications, and the people who needed delivering were in front of him. What could go wrong? 

(Acts 7:26–29 NKJV)  And the next day he appeared to two of them as they were fighting, and tried to reconcile them, saying, 'Men, you are brethren; why do you wrong one another?' But he who did his neighbor wrong pushed him away, saying, 'Who made you a ruler and a judge over us? Do you want to kill me as you did the Egyptian yesterday?' Then, at this saying, Moses fled and became a dweller in the land of Midian, where he had two sons.

Moses knew that word of yesterday's adventure had gotten out. When Pharaoh learned that he had killed an Egyptian taskmaster, he would have him executed. So Moses fled from Egypt. He found a place in the land of Midian, working for a man named Jethro, who needed help tending sheep. Moses eventually married one of his daughters, and they had two sons.

Consider what has happened so far: Moses had been educated and trained by the Egyptians. He had a desire to deliver his people, and his people needed a deliverer. He was forty years old when he stepped out to do it, and he fell flat on his face. So he ran away and quietly tended sheep on the backside of a desert for the next forty years. Then the Lord appears to him:

(Acts 7:30–32 NKJV)  "And when forty years had passed, an Angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire in a bush, in the wilderness of Mount Sinai. When Moses saw it, he marveled at the sight; and as he drew near to observe, the voice of the Lord came to him, saying, 'I am the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.' And Moses trembled and dared not look."

The Lord wanted Moses to return to Egypt and deliver his people from slavery. But Moses remembers that ridiculously embarrassing moment when he had to flee from Pharaoh in failure forty years ago. So Moses refused and made excuses. 

(Exodus 3:10–11 NKJV)  "Come now, therefore, and I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring My people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt." But Moses said to God, "Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh, and that I should bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?"

Moses told the Lord, "Please send someone else..." 

Now we know that Moses eventually gave in and returned to Egypt. The people did believe him, and he delivered them from their slavery. The Lord brought terrible plagues on the Egyptians until Pharaoh let them go. 

So we have records of two attempts of Moses delivering the Israelites from slavery. Moses first tried with his own fiery strength, education, and military training at forty years old. He failed miserably and had to flee. Then we had another visit to Egypt with God Almighty by his side at eighty, and it was miraculously successful. 

Without the Lord, you are nothing. But with Him at your side, you can face anything that comes. It doesn't matter if you have already tried and failed. Things are different when God Almighty steps up to the plate. 

When I was young, I felt I had a calling into the ministry. I received several prophetic words confirming it, and the Lord told me to prepare myself for it. I was passionate about prayer and fasting and listened to the Bible 24 hours a day. I went through Bible college and got ordained, but then found every door in ministry supernaturally shut. 

I worked mostly on broken computers and networks for the next twenty years. Then when I was forty-five, the Lord shut our computer business down, and in the span of one week, I found myself in ministry. Now here I am writing this, and there is no way we could build an online church without those years I spent in the tech field. 

Some things I learned: He can see the end from the beginning, and our preparation does not always cover His plans. The Lord is much more practical than we often believe Him to be. Never underestimate good old-fashioned hard work. The Lord worked for six days and rested on the seventh. 

While praying about this message, I saw a vision of a hand taking a dusty figurine off a shelf and gently removing the dust from it with a brush. Soon it was clean and shiny again. 

Then I heard, "Some have been sitting on the shelf and have grown dusty, but they are about to be dusted off, made fresh and shiny, and used once again." 

You can pray this with me if you like: 

Prayer: Heavenly Father, I thank You for remembering me. Please fulfill Your will in my life and help me walk according to Your ways. Teach me what I need to know. Remove the dust from me and make me fresh and shiny again! In the name of Jesus Christ, I pray. Amen!