#GOFAMINTDailyDevotion Sun. 18/10/2015

18 October 2015

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LESSON 7 18/10/2015

MOSES: HIS NUCLEAR FAMILY

Suggested Hymns: G.H.B. 306, 308

Devotional Reading: Acts 7:22-29

Topic For Adults: Use Your Opportunities Wisely

Topic For Youths: Don’t Waste Your Opportunities

Topic For Intermediates: Be Responsible

Scripture Lesson: Exo. 2:16-21, 22; Acts 7:29; Exo. 3:1

Memory Verse: Then Moses was content to live with the man and he gave Zipporah his daughter to Moses, and she bore him a son, he called his name Gershom for he said, “I have been a stranger in a foreign land” (Exo. 2:21-22) NKJV

DAILY DEVOTIONAL READING

Sun. 18/10/2015

Moses: A Ready Helper

Exo. 2:16-20

One good turn deserves another. This is truly evident in our text today. Moses defended the three Midianite girls without the girls reciprocating the kind gesture. When their father heard of Moses’ good deed, he sent for him. Moses was rewarded for his good action. Some help rendered require courage, some involve more risk than just lending a helping hand. Moses’ action in our text today involved both risk and lending helping hand to the three girls. Let your family stand up and lend a helping hand to another family or someone in need today.

Point of Emphasis: Moses: A true and ready helper indeed.

Prayer Point: Lord, reward us for all our kindness towards others in our family

BACKGROUND

Moses’ settlement in Midian seemed to be God’s design and purpose. The process of God’s preparation of Moses for leadership was also indicated in his waiting and sojourning in Midian. The waiting deepened maturity and he also recognised and seized the opportunities that came his way. This is the subject for discussion this week.

NOTES ON THE TEXT

PART 1: MOSES: A READY HELPER AT ALL TIMES (EXO. 2:16-21)

The daughters of Reuel came to draw water from the well for their father’s flock as Moses sat with little hope beside the well. The young women were driven-off by certain selfish shepherds but Moses came to their rescue. He overpowered the men and helped to draw water for their flock (vv. 16-17).

When the women returned home, they told their father what Moses did for them. The man charged them to go back for him. They went back and brought Moses. This was how he started the second phase of the three divisions of his life span (splitted into forty years each) in Midian.

The seven daughters of Reuel, the priest of Midian were very humble, industrious and diligent according to the occupation of their country. They went to water the flock of their father. They made themselves available for their father’s work.

Moses was well paid for this readiness to help at all times (v. 20). He was sent for and Moses followed and lived with them. He (Moses) was of good conduct and in the process of time, Reuel gave him his daughter Zipporah as wife (v. 21).

PART 2: MOSES: A SOJOURNER IN MIDIAN (EXO. 2:22; ACTS 7:29)

The marriage with Zipporah yielded fruit. She bore him a son who was named ‘Gershom’ because he reasoned that he has been a stranger in a foreign land (v. 22). Moses, no doubt, adjusted living as desert dweller, though he had lived a luxurious life for forty years in Egypt. However, Moses did not lose his identity despite marrying a Midianite. He recognised that he was a sojourner or stranger in a strange land. He showed his determination not to lose his identity. In verse 22, the Scripture recorded that Zipporah gave birth to a son and named him ‘Gershom’ saying, “I have become an alien in a foreign land. This may also denote a thought that when God gave him a home of his own, the name will keep reminding him that he was once a stranger in Midian. Stephen mentioned in his speech on how God delivered Israel by Moses that he had two sons in Midian (Acts 7:29).

PART 3: MOSES IN HOREB (EXO. 3:1)

Moses traveled a long distance to seek new pasture ground for his father-in-law’s flocks according to the custom of the shepherd. This made him to reach Mount Horeb known as ‘mountain of God’. We know this place better as Mount Sinai (Exo. 3:1). The best education which he had received at Pharaoh’s palace was not enough to prepare him for God’s assignment, tending flocks for another forty years was also needed to develop him so that he could be broken, humble and learn to be alone with God.

It took Moses forty years of solitude in the desert to be fit for his future assignment of delivering Israel from Egypt and shepherding them in the wilderness. It may not be wrong to believe that God deliberately led Moses to the unprecedented place unknown to him but God knew why He did it.

Moses had been designed by God to lead Israelites out of bondage and God had been preparing him towards this but Moses did not hear anything about this until he was eighty years old.

CONCLUSION

Moses’ flight to Midian was not to constitute himself as a nuisance to the people. He got opportunity to utilise his skill to set the seven daughters of Reuel who were being oppressed by the shepherds free. He was satisfied to live with Reuel. He endured the season which he had not prepared for, maximised his skill and seized the opportunity for his own good. He wasted no time or resources, he settled down to build a family of his own.

He did behave as if there was no hope for him to become relevant in his solitude. He knew that his potentials could not be buried alive. He was aware that it was not yet over until it is over. He used every opportunity judiciously.

QUESTIONS

How did Moses’ good deed pay him off when he met the seven daughters of Reuel?
What lesson did you learn from Moses’ ability to adjust as desert dweller?
In what ways can we emulate the custom of the shepherds in seeking new pasture ground for their flocks in our ministry?
What should be our attitude when we find ourselves in unprecedented place for unknown reason?
What should those who think that they are not relevant in the Church realise?

French

DIMANCHE 18/10/2015

MOISE : DE L’ AIDE DISPONIBLE

EXODE 2 :16-20

Une bonne action en attire une autre. Cela est vraiment évident dans notre texte d’aujourd’hui. Moïse défendit les trois filles madianites sans que celles-ci lui rendent la pareille. Quand leur père apprit de la bonne action de Moïse, il l’envoya chercher. Moïse fut récompensé pour sa bonne action. Certaines aides fournies exigent le courage, d’autres impliquent plus de risques que de donner tout juste un coup de main. L’action de Moïse dans notre texte d’aujourd’hui implique à la fois le risque et le fait de donner un coup de main aux trois filles. Que ta famille se lève aujourd’hui et donne un coup de main à une autre famille ou à quelqu’un dans le besoin.

Point essentiel : Moïse: en fait, un véritable aide disponible.

Axe de prière : Seigneur, récompense-nous pour toute notre gentillesse envers les autres dans notre famille.