Full Circle

March 26

(Acts 7:17-35 NIV) ""As the time drew near for God to fulfill his promise to Abraham, the number of our people in Egypt greatly increased. {18} Then another king, who knew nothing about Joseph, became ruler of Egypt. {19} He dealt treacherously with our people and oppressed our forefathers by forcing them to throw out their newborn babies so that they would die. {20} "At that time Moses was born, and he was no ordinary child. For three months he was cared for in his father's house. {21} When he was placed outside, Pharaoh's daughter took him and brought him up as her own son. {22} Moses was educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and was powerful in speech and action. {23} "When Moses was forty years old, he decided to visit his fellow Israelites. {24} He saw one of them being mistreated by an Egyptian, so he went to his defense and avenged him by killing the Egyptian. {25} Moses thought that his own people would realize that God was using him to rescue them, but they did not. {26} The next day Moses came upon two Israelites who were fighting. He tried to reconcile them by saying, 'Men, you are brothers; why do you want to hurt each other?' {27} "But the man who was mistreating the other pushed Moses aside and said, 'Who made you ruler and judge over us? {28} Do you want to kill me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday?' {29} When Moses heard this, he fled to Midian, where he settled as a foreigner and had two sons. {30} After forty years had passed, an angel appeared to Moses in the flames of a burning bush in the desert near Mount Sinai. {31} When he saw this, he was amazed at the sight. As he went over to look more closely, he heard the Lord's voice: {32} 'I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.' Moses trembled with fear and did not dare to look. {33} "Then the Lord said to him, 'Take off your sandals; the place where you are standing is holy ground. {34} I have indeed seen the oppression of my people in Egypt. I have heard their groaning and have come down to set them free. Now come, I will send you back to Egypt.' {35} "This is the same Moses whom they had rejected with the words, 'Who made you ruler and judge?' He was sent to be their ruler and deliverer by God himself, through the angel who appeared to him in the bush.””

Stephen’s history lesson continues with Moses. God’s people were enslaved in Egypt, but began to outnumber the Egyptians. Pharaoh began a forced infanticide, but baby Moses was placed in a basket, adopted by Pharaoh’s daughter, and raised as an Egyptian. At age forty, Moses killed an Egyptian in defense of his people, and fled to Midian. After forty years there, God spoke to him out of a burning bush, commanding him to return to Egypt and become their deliverer and ruler. Moses obeyed. He had come full circle. There are two lessons here. First, when God wants a job done, He prepares His ministers, and waits for the right time to send them. Hurry and haste are not godly traits. Second, when God wants a job done, He often sends someone who has “been there, done that”. Don’t be hasty in returning to your “Egypt” -- God may send you full circle in His time. Wait on the Lord! -- Friar Tuck’s Word of the Day