Reply To: Pastoral Ministry 2023/2025 Discussion Board 1

[Ben]

Replying Wechie
Indeed, we see alot on calling and separation from the life and ministry of Moses. Here are more things to look at in that direction.
Moses: A case study of calling and separation

His calling
Exodus 2:12, Acts 7:23-28.

1. His call came as a strong burden or desire in his heart. Moses, received the call of God to be the deliverer of Israel before being separated into it. The first call came when he was 40 years old. He was then the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, with several privileges and opportunities to become anything asides a deliverer of Israel. He was educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and was a man of power in both words and deeds. According to “Antiquities of the Jews” by Josephus, he was also a general with a good track record, and had once saved Egypt from the Ethiopians. So he knew he was good. He had always been at the top of the heap, always been adequate for every situation and had proven his ability to command, to lead, and to combat.

2. He had little knowledge about what to do with the burden in his heart. So when God comes to him at forty years of age, at the height of his power and prowess and says, “You are to be the deliverer of Israel,” it is quite natural for him to go out in his own skill, his own strength and his own resources and seek to do the kind of delivering he could understand naturally. He answered his call from God when he killed an Egyptian while rescuing an Israelite. When he did, he was not only rejected by the Israelites and the Egyptians, but he became a target of Pharaoh and had to flee.

3. The period between receiving the call and being separated is the preparation phase. Faithfulness in one’s present assignment will bring about promotion. He fled across the Sinai Peninsula to the other side of the Gulf of Aqaba, and we find him there as a shepherd among the Midianites. Moses spent forty years as a shepherd. God used his seasons as a shepherd to develop him for the role of a deliverer unto his children.

His separation
Exodus 3:4, 10, 12, 14.

1. Separation demands that you leave your present assignment and be set apart unto your new role. Moses left being a shepherd for 40 years to becoming a deliverer by God to the children of Israel.

2. The right resources will come when separation takes place. While in Pharaoh’s house or away from Egypt as a shepherd, that was not the ultimate goal of God’s call on his life. So with his resources then he couldn’t fully step in as a deliverer. Way beyond what he had acquired, he was called into God’s best and was given the necessary resources for his assignment (God used Aaron and his rod).