Exodus 2:11-22
“One day, when Moses had grown up, he went out to his people and looked on their burdens, and he saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his people. He looked this way and that, and seeing no one, he struck down the Egyptian and hid him in the sand. When he went out the next day, behold, two Hebrews were struggling together. And he said to the man in the wrong, “Why do you strike your companion?” He answered, “Who made you a prince and a judge over us? Do you mean to kill me as you killed the Egyptian?” Then Moses was afraid, and thought, “Surely the thing is known.” When Pharaoh heard of it, he sought to kill Moses. But Moses fled from Pharaoh and stayed in the land of Midian. And he sat down by a well.
Now the priest of Midian had seven daughters, and they came and drew water and filled the troughs to water their father’s flock. The shepherds came and drove them away, but Moses stood up and saved them, and watered their flock. When they came home to their father Reuel, he said, “How is it that you have come home so soon today?” They said, “An Egyptian delivered us out of the hand of the shepherds and even drew water for us and watered the flock.” He said to his daughters, “Then where is he? Why have you left the man? Call him, that he may eat bread.” And Moses was content to dwell with the man, and he gave Moses his daughter Zipporah. She gave birth to a son, and he called his name Gershom, for he said, “I have been a sojourner in a foreign land.”
Did you ever do something that you regret? I have! Said something I shouldn’t, did something dumb, knowingly sinned, missed opportunities, found myself in the middle of controversy, hurt someone’s feelings, knowingly or unknowingly caused strife, and the list goes on.
We all have! Many of us have tried the Moses method of burry it, hide it or run away from it. Moses had a long lesson of what to do with what he had done. Our actions have consequences. We can seek forgiveness for what we have done, but many times it leaves a scar on us or those around us. I John 1:9 has a model to repentance and forgiveness, but as I said – scars. Letting God deal with us can make us better or bitter. Bitterness demands that you live in the past. Forgiveness allows you to change your future. It is true that the present is colored by the past. It is also true that we can choose the colors of the future. All through scripture, God uses broken people in extraordinary ways.
Seek forgiveness, let the scars remind us of where God has brought us from, and trust him for tomorrow.
Never be a prisoner of your past.
It was just a lesson…
not a life sentence.
Use the HEAR method with today’s passage:
