You will set my people free!

(This turned out to be way longer than I intended, but when God says write… You write.- I also realize that there are some formatting issues.  I am having some issues with the blog that I am hoping to figure out soon.)

Last night was the premiere of a new 5 part mini-series produced by Mark Burnett and Roma Downey on "The Bible."  I first fell in love with Roma Downey when she played Monica on Touched by An Angel.  Her messages of hope and words of encouragement often had me in tears myself.  Her words were so genuine that there were times I felt she was speaking directly at me.  Even now, as I watch the re-runs of this show on GMC I often find myself caught up in the characters and in God's saving grace that is constantly at work.

The Bible is the greatest book ever written.  It's the greatest story ever told.  It's the only book in the world that has the power to give life.  It's a beautiful love story.  It's a captivating story of God's redemption of His chosen people.  The Bible is a real book, about real people, who encountered a real God.  From Genesis to Revelation it demonstrates God's love for a sinful people.  It beautifully illustrates the need for God's grace and forgiveness through its stories.

I want to write about Moses, but… Before I do that let me give this disclaimer.   

            (Editor’s Note: I was going to write about my opinion on the series itself, but have decided to save that for another post after I have seen the mini-series in its entirety.)

After the series ended last night I discussed with a friend (in length) the parts that we most liked, things that stood out to us, something that may have made us look at a story differently, something that made us want to pick up our Bible’s and study something, favorite lines, and things of that nature.  I was continually drawn back to Moses.  I have always loved the story.  A message of redemption.  A message of hope.  A message of freedom.  A message of peace. 

Moses was a warrior.  Yes, I said warrior.  He was also a beautiful picture of redemption. 

Let me clarify:

Merriam-Webster’s definitions:

Redemption: The act, process, or instance of redeeming.

            Redeeming: Serving to offset or compensate for a defect.

            Redeem: To buy back; to free from what distresses or harms; to free from captivity

Moses, the warrior should have never been.  Why? 

Moses, the baby, wasn’t supposed to have a chance.  Moses, the baby, should have been killed at birth.  Moses’ mother hid him (defying Pharaoh’s orders [Exodus 2:22]  that all of the Israelite’s baby boys be killed) and eventually (Unable to hide him any longer) she placed him in a basket and left the basket in the Nile river until Moses, the baby, was found by Pharaoh’s daughter [Exodus 2:1-10] 

Moses, upon being pulled from the river by Pharaoh’s daughter, was taken in despite being an Israelite baby.  He became the child of Pharaoh’s daughter.  I believe that this also shows us that God has a plan for each and every one of us.  Moses, the baby, didn’t stand a chance until God intervened.  God knew Moses’ future, and He knew that this little baby had a divine purpose (and that’s a blog for a whole other time because we are talking about redemption). 

Moses had a purpose.  But, Moses killed a man.  [Exodus 2:12]  Moses was out watching the Hebrew’s work and saw an Egyptian who was beating the Hebrew.  Moses reacted and killed the Egyptian and tried to hide his body in the sand.  Pharaoh heard about what happened and wanted Moses to be killed because he killed the Egyptian and Moses fled.  Moses took off from Egypt and didn’t look back.  He no longer wanted any part of it.  He was gone.  He was out of there. 

He has run away from his people.  He has fled from his mistakes.  He killed a man.  Something that I don’t know how you ever recover from.  You might think that’s the end of this story.  That’s it Moses, I’m sorry, but you missed your chance.  You made a mistake.  Say goodbye to God’s purpose for you.  Not going to happen now.  Don’t look back Moses.  Welcome to your life of regret.  You ran away, Moses. You’re finished. 

Thank you Jesus that You are the God of second chances.  You are not a God who walks away from their people.  You are the God of second, third, and fourth chances.  You are God of redemption.  You are the God who placed a burning bush [Exodus 3:2] in the path of Moses to draw him back to his purpose.  You are the God who met him right where he was.  You stepped into his messy life and found him right where he was.  You gave him the chance for redemption.  You then used the Moses’ redemption to redeem an entire nation. 

“You are not a God.  You are only a man.  And you will set my people free.” 

My prayer is that our earth will see more Moses’ begin to rise up.  If we have experienced redemption in our own lives, then we should be out helping other people to experience theirs.  Christianity is not a gift that should be kept to ourselves.  It’s not about just us.  We need more people to become bold like Moses.  We need more people to look the enemy directly in the eye and tell him to set our people free. 

People all over the world are in bondage.  There are currently 27 million people for sale in 161 countries around the world.  27 million.  If that doesn’t stop you in your tracks then I don’t know what will.  The world’s current population (At the time of this post) is 7,101,848,539.  Of that population it is estimated that there are only 2.1 billion Christians.  That means that there are approximately 5,001,848,539 living without the light of Jesus in their life. 

When someone does not have the light of Jesus surrounding them, they are covered by the darkness of Satan.  They are held captive by it.  They can’t get away from it.  It’s time for people to become like Moses and to look Satan square in the eye and remind him, “You are not God.”  It’s time for the people of God to become bold.  It’s time for us to be courageous and to be the voice that is speaking for those in darkness.  It is time for our voice to be the ones that are heard. 

Satan is a very real enemy.  If we do not believe this then we are only fooling ourselves.    

 “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy.” –John 10:10                                                              

 “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” –Ephesians 6:12

The enemy is real.  Satan is real.  He is prowling around like a lion looking for anyone to devour.  His goal is to steal.  His goal is to kill.  His goal is to destroy.  Our struggle is against the very forces of evil and darkness.  There is a battle all around us.  We are fighting against the powers of darkness that would seek to devour as many as he can. 

I hate to ruin the series for you (Spoiler alert ahead) but guess what… Jesus WINS! 

This is how it ends. 

“At the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledges that Jesus Christ is Lord.”  -Philippians 2:10-11

Let’s be bold.  Let’s live a life of courage.  Let’s not be ignorant to the dark forces that are at work in this world.  If we’ve messed up, let’s come to God.  Let’s experience his redemption.  Let’s allow him to set us free from our captivity.  After that, let’s help others experience that same redemption. 

In 140 characters or less:  I think we need some more Moses' to start looking the enemy in the eye and demanding that he start setting God's people free! #TheBible