Exodus 2:11-14 – Mission, method and moment

Time had passed and Moses was now a 40-year-old man. He must have known his ancestry and understood where his root was. That’s why in verse 11, it was mentioned twice that he went out to his brethren. God had preserved his life and placed him in an extraordinarily privileged position for 40 years to prepare him for the work he was expected to do. That’s why although he was raised as a prince in Egypt, he understood that his place was among his own people. He knew he had to deliver them from the plight and oppression dealt by the ruthless Pharaoh. Exodus 2:11-15 is a description of his first attempt at helping his people.

To be an effective and successful people helper, three elements must be in place. Firstly, one needs to have the heart for the mission. Secondly, he also needs to deploy the right method and thirdly, he will need to discern the right moment to do the work. Only when these three elements are there, would there be success and effectiveness in what one seeks to do. Sadly, while Moses had the heart for the mission, he used the wrong method and executed it at the wrong moment. What was meant to alleviate the plight of his brethren, spelled trouble for him.

In one of Moses’ visits to his Hebrew brethren, he saw one of them being cruelly beaten by a taskmaster. Seeing the injustice, he angrily killed that taskmaster. He then cautiously buried the dead body, thinking that no one had seen what he had done. Moses assumed that his Hebrew brethren would appreciate his willingness to help them. So, the next day when he went out among his brethren again, he saw two of them disputing and contending with each other. While he was seeking to help to mediate their quarrel, one of them accused him of trying to kill him, like what he did to the taskmaster. Realizing that what he did to the taskmaster would soon reach the ears of Pharaoh, Moses ran for his life and became a fugitive. He had failed in his mission because he deployed the wrong method and the wrong moment to help.

What lessons can we take away? Like Moses, it is important for us as people helpers, to have a heart for mission. Such a heart for the mission will be seen in one’s ability to identify with the people, to have deep compassion concerning their plight and to come to the task with passion. Identification, compassion, and passion are three clear pieces of evidence of a person who has a heart for mission. Then we need to deploy the right method to do the task. Moses in anger hastily did the wrong thing and killed that taskmaster. "Anger cannot do the righteous work of God" so said James in his epistle. And murder would certainly not be a good method to use to help alleviate another person's plight. Moses obviously used the wrong method. In that one murder, he threw away 40 years of preparation In the palace of Pharaoh. How wasteful! What also failed him was that he did it at the wrong moment. Timing is everything. Right methods carried out at the wrong moment can spell disaster. A right moment without a right method will also not yield the expected result.

Let’s put all these together. To be an effective people helper, we need to have a heart for the mission. We will also need to deploy the right method. And then we will need to do it at the right moment. A heart for one's mission is important but just as critical would be to know the right method to do it, and then the right moment to act. We must do the mission God has entrusted us, but we must do so by cultivating and developing the right method. Then let's execute it at the right moment. Let’s depend on the Lord to lead in all three!