Intermediate Level, Block 4—Egypt to Good Land
Week 32
Moses—A Prepared Person, Called By God
Point to Emphasize: God prepared Moses to be the right person to serve God’s people.
Reference Reading: Exodus 1—3
Memory Verse: …He will be a vessel unto honor, sanctified, useful to the master, prepared unto every good work. (2 Timothy 2:21b)
Story Sample
As we learned last week, God was sovereignly caring for the children of Israel even when they were being mistreated by Pharaoh. Actually, God was preparing them to return to the land He had promised them so many years before! For this, God needed a man and He prepared Moses.
You might know how Moses’ life was preserved. Pharaoh had ordered all the baby boys to be cast into the river. Moses’ mother decided to place the baby in a papyrus basket which she sealed with tar and pitch to make it waterproof. Pharaoh’s daughter saw the basket, got the baby out of the water and named him Moses. Miriam (Moses’ sister), who was still watching over him in the river to see what would happened to him, saw Pharaoh’s daughter taking the baby. Miriam went up to her and she offered to look for a Hebrew woman who would take care of the baby. Pharaoh’s daughter accepted and Miriam took Moses to their mother! Moses remained with his family during the early years of his life learning to love and to follow God.
God had a very special purpose for Moses, but for Moses to be able to accomplish that purpose he needed the best and highest education. God arranged for Moses to return to Pharaoh’s daughter and become her son. Pharaoh’s palace was the top school at that time. Moses studied hard. He learned Egyptian, math and science. He may have studied until he was 25 or older. When Moses was a boy, he applied himself to learn so many things! He also learned how to behave. Moses remained as the son of Pharaoh’s daughter until he was nearly 40. By the age of 40, Moses had three things he needed. He had the knowledge and fear of God, he had the highest education, and he had an excellent behavior.
Was he ready now to help God free the children of Israel? Not yet. This is what is really interesting. God had to wait until Moses was fully prepared before He could call him to help Him take the children of Israel out of Egypt.
I knew I wanted to be a community helper. Since I was about your age I would play with my sisters pretending I was a doctor or a nurse. It took me many years of schooling, but now, after all the years of preparation, I can help the community and by doing that, many times, I have been useful to God too. [Storyteller, insert a personal example or preparing yourself for a long time to be able to be useful for something.] To be useful to God requires us to be prepared. It takes many years of preparation.
After Moses was 40 years old, he was led by God to leave Egypt and go into the wilderness. This very educated man became a lowly shepherd for another 40 years in the desert. It was during this time that Moses learned humility, patience and compassion, among other good character traits. One day Moses was at the backside of a mountain in the wilderness. And as he was leading the flock of sheep, Jehovah appeared to him in a flame of fire within a bush. Now if we put a real flame of fire into a bush, what would happen? That’s right! It would soon be burned up. The branches would catch on fire and burn until they are all consumed, completely burned up. But this bush kept burning yet never burned up! Moses turned to take a really good look at this because he had never seen such a thing before! Then as he looked, someone called his name from out of the thorn bush. What a wonder! First, there was a flame within a bush, but the bush did not get burned. Then someone called to him out of the bush! Moses realized that it was God who was talking to him. Now Moses, a man, was there with God. And what a talk God was having with Moses! God was telling Moses that He was going to free His people out of the slavery of Egypt and that He would bring them up to the land He had promised Abraham.
God was only able to share His plan with Moses when he was fully prepared. Moses first learned to love and follow God. Later on, he obtained the highest education. Then, God led Moses to the wilderness for 40 years to learn humility, patience and compassion. It was only at that point that Moses was fully prepared to serve God’s people. It took many years for Moses to be fully prepared. In the same way, we all need to go through many years of preparation to become useful to God. Let’s be those who use the next decades to be prepared unto every good work and be useful to God!