[Wednesday's Devotional] - Moses: And he sat down by a well

Moses: And he sat down by a well

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. Exodus2:15 [ESV]

This often overlooked verse is, I think, loaded with meaning.  It was all going so well for Moses: A quick résumé of Moses’ life so far shows that he has been saved from murder as an Israelite baby by a fearful, genocidal Pharaoh.  He had been ‘fostered’ by Pharaoh’s daughter and brought up in Pharaoh’s house with his own mother employed to nurse him.  But then, aged forty, he just had to go and get political didn’t he! Killing an Egyptian slave master for mistreating a Hebrew slave ruined it all.  Moses fled into the wilderness, a wanted man.  There he sat down by a well.   

The author of Exodus is, of course, not just commenting on Moses taking a sit down for a rest after fleeing from Egypt.  He is commenting on Moses’ attitude at this time.  Moses is no longer in Egypt.  He is away from the struggle that God’s people face in Egypt.  He is off the field, on the bench and out of the game.  It looks like the end of Moses’s relationship with Egypt.  It isn’t.   

In Midian, Moses was amongst people who worshipped the same God as his people did.  He was to find a loving wife and to have a son.  Moses might have thought that his ‘new’ life would do very nicely thank you and be content to live out his days in this pleasant situation.  God had other plans.

So perhaps you find yourself ‘off the field’ this morning.  Perhaps something that God gave you a passion for once didn’t happen the way that you hoped it would and you had to walk away?  Perhaps you sinned and you had to leave a situation behind?  Perhaps you know that the life you are now living is very cosy, but is missing something that it once had?  Well, Moses thought that his escape from Egypt meant ‘Game Over’ as far as his involvement with Israel was concerned.  But God was just preparing him for his life’s work.

If this devotional speaks to you about your life, get praying about it.

John Martin-Jones