Chris Cloud
Exodus 2
Timeline of Moses’ life:
Baby Boy (birth to age 40)
Big Blunder (age 40-80)
Burning Bush (age 80-120)
Pastor Kevin led us through the first five of ten life lessons from Moses.
God will place you wherever He wants you, however He wants to get you there, over, around, or through anyone and anything in the way (Exo 2:1-9)
1. God orchestrated things so that baby Moses was found by Pharaoh’s daughter (providing protection), but raised by his birth mother (providing Godly upbringing). Have you experienced a situation where an unexpected or unfortunate situation turned out better than you could possibly have imagined it? In the moments when things weren’t going as planned, did you doubt the outcome? What impact can these unexpected turnarounds have on our ability to process future situations?
2. Pastor Kevin listed several “i” words – inadequacy, insecurity, instability, infertility, inability, incompetence, insufficiency… which of those words do you identify most with when thinking about the distance between where you are now and where you think God wants you to be? How does our identity in Christ help us leapfrog that gap?
God’s deliverance usually requires divine disturbance (Exo 2:10)
3. What areas or plans for your life do you have a “do not disturb” sign hung out for God? Why are these areas or plans so important to you? What would need to change for you to be able to turn on the “open” sign instead?
4. What part of your life right now is in a state of disturbance? What might God be delivering you from by detouring you? What might God be inviting you into by detouring you?
Temporary, emotional decisions can have permanent consequences (Exo 2:11-14)
5. Perhaps you haven’t committed Moses’s big blunder (murder), but you’ve probably done something in the heat of the moment that you deeply regret. Were there consequences for your hasty action? How did you feel when you realized you made an emotional decision? What did you learn from the experience?
Pastor Kevin noted Exodus 2:12-14 shows us four signs that help us know, like Moses, that we are making poor decisions – we are being sneaky, we are hiding things, we are being exposed, and we are living in fear.
6. Do any of the above signs resonate with you? Take some time in prayer asking the Holy Spirit to search your heart. Have you made a poor decision that needs to be addressed? Do you need to make things right with someone? Is there a burden from which you need relief?
When you run from your problems, they follow you (Exo 2:15)
7. Moses fled Egypt and sat by a well in Midian exhausted, alone, and thinking he lost everything. His problems sat at the well with him, but so did God. Have you ever tried to outrun your problems? How far did you get? Have you ever had a ‘sitting by a well’ moment in your life? Did you feel God’s presence with you?
8. Does God love us less or leave us after we make big blunders? How could you encourage someone who believes either of these lies? What truth do they need to hear?
9. How has God used the times after your big blunders to restore you or prepare you for future service? Have you been able to use lessons learned from your blunder to help others avoid the same mistake?
God’s greatest work in our lives often comes out of our greatest weakness (Exo 2:16-25)
10. We can fall into the trap of wishing away our weaknesses or faults. How have you filled in the blank, “I wish _____________” (could be a lack of ability, a past mistake that you think disqualifies you from God’s use, a weakness or sin that frequently bites you)? How has God grown you because of your response above? Would you be the person you are today if God had granted your wish?
11. Read 2 Corinthians 12:9-10. How would you explain God’s power “being made perfect in our weakness”? What weakness/difficulties do you need to “be content” with so that God may strengthen you? Are you ashamed of your weaknesses or can you boast of them, like Paul, because they provide room for God to work in your life?
