God called Moses to deliver His children from bondage. This Call was placed upon Moses life from the time of His birth, but
could not begin to be manifested properly until He was 80 years of age. He was groomed in the palace of Pharaoh during his youth
to be the successor to the Egyptian throne. Thoroughly educated in the ways of the Egyptians, he was, according to Jewish history,
placed as the General of the Egyptian army in a major conflict against the Ethiopians. He was, according the Egyptian oracles,
sent to lead and deliver them in this war. At age 40 he fled from Egypt into the land of Midian after being confronted by his
brethren about his killing of an Egyptian overseer. He had attempted to deliver one of his fellow brethren from this Egyptian
who was smiting his fellow Hebrew brother. When no one was looking, or so he thought, Moses killed the Egyptian man. The
Call was there on Moses life to deliver his people, but the means and the power were not there yet. Thus Moses, acting in his
own strength, that is the flesh, committed this deed out of his own zeal and awareness of the Call of God upon his life. The
consequences were difficult indeed. Moses fled for two reasons; First his brethren did not understand nor accept that he was
called to be their deliverer and secondly, the Egyptians were envious of his success as a General of their army and viewed him with
suspicion as a potential threat to the Egyptian kingdom. For you see Moses at some time before or near age 40, made a solemn
commitment in his heart to God. The scripture says that “by Faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the
son of Pharaoh’s daughter; Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season;
Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt: for he had respect unto the recompense of the reward”
(Heb 11:24-26). He had grown up in the majesty and delicacies of the Egyptian kingdom. The treasures of Egypt were available
to him, but he instead chose the “greater riches”. We may view Moses commitment with great admiration and rightfully honor the
Faith that brought him to this decision. We might think then within ourselves that surely because of his consecration Moses
should have been ready to fulfill the call of God that was upon His life. Yet we know that he was not yet ready, for God knew
the flesh that was in Moses, as He also knows how we often depend upon ourselves instead of Him. But God would make him ready
for the task. Thus God, through circumstances, allowed him to flee to Midian for 40 years. While there he married Jethro’s
daughter Zipporah, and had a son named Gershom, whose name means “a stranger in a land”. It also has been supposed that Moses
may have written the books of Genesis and Job while in Midian. As someone has said, it took 40 minutes to get Moses out of Egypt,
but it took 40 years to get Egypt out of Moses. Thus it is with the sincere consecrated Christian oftentimes; the flesh is not
easily subdued, but the Fruit of the Spirit will eventually come forth from one’s life if the heart is yielded and Faith is ever kept
in the Finished Work of the Cross, and nothing else. It could be said that Moses’ departure into Midian at this time was in
itself an act of prudent Faith even though a result and consequence of what he did to the Egyptian (Heb 11:27). From these events
in Moses’ life we can see how God oftentimes leads us through our failures unto the higher ground He wants us to arrive at, even recognizing
and rewarding our Faith in the midst of it all, while always having our greater good in His heart.
God sometimes allows the flesh
to manifest itself in our lives and bear its bitter fruit so that we may come to understand that “in me, (that is in my flesh) dwells
no good thing” (Rom 7:18). All of Moses “goodness” needed to be banished from his life as well as all of his “badness”. All hope of the flesh had to die, (even the so called “good” parts), before he could be a suitable instrument used by God to deliver
the children of Israel from Egyptian bondage.