We were blessed this weekend to have Rodney share some important lessons and learnings with us from the life of Moses. One of the key ideas I took away from this was the importance of growing in character, and growing in humility. Back in 2021, we began a discipleship series through our life groups called Grow Character. As Rodney shared, I was reminded of the importance of continuously growing in character. The work of God reshaping who we are is never complete. I appreciated Rodney sharing from a life of growing in character!
I loved the quote that Rodney brought up from Pastor Alvin about this: “Our character has to catch up to our dreams.” As someone who is a bit of a dreamer, I can definitely relate. It is natural and healthy for us to set goals in our lives. Many of us can imagine things we want to do, places we want to travel, jobs we want to have, or milestones we want to accomplish. But Rodney raised a good question: are these dreams centered on us and our desires? Or are they centered on God, and how God may want to use us for his purposes?
Someone who exemplified a life of serving God’s purposes was Moses. Moses is a hero of faith. The Exodus is a founding story in Judaism and Christianity, and part of the very beginning of the people of God. But even Moses needed to grow into the role God called him to.
Rodney spoke about the development of Moses from a person who began by saying no to God, to someone who is an example of a person who listened well, and obeyed quickly. In Exodus 3, God appears to Moses in a burning bush, and calls him to bring the Israelites out of Egypt. He tells Moses what to say to the Israelites, and promises Moses that God will be with him.
But instead of going immediately, in chapter 4, we see Moses negotiate with God. He even goes so far as to say in verse 13, “Pardon your servant, Lord. Please send someone else.” God gives Moses his brother Aaron as a companion to help him. But still, Moses questions God in Exodus 5 and 6.
But in chapters 7 and 8, we see Moses and Aaron going to Pharaoh and doing just as God commanded them. With the ten plagues that came to Egypt, Moses and Aaron were obedient to God in everything they were told to do. They started to understand God’s will, and come into alignment and agreement with it.
As the Israelites wander in the desert, we see Moses on God’s side. In Numbers 12, Miriam and Aaron (Moses’s siblings) oppose Moses and question his leadership. But God defends Moses, telling Aaron and Miriam,
“Listen to my words: If there is a prophet of the Lord among you, I make myself known to him in visions. I speak to him in dreams. But not with my servant Moses. He has proved to be reliable with all my household. I speak with him face-to-face, visibly, not in riddles. He sees the Lord’s form. So why aren’t you afraid to criticize my servant Moses?”
– Numbers 12:6-8
Moses is a faithful servant of the Lord who God defends.
As Rodney said at the beginning of his message, Moses was the most humble man on earth (Numbers 12:3). I’m reminded of a quote I once heard about humility: “humility is not thinking less of yourself, but thinking of yourself less”. To grow in humility is not to think less of ourselves, or to lessen our own sense of value and worth. Rather, it’s to think of ourselves less, and to think of God and others more.
Siang-Yang shared that the essence of faith is simple and follows the pattern of Mark 12:30-31. Put God first, others and ourselves second, and everything else third. To grow in this is to grow in humility.