Exodus 2:11-15; Acts 7:23-29     How to Make Right Choices part II    Sept 25, 2005

      In 1492, Columbus confidently set sail for India and China, but ended up in the Caribbean, thus setting a pattern that would continue for 500 years.  Men, being self confident, still will not stop and ask for directions.      Self confidence is a valuable quality for success in life.  Many people have failed in business, in their families, and in church due to a lack of confidence.  But there is a difference between self-confidence and self-centered.  Today is our third sermon in a series on Moses.  We are continuing to look at what we can learn from Moses about making right choices in life.  And right choices are never based on self-centered emotional feelings.  Right choices are built on rational thinking and trust in God.

      We saw last week that Moses had made the decision to follow God’s will and side with the enslaved people of Israel rather than to live in luxury among royalty.  Moses was certainly sincere in his motives.  And yet, he made a bad choice.  We saw last week that as a young man, Moses was an action sort of guy.  Mr. Charge ahead.  Am I exaggerating about the young Moses?   Remember the Jewish historian Josephus tells us that Moses was a commander in the Egyptian army with successful combat experience.  And remember in the Bible, when Moses runs away into the desert, the first thing he does is find a group of men who are harassing some young women at a well and Moses fights them off.  Oh, Moses is a man who can take care of himself and take care of other people.  He had many abilities and he had great confidence that if God was calling him to save his people, he was the man to do it.

     Look at Ex 2:11-12   One day, Moses was walking in the fields, talking with the Hebrew slaves about their conditions and he sees an Egyptian taskmaster beating a slave.  And Moses decides to intervene.  He does not stop to think but just rushes in like Rambo to save the day.  And Moses kills the taskmaster.  Did he intend to kill him?  Or did Moses just hit the man too hard?  We do not know.  But the man was dead. 

      The first lesson we can learn today about making right choices is to use the rational power of our reason rather than merely our emotions.  Moses had the best of intentions.  He wanted to save this slave.  But Moses did not think about what he was about to do. Moses was not thinking in a large way or seeing the big picture of his actions. That has happened in my life.  Maybe you too.  In working with churches now for 21 years, I have on occasion had the best of intentions to help a youth program, to build up a Bible study, to advance the membership.  I really meant well.  But sometimes, because I did not think clearly and rationally about my actions or words, I messed up.  What is rational thinking really?  It is large thinking, seeing the big picture.  It is looking through the eyes of God.  However, when we primarily see through our own individual emotions, seeing just how we feel at this tiny moment in time, we are usually thinking small and looking through small self-centered eyes.  Right choices require thinking about what we will do.

        Look on at Ex 2:13-14  The next day Moses was back in the fields and he sees to Hebrew slaves arguing.  Now Moses is feeling pretty big about himself and his own ability.  He has saved the day yesterday.  He showed those Egyptians a thing or two.  And so again he rushes in to help.  He thinks, “Surely everyone knows now that I have the strength to save them.”  But instead, the two men ask him, “Who made you ruler and judge over us?”   Can you imagine the shock and hurt?  Moses has given up all the royal privilege to help these slaves and now they say, “Who do you think you are?”  Moses great strength and ability had failed.   That brings us to lesson two—God wants us to tackle challenges in His strength and not merely our own strength.   This is almost in conflict with lesson one and so many Christians get confused at this point.  The Bible teaches us to use our abilities, our intelligence, our strength to live our lives but then the same Word of God reminds us that those things are not enough when we face the challenges.  We are to use our best reasonable and rational thinking to solve problems and yet we are also to trust in God to guide us farther than we can ever think.  How are we to resolve this conflict?

     The scientist Isaac Newton said, “We are like dwarfs, seated on the shoulders of giants.  We see farther but not due to the sharpness of our eyes but simple because we are standing on their shoulders.”   Listen to this.  If we are to see the full distance to find the answers to our problems, then we too must stand on the shoulders of God.  But now listen to me, we must open our own eyes and look.  The sin of secular unbelievers is in refusing to take a stand upon God.  But the sin of far too many Christians is to take a stand upon God and then close our eyes.  We see nothing.  Nothing at all.  God desires to empower you, lift you up, and give you strength and wisdom so that you can run the race.  The right decisions and the correct answers will not fall from the sky.  You must reach up with your entire God given ability and think, reason, work to come to the right choices in life.  Moses was so sure of himself as he rushed in to solve everyone’s problems that he never stopped to think and to seek the plan of God. 

       How can we make right choices?  One, God wants you to make decisions based more on the largeness of reason and less on small self centered emotion.  Two, God wants you to trust in him to aid you in seeing farther than you can on your own.  Finally, we see the results when we ignore these two principles.  Look at verses 14-15….Moses was found out.  All his good intentions backfired.  He had to flee from Egypt.   Lesson three today is that when we make our choices in self-centered ways based just on how we feel at the moment then life is going to backfire in our face. 

      Where are you in your life this morning?  How have you learned to apply these principles to living?  Which lesson do you violate the most often?  Do you use your rational abilities well but forget to trust in God’s guidance?  Or do you have faith in God but are not so good at thinking and doing yourself?   Can you remember a time when events backfired on you because you broke one of these rules?  

       This morning, come to God in prayer and ask God to help you grow where you need to grow.  Do you need to trust more?  Do you need to get up and work a little harder yourself?  When we find that balance in life then we will have come into a place of success no matter how many challenges surround us.  Amen.