Who Were You? Who are You?

Have you considered who Moses was, before his encounter with God in the Burning Bush? The story in Exodus is instructive. Moses was rescued from a basket in the Nile by the daughter of Pharaoh, and then entrusted by her to a Hebrew nurse. The nurse was actually Moses’ mother. He is brought up in the home of his parents during his early formative years. When the child grew up he was brought to Pharaoh’s daughter and becomes her son.

It is important to understand, that at heart, Moses is a Hebrew. It is that which leads him into difficulty. He sees an Egyptian striking a Hebrew, and he kills the Egyptian. He sees two Hebrews fighting and he says to one of them, “Why do you strike your companion” [Exodus 2:13]? With that he discovers that his early execution of an Egyptian is clearly known and he flees from Egypt.

That’s the basic story, and as such illustrates the principle of Heilsgeschichte, or Salvation History. To put it simply, the Salvation History of Israel is an archetype of the Salvation History of each one of us. That is, in this story of the early life of Moses you will find important principles that will shed light on your own life and early experiences.

Moses, from the beginning, has a strong sense of what is right, or fair; and acts as a deliver in both of those short stories from his early life. His essential character as a deliverer with a strong sense of justice is formed before his encounter with the Living God in the Burning Bush. It is that character in Moses that is anointed by God and partially transformed. I say “partially transformed” because Moses, like all of us, carries his strengths and weakness into his life after that transforming encounter with God in the Burning Bush.

When we encounter God through Christ Jesus, we are transformed by the grace and mercy of God. Nevertheless, like Moses, we carry forward many of the gifts, talents, and personal characteristics that were formed in our early years. If we came to that encounter with a strong need to be loved and a strong need to love, we will carry that forward with both its strengths and weaknesses.

What happens when we encounter God through Christ Jesus? Christ Jesus has a magnetic personality; when he attracts us all of our original positive characteristic are drawn toward Him, and all of our negative characteristics are repelled. In that encounter everything within our lives is realigned. Our capacity for love finds and maintains a constructive direction when our polarity is focused on Him. One implication of this is that our need to love and be loved will ennobled and enhanced by our relationship with Him. That is one reason why it is important for us to maintain an active spiritual discipline.  

We, like Moses, will find that transformation is a process and that some of our weaknesses will endure for a long time; but we will also carry forward the inherent strengths which are our birthright and the natural result of our early nurturing or lack of it. That two-fold desire to love and to be loved will be carried forward in loving service to others.