A Time for Choosing
By Jack Wyman
He was born in defiance.
He was rescued by Providence.
He was called by Sovereignty.
He was equipped, emboldened, and used by Omnipotence.
He was found floating as a helpless infant, in a woven basket among the reeds along the bank of the mighty Nile.
Moses was special. God not only saved him from the angry edict of a frustrated Pharaoh. He placed this Hebrew baby in the tender arms of the king’s own daughter. He was hidden, then discovered. Moses was raised in the palace, in the midst of Egyptian opulence, power, and unrestrained ambition.
Moses had the best of wealth, comfort, security, and opportunity. He was educated and nurtured by the premier civilization of his time. There was nothing beyond his grasp; nothing that threatened his ideal world. Nothing that impinged in any way upon his splendid lifestyle.
Moses had it all. Who could ask for anything more?
His people knew the opposite. They suffered amidst the unremitting toil and cruelty of Egyptian slavery. Deprived of their humanity, the Hebrews abandoned all hope that their God would ever deliver them. In the luxurious kingdom of their oppressor lived one of their own, unknown and unknowable; an unreachable figure of God’s mysterious ways.
It did not remain that way, of course. In time, Moses came to see and pity the suffering of his own people. He witnessed the extreme and violent injustice under which they struggled daily to survive, and his heart grew burdened and restless.
When he interceded on behalf of a slave being beaten by an Egyptian, it touched off a series of events that led to the divinely ordered transformation of his character, his life, his destiny. And it changed Israel and the world forever.
In the Bible, there’s always the beautiful application of every story, and of every character. Nothing of narrative is ever wasted. The Author would have it no other way. True, there is the cultural hurdle of the centuries that requires our determination to transcend.
It’s worth the effort and thought. The Book of books is accessible to us, in all its beauty and profundity, if we will read, think, and trust.
In the New Testament book of Hebrews, we find the eloquent rendition of Old Testament saints and the listing of their heroic deeds. Of Moses, we read this:
“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 in Egypt . . . By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king: for he endured, as seeing him who is invisible” (Hebrews 11: 24-27)
“Choosing. . .”
Moses “refused” his pedigree and privilege. He chose a different way. He chose affliction and hardship over comfort and ease; dangerous uncertainty over predictable security; the desperate deprivation of a desert over the pleasant provisions of a palace.
Moses chose to suffer with God’s people—whatever the cost—than to frolic in the fleeting pleasures of Egyptian debauchery. He placed greater value on the offence of Christ than he did on all the wealth of corrupted power.
Moses chose God and his people over this world and its decadence. He placed his trust and obedience in the King of Kings who spoke to him invisibly from a burning bush on a lonely mountain; he feared not the anger and retribution of a pharaoh who would pursue him across the heated plains.
What about you and me?
The Church of Jesus Christ in America will be tested with increasing severity over the next decade. We will not be tried by fire and persecution. We will instead be tempted by compromise, intimidated by ridicule, deceived by power, lured by acceptance, and lulled into complacency.
We must choose.
We must serve someone or something. We must decide what we believe. We will live by those beliefs, whatever they are and whether we know it or not. Satan is nothing if not subtle. He takes us unawares. He surrounds us with the world and its values and ideas; its popular culture and its entertainment; its blandishments and beguilements.
If Satan promised Jesus the kingdoms of this world, will he not dangle before us what he has no intention or ability to give. So easily he entreats us with rationalizations—about sex, money, power, and politics. The devil waves the latest public opinion surveys in our face and snidely taunts us. “Look at what everyone else believes! How can you be such a hopelessly out-of-touch Neanderthal? Get with the program!”
Ah, yes, everyone’s doing it.
He strikes us, as surely he did Moses, at the Achilles Heel of our pride.
Paul called himself a “Hebrew of Hebrews,” yet he abandoned all religious privilege and status for the sake of following Jesus, so often in hardship and suffering. He chose Christ. Compared to the infinite and eternal joy and glory of knowing him, the things of this world were mere garbage (Philippians 3:8).
“Hate what is evil,” Paul told the Christians surrounded by Roman depravity. “Cling to what is good” (Romans 12:9). Come out from the world and be separate from the world. Do not be separated from the world’s suffering, pain, and injustice.
Do not separate yourself from the world’s needs. You are in this time and place by divine purpose. Make good use of your opportunities to be salt and light. To serve God by serving others.
Be separated, instead, from this world’s desperate and futile answers. It’s following a blind guide called self.
Choose the narrow road. The one less traveled. It requires courage, conviction, and a strong Christian conscience. It will also make all the difference.
“Choose this day whom you will serve.”
This is a time for choosing.
To order Jack Wyman’s book, “Everything Else: Stories of Life, Faith and Our World”, go to amazon.com, Christian Book Distributors or barnesandnoble.com. It is also available on Kindle and eBooks.
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