God Calls us to Go

“It is time to go.” How many times do we use that phrase in our daily lives? “It is time to go on vacation” makes us happy. “It is time to go home from vacation” is a mixed bag. Some are deeply saddened by that, but some are overjoyed that they can go home and rest. How about, “It is time to go to work?” Or, as I heard last week from a young couple, “It is time to go to the altar and get married.” I One of my favorites is, “It is time to go to church.” I love that one. As the Psalmist said, “I was glad when they said to me, ‘Let us go to the house of the Lord!’” 

It came time one day for Moses to go. Back to the land of the pyramids and the Pharaoh. Back to the slave drivers and the people they are oppressing. Back to Egypt. God had work for him there. 

God’s call on his life took precedence over everything else for Moses, as it does for you and me. Jesus made that clear to us when he said in essence that anyone who loves his father or mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters more than he loves Jesus is not worthy to be his disciple. Moses was commissioned by God to go; that meant he could not stay in Midian. But…it was important for him to leave in the right way. The first thing Moses did was speak to Jethro with great respect. He asked him for permission to leave, and he did so because this was his father-in-law and his employer. Moses told him he needed to go back to see his brothers. He may have looked like an Egyptian when he first arrived in Midian, but Moses clearly understood who he was and who his people were. Jethro spoke a blessing over Moses, telling him to go in peace. 

Moses packed his bags and took his family and the staff of God with him on the journey, which represented God’s presence and divine authority. This is a wonderful reminder that we who are in Christ travel through life as a family. Even if you are a spiritual orphan as far as blood relatives go, you are part of a universal family of brothers and sisters in Christ. And more importantly, you are part of a spiritual family in a local church, or should be, where you know your family members and are known by them, and you are known by your heavenly Father and his Son. You are not alone. 

Moses was not alone, either. He went to meet with his brother, Aaron, for the two of them were being sent to the Pharaoh. We serve a sending God! They met at the mountain of God, a long way from Egypt. One of the questions I had was, “How did Aaron get out of Egypt?” I mean, he didn’t have any vacation days as a slave. The answer is simply, God made it happen. 

Moses was 80 and Aaron was 83 so here they are, two octogenarians, but still in their prime. Let it be so for me, Lord! And look at this: they kiss. Their brotherly affection was restored after 77 years of absence from one another. Moses didn’t add this because it was embarrassing but I’m pretty sure that after Aaron kissed his younger brother, he put him in a headlock and gave him a noogie. Because that’s what big brothers do! This moment of affection and brotherly love was deeply needed, because these two were headed into the hornet’s nest. Only by the grace of God would they, or we, be able to do what is required.

Let’s go!