The Prince of Egypt

I have been struggling to read my Bible regularly for the last few months. I think it's partly due to feeling disappointed that we (still) haven't moved to London and something within me, though desperately wanting to feel close to God, has pulled back and distanced myself from Him. Not a wise move and not one I want to continue. But where to start?!

Jemimah was watching The Prince of Egypt the other day (the Dreamworks film depicting the life of Moses) and I had an emotional moment watching the Israelites crossing the Red Sea and felt God drawing me to delve into the story of Moses, found in the Old Testament part of the Bible.

So this morning, (not too early and whilst drinking a second cup of coffee) I read Exodus chapters 1 and 2, which is where the story of Moses begins. The Israelites are enjoying life in Egypt, when a new King comes into power and takes issue with them. He is worried that the Israelites will be so great in number, that they will overthrow him so he puts slave masters in place and forces the Israelites into hard labour. So great is the Pharaoh's fear however, that he soon issues an order for all newborn Israelite boys to be thrown into the Nile. Pretty extreme. And this is where we first meet Moses. He is born into an Israelite family, but rather than being killed, his mother hides him in a basket and places him in it on the banks of the Nile. The Pharaoh's daughter finds him and Moses ends up being brought up as her son.

When Moses is grown up, he takes issue with the way his people, the Israelites are being treated and kills an Egyptian soldier, which results in Moses running away.

I was thinking about the context Moses has grown up in.

At the time of his birth, orders are being given by the Palace for all baby boys to be killed - he probably grew up with these stories and maybe other atrocities. He was an Israelite by birth and aware of his roots, but grew up as an Egyptian and those are his circumstances. And whilst nothing condones one man murdering another, it made me think how easy it can be to become conditioned by the way we grow up, our family context and to even feel a 'rightness' about 'the way we do things in our family.'

However, God calls us to follow Him. Moses had a choice in that moment when he killed the Egyptian and we have a choice when we are faced with making decisions for God over what our circumstances or family ways might be. It may have been in Moses' nature to have responded in the way that he did, but, as Christians, we are being transformed into the likeness of Jesus and as such, should reflect his nature rather than our own.

All aspects of our life should reflect this; when we pray, our requests should be centred around what God's will for us is rather than what we want.

How often do we pray like that?

Our (my!) prayer life can so often be about making our own lives more comfortable but somehow, I don't think that is where God wants us to focus. How often do I pray 'Lord, whatever you have for me, I want?' How often do I focus on what God's will for a situation is rather than what I want the outcome to be?

I have felt God challenge me over the last few weeks about asking the wrong questions when I approach praying for situations. We are currently praying about whether to sell our house and use the capital to rent in London...it can feel a bit like walking the tightrope of God's will, with a slight desperation in our voices when we pray...

'Lord, is it right for us to sell our house and rent in London....?'

Trying to ascertain God's will can tie us up in knots sometimes, but I once heard it described like this. Rather than thinking that God's will is like walking a tightrope, where one false step could send you spiralling outside of His will for our lives, better to think of it like a large stately home with acres of grounds - yes, there is a perimeter wall but within it, there is plenty of space to walk around without the fear of falling.

And whilst is is most definitely not wrong to ask God these things, I kind of think that we should also be asking him things like;

'what do you want to do in my heart through this situation?'

'what do you want me to learn?'

'how will I best reflect your likeness?'

This changes our focus and also, I believe, can liberate us from feeling paralysed by the seemingly unanswered prayers or the unsettling silence that seems to emanate from God at times.

'For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,' declares the Lord. 'As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.'