Mensa Otabil - Pursuing God's Mission (11/02/2025)
Welcome to a brand new week, and we’re going back to our study of the book of Exodus as we look at Moses and his mission and how he responds to his mission. So far, we’ve looked at Moses and his encounter with the burning bush, God’s commission to him, the miracles God showed him, and the doubts that Moses expressed. Now, finally, Moses is ready to undertake the mission that God has given him: to go and liberate the people of Israel from Egypt. So we take the story from Exodus chapter 4, verse 18.
So Moses went and returned to Jethro, his father-in-law, and said to him, «Please let me go and return to my brethren who are in Egypt and see whether they are still alive.» And Jethro said to Moses, «Go in peace.» God has commissioned Moses; he knows what his mission is, he knows what he must do. He has the tools, he has the equipment, he has the anointing, and he has the grace to do what he has been called to do. But he’s working under somebody; he’s working under Jethro. Jethro is his father-in-law, but Jethro is also his boss because the sheep that Moses tended were Jethro’s sheep. So, Moses is a staff member of Jethro as well as his father-in-law.
So what do you do when you have a compelling mission and still have people you report to? How do you manage that? We see what Moses did, and there are two things I want you to pay attention to. First, Moses sought permission from Jethro. He had had this out-of-the-world experience with God, you know, the kind of things that you see, or you feel, or hear, and you just feel you can take off on your own, run off, and do whatever you want to do because, after all, you have God’s approval. But Moses knows he has God’s approval, he has God’s calling, he has God’s permission, but he needs man’s permission as well. He needs his supervisor, his father-in-law’s permission. So he goes to Jethro, and he asks for permission.
I like how he crafted his statement; he said, «I want to return to my brethren who are in Egypt and see whether they are still alive.» It’s a language that is presented in an idiom because if you read in Exodus 2:1, earlier when Moses attempted his first liberation and failed, this is what the passage says: he went out to his brethren and looked at their burdens. So the first time he went out to liberate his people from captivity, this is the same thing he was doing-he was going to look out to see the welfare of his brethren, and then he acted. Now he comes back 40 years later, and he’s doing the same thing. So in other words, what Moses is saying to Jethro is, «I’m going to complete the business I started. I’m going to finish the assignment I began long ago.»
So Moses teaches us how to honor a call of God, a compelling mission in life, as well as honor the people who have oversight over us. Then the second thing we notice is that Jethro gave his blessing to Moses. Jethro is a priest of Midian; he’s a spiritual man. He understands this young man came to him with nothing; he’s married to his daughter, but he’s grown to be a man of his own. God has called him; he’s on a mission. I can’t stop the mission. Because sometimes, you know, we may be Jethro, who needs to give people space to operate, or we may be Moses, who needs to get permission to operate.
Whether you are a Moses or a Jethro, this story tells us that no matter how compelling your drive is, you must do the right thing, and that if you’re in a position to have oversight of somebody, you must be ready to also release them when it’s time to release them. So both Moses and Jethro do the right thing, and in doing that, the will of God and the purposes of God are accomplished for the liberation of the Hebrews from Egypt. So that’s how we look at this verse, and we’ll continue the next one tomorrow.
Let’s share a word of prayer: say with me, «Heavenly Father, give me the courage to obey your calling and the wisdom to honor those you have placed over me. In Jesus' name, amen and amen.»