Daily Gleanings

Exodus 4:24 And it came to pass on the way, at the encampment, that the Lord met him and sought to kill him. 25 Then Zipporah took a sharp stone and cut off the foreskin of her son and cast it at Moses’ feet, and said, “Surely you are a husband of blood to me!” 26 So He let him go. Then she said, “You  are a husband of blood!”—because of the circumcision.

First off I want to say that Winnie and I are fine.  This is just my Mother’s Day sermon for the school and my daily home Bible Studyand I thought you’d like it. I learned 2 amazing things when I got saved.  
Christians aren’t perfect nor are their marriages.   We are all under a lot of internal and external pressure to show perfection when we get saved, but the fact is that we are still going to have problems.  That’s not an excuse for giving up, divorce or separation.  It’s just a reality that walking out Christianity and a healthy marriage require diligence and hard work.

David’s marriage was lousy.  Peter’s wasn’t that great either.   Paul’s was virtually non existent and we knew he was married by the title he held before he met Jesus on the road to Damascus.   Moses was separated for 5 years until his father in law brought them together again.

Exodus 4 tells us that although Moses was going to be a minister and free his people, yet failed to minister to his own family.   Zipporah, his wife, took the matters into her own hands.  She cut the flesh away from her son with a knife (sword).  The Word of God is a sword, and we should use it to cut away our own fleshly thoughts and desires, and teach our kids to do the same.  

This is my Mother’s Day sermon.  Kind of awkward but it’s a very valid point, especially in the matriarchal society of Latin America.   The message is, if dad won’t be the priest of the house, the spiritual leader, mom has to do it.  That will always cause turmoil and the mom will always have resentment because of it, but someone has to look out for the little one’s souls.

Our lives aren’t perfect, our marriages and families aren’t perfect, but we are saved.   And we want everyone we come into contact with to be saved. Our mission is to live Godly lives (imperfect as they are) and keep doing the right thing the right way.   Charles Stanley for example was abandoned by his wife and eventually divorced but had a string ministry to the end.  When Moses’ wife left him, he didn’t run after her, he just kept on doing what God showed him to do.

1 Cor 7:13 For the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband: else were your children unclean; but now are they holy. But if the unbelieving depart, let him depart. A brother or a sister is not under bondage in such cases: but God hath called us to peace

Likewise the wives.  

The fact was that Moses was married to a Medianite.  A non-believer. She did the right thing, what God wanted,  but without the right attitude.  She took the kid and moved back in with dad. She was a good woman, she just didn’t know the one true God.  Moses knew the one true God, but neglected teaching his family.  He neglected the family devotions as we would say today.  He left the training up to his heathen wife and now had to suffer the consequences.

Proverbs 22:6
King James Version
6 Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.

Moses didn’t run after her.  She didn’t run after him, in fact she left him.   It wasn’t right.  It wasn’t good   But both were at fault.  The truth is, a separation or even a divorce isn’t the end of the world.   It’s not God’s will.   Actually marital problems are signs heart and spiritual problems.

Jesus said, “Moses, because of the hardness of your hearts, permitted you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so” (Matthew 19:8).

Your family (or friends) look out for you.   Seek God. Focus on Him.  Do things for the right reasons, in the right way and eventually He will work things out.  In Moses case it took a long time, but Jethro (his Father In Law) brought her back.  As a result of the separation, His Father-in-law, his wife and his kids all became believers.  The moral of the story is all things work together for the good of those who love the Lord (Romans 8:28). Trust Him!

Exodus 18:1-18 KJV

When Jethro, the priest of Midian, Moses’ father in law, heard of all that God had done for Moses, and for Israel his people, and that the LORD had brought Israel out of Egypt; then Jethro, Moses’ father in law, took Zipporah, Moses’ wife, after he had sent her back, and her two sons; of which the name of the one was Gershom; for he said, I have been an alien in a strange land: and the name of the other was Eliezer; for the God of my father, said he, was mine help, and delivered me from the sword of Pharaoh: and Jethro, Moses’ father in law, came with his sons and his wife unto Moses into the wilderness, where he encamped at the mount of God: and he said unto Moses, I thy father in law Jethro am come unto thee, and thy wife, and her two sons with her. And Moses went out to meet his father in law, and did obeisance, and kissed him; and they asked each other of their welfare; and they came into the tent. And Moses told his father in law all that the LORD had done unto Pharaoh and to the Egyptians for Israel’s sake, and all the travail that had come upon them by the way, and how the LORD delivered them. And Jethro rejoiced for all the goodness which the LORD had done to Israel, whom he had delivered out of the hand of the Egyptians. And Jethro said, Blessed be the LORD, who hath delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians, and out of the hand of Pharaoh, who hath delivered the people from under the hand of the Egyptians. Now I know that the LORD is greater than all gods

Here’s my latest video of what we’re doing if you haven’t seen it yet:

https://youtu.be/fZFDDqrAu_Y

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