When God Uses Broken People for His Purpose

With a Subtitle: A devotional on Moses, humility, failure, and God’s redeeming call.

A brief Excerpt: Acts 7:27 reminds us that Moses was both flawed and chosen. God can use broken people for His purpose, but His calling should always lead us to humility and awe.

The Author is: Rich Holt

Scripture

Our verse for today comes from Acts 7:27, “But he who did his neighbor wrong pushed him away, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge over us?’”

Background

I have no idea who the man was or, perhaps more importantly, who the man thought he was, that was barking at Moses as he stepped in and tried to break up that fight, but I think it’s clear to see that he was speaking way over his head in this particular situation. Seeing as the two men who were scuffling with one another were both Hebrew slaves, it’s a safe bet that literally thousands of Egyptians could have considered themselves as ruler and judge over these two insignificant servants. And I am supremely confident that a son raised in the home of Pharaoh would be able to have his way with one of the thousands and thousands of nameless, faceless laborers he happened upon. But the more ironic part of this encounter is that the answer to the man’s question is “God.” None other than our Lord Himself had chosen Moses to not just drop in on a couple of Hebrew slaves, but He hand-picked him to lead the entire nation out of its bondage and into its land of promise. Moses would in fact be their ruler and judge, but only as an extension of the Creator who promised to lead them, stay with them, and prosper them. Under his own impulse, Moses killed one Egyptian. And left to his own devices, he might have knocked off two Hebrew slaves to further cover it up. Or maybe he would have placed this insolent one at the front of the pack as it crossed the Red Sea and have him be the test case for whether God was really going to hold back the waters.

Application

But for now, Moses ran in fear as this nobody pointed out the error of his ways. The comforting part in all of this is that Moses is a mix of right and wrong, success and failure, faith and doubt, obedience and disobedience. He bled just like you and me and he grew weary like us, too. He had days where he felt useless, and he spent time on the mountaintop. So if a murderer can become one of God’s greatest heroes, then there’s room at God’s table for you. And if God’s chosen one can be brought down by a lowly slave, then our place at the table should never be void of humility and awe for the One who invited us. Who is man that He is mindful of us? Praise God that He is.

Charge

As we seek Him today, give God your entire self and let Him make of you what He will.