Leading Our Youth Out of Egypt

             If you take the time to read the first 3 chapters of Exodus you can see that God had a unique and special job for Moses.  First, we must look at who Moses was and what he came from? Then we must also look at what he was doing when God called him.  In the first half of Exodus chapter 2, he was an orphan abandoned as a baby, put in a basket and pushed down the Nile River.  In the second half of chapter 2, he was a murderer and a wanderer.  He had just killed an Egyptian man and fled.  In chapter 3, He has migrated into becoming a sheep- herder.  When God first appears to him, he is tending a flock of sheep on the far side of the desert.  There was nothing at all glamorous about what he was doing.

            You see we are under this impression sometimes that in order for God to use us we have to be this glamorous, energetic, and flashy person.  We tend to think that bigger is better.  If only we had a bigger budget, a larger facility, more students, and entertaining programs; then God could really do something great.  It has taken me a long time in youth ministry to realize that God doesn’t want ability as much as He wants my availability.  The reality is, the same God who spoke and it was, doesn’t need us.  We get to be invited to be a part of what He is doing.  We get to be called by His voice. 

            So God called Moses, this orphan, murderer, and shepherd to be a part of His amazing plan to redeem His people.  Moses definitely was not the most talented and presentable.  When God called Moses out of the burning bush, He got Moses’ attention.  God had to get Moses’ attention because He was calling him to a huge task.  He was calling him to lead the people of Israel, His people out of bondage and slavery in Egypt.

            In the same way many of our youth today are like the people of Israel during the time of Moses.  Many of them are in bondage and slavery.  Just look around and you will see the strongholds of loneliness, depression, addiction, and materialism in their lives’.  Just as God was calling Moses to lead His people to freedom; He is calling us as youth leaders, parents, and mentors to lead today’s generation of teenagers out of their own personal Egypt into the promised land of freedom in Christ. Will you be a Moses and answer the call? Will you rely on the power and presence of the Holy Spirit to be used as a vessel for change?