Moses had a surrendered heart. What did he surrender until he became so powerful in his prayer life? What made his prayers so powerful that he could move the heart of God?
Moses surrendered his hurts to God. He was hurt because his people rejected him as deliverer in the first place. Rejection entered his spirit and he fled to Midian to hide from Pharaoh and from his own people.
Since the days of Egypt, he had been deeply hurt and rejected by his people. All he wanted was to help them but instead they rejected his help.
The hurt and rejection started when he acted on impulse by killing the Egyptian (Ex 2:12) who was beating up his people. At first Moses thought that no one knew what he did but he realized that the Hebrew children saw it and they must have made this matter known to Pharaoh!
Ex 2:13 -14
"And when he went out the second day, behold, two Hebrew men were fighting, and he said to the one who did the wrong "Why are you striking your companion?". Then he said, "Who made you a prince and a judge over us? Do you intend to kill me as you killed the Egyptian? So Moses feared and said, "Surely this thing is known".
The words spoken to him brought upon him a spirit of rejection that stayed with him even after he had fled to Midian.
What did he do in Midian?
He actually entered into a comfort zone. He hid the rejection that he experienced at the hands of his own people by starting a new life in Midian, getting married and staring a family.
Ex 2:21 "Then Moses was content to live with the man (Jethro) and he gave Zipporah his daughter to Moses"
Years later the rejection manifested when God called him out of the burning bush to deliver the people out of Egypt.
He wanted assurance from God before he approached the elders of Israel as he did not want to be rejected again by his people.
In Ex 4:1 after God gave Moses the assignment to deliver his people out of Egypt, Moses asked for a sign from God, "But suppose they will not believe me or listen to my voice, suppose they say, 'The Lord has not appeared to you'".
Although two signs were given it was not enough. In Ex 4:10, the fear of rejection manifested again "O my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither before nor since You have spoken to Your servant; but I am slow of speech and slow of tongue"
Even though God assured him in verses 11 and 12 that God will give him words to say, he asked again in Ex 4:13 "O my Lord, please send by the hand of whomever else You may send".
The supernatural signs did not help, the assurance that God will give him the words did not help, Moses was still reluctant to go. It was either that he still felt the hurt of being rejected by his own people or that he was too contented in his comfort zone to make the move or simply both!
He refused to go until God got angry with him and had to finally assign Aaron to speak on Moses's behalf! Ex 4:14-15.
Then and only then did Moses agreed to take up the assignment. It was like a "no-choice" situation for Moses!
Moses had to continually surrender his fear of rejection to God. It was not just the fear of rejection but also the fear of not being able to bring his people out of Egypt just like the first time when he killed the Egyptian. He probably thought that he could help deliver his people out of the tyranny of Pharaoh by doing what he did. However it ended up that he had to flee like a fugitive from his own people!
Surrender to God is a continuous process of prayer from the depths of our heart and our soul. It is a genuine confession and cry to God:
1. Ex 5:22 "So Moses returned to the Lord and said, "Lord, why have You brought trouble on this people? Why is it You have sent me?"
2. Ex 17:4 ""So Moses cried out to the Lord, saying "What shall I do with this people? They are almost ready to stone me!" - The people thirsted for water at Rephidim and complained against Moses.
3. Nu 11:11-15 "So Moses said to the Lord "Why have You afflicted Your servant? And why have I not found favor in Your sight, that You have laid the burden of all these people on me? Did I conceive all these people? Did I beget them, that You should say to me, "Carry them in your bosom, as a guardian carries a nursing child, to the land which You swore to their fathers? Where am I to get meat to give all these people?...I am not able to bear all these people alone, because the burden is too heavy for me...." - the people complained and asked for meat at Taberah.
How was Moses able to deal with the spirit of rejection? I believe that he was set free when he realized that the rejection he felt was actually the people's rejection of God and not of him as a person. He was merely on God's assignment.
Numbers 14:11, God spoke clearly and firmly to Moses as follows:
"Then the Lord said to Moses; "How long will these people reject Me? How long will they not believe me with all the signs which I have performed among them?"
In the process of walking with God, Moses constantly surrendered his fear of rejection to God in prayer.
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