Moses was a Nowhere Man. I wonder if John Lennon pondered his own life in light of Moses’ life when he was lying around trying to come up with lyrics for one more song to complete an album. ([https://bit.ly/48Ej4ek]) ([https://bit.ly/48Cl1rB])

After trying to do God’s will his own way (2:11-15), he ran, ran, ran, ran away. (Thank you, Jefferson Starship, for the tune.) 

Yes, I was under anesthesia this morning; why do you ask?

Moses tried to become his own provider. This was one of the original temptations in the Garden of Eden. Eve and Adam failed that test. People have been failing it every day since then. We think God is holding out on us, he is not giving us all we’ve got coming to us. This is true in a very good way. 

Jesus was tempted by the same three temptations from the Garden: ambition, appetite, and approval. He passed the test. He did not do the Father’s will his own way. He asked if there was another way but chose God’s path through a humiliating death, a glorious resurrection, and a sensational ascension. 

Turn stones into bread after forty days of fasting? Jesus could do that. More importantly, he could wait on God to provide what he needed precisely when he needed it. Dinner could wait. God would guide. God would provide. There was no hurry in Jesus’ stomach his heart could not overcome. 

So now, after the fine mess he made, Moses was a forty-year-old murderer and fugitive from justice. He was a man with a plan whose plan didn’t remain buried in the sand. (Reminder: anesthesia)

Life was all but over. 

Moses took a job that paid poorly but afforded a solitary man space to think. I wonder how many “If only” thoughts he entertained and pushed away. Alone with his thoughts, alone with his memories, alone, alone, alone. Alone until he discovered he was not alone, was never alone, and would never be alone.

He named his boy Gershom. It means “a stranger there.” It means, in effect, “nowhere boy.” The Nowhere Man had a Nowhere Boy. They swelled the population of Nowheresville. 

Moses was lost and all alone. Even last year’s wool was beginning to smell like sheep again. He was hot, dirty, and lost. Why go on? Life was over. The pleasures of the palace were nothing more than mocking memories. The status of his royal adoption lay buried with the dead Egyptian. The mother and father, brother and sister he barely knew were way back there. He could not contact them. Too dangerous. He could never return. Punishment was sure. 

What do you do when you are a Nowhere Man with a Nowhere Plan, and all your hopes and dreams lie buried in the sand? You wait for God knows what. 

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I will wait when I find myself in a lonely wilderness far from life, meaning, purpose, and privilege.

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Our Father, the temptation to be my own provider is forever with me. Deliver me from that as surely as you deliver me from ambition and approval. You satisfy our appetites with heavenly pleasures because of what Jesus has done for us. You place us in positions of significance for your purposes and the benefit of others. You declare that we are your own dearly loved children. Yes, O Lord, you are better to us than we would be to ourselves. Amen.