Discovering Destiny (Part 8): How Purpose Can Make You Feel Like An Outsider

https://youtu.be/rcfoM8yCGYM?si=HKMC3sWUM6Ejpv_a

Today, we continue our focus on THE YEAR OF DISCOVERY, as we learn to maintain our posture of faith after God has revealed His plans for our future.

Yesterday in our “Discovering Destiny” series, we learned that the right thing at the wrong time, or done the wrong way, becomes the wrong thing, as Moses ran ahead of God at 40. Today, we jump 40 years forward and find that same Moses on the backside of the desert, an 80-year-old shepherd who thought his story was over, until a bush caught fire and refused to burn up.

Key scriptures for this year:

2 Peter 3:18 GNT“But continue to grow in the grace and in the knowledge of our Savior, Jesus Christ. To Him be glory now and forever.”

Luke 10:20 Mirror“It’s time for you to rediscover who you are from Heaven’s perspective.”

1 John 3:10 Mirror“There is a very visible and vast difference between living one’s life from your God identity or from a fallen man’s mindset.”

Proverbs 25:2 NKJV“It is the glory of God to conceal a matter, but the glory of kings is to search out a matter.”

Jeremiah 29:13 NIV“You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.”

Scripture we will study today:

Exodus 3:1-2 ERV“Moses was taking care of the sheep that belonged to Jethro, the priest of Midian and Moses’ father-in-law. He led the sheep to the west side of the desert and came to the mountain of God. There the angel of the Lord appeared to Moses in a flame of fire coming out of a bush.”

Exodus 3:10-12 ERV“So now I am sending you to Pharaoh. Go! Lead my people, the Israelites, out of Egypt. But Moses said to God, ‘I am not a great man! How can I be the one to go to Pharaoh and lead the Israelites out of Egypt?’ God said, ‘I will be with you.'”

Supporting scriptures:

Exodus 2:22 AMPC“And she bore a son, and he called his name Gershom; for he said, I have been a stranger and a sojourner in a foreign land.”

Exodus 3:13-14 ERV“Then God said to Moses, ‘Tell them, “I AM WHO I AM.” When you go to the Israelites, tell them, “I AM sent me to you.”‘”

Exodus 4:10-12 ERV“But Moses said to the Lord, ‘Lord, I am not a good speaker. I have never been able to speak well. You know that I speak slowly and don’t use the best words.’ … So go. I will be with you when you speak. I will give you the words to say.”

Setting the Stage:

Yesterday we learned that Moses killed a man when he was 40 years old. Long story short, that led to him being kicked out of Egypt. He left Egypt at the age of 40 with blood on his hands. He winds up on the back side of the desert, about as far from a palace as a man can get. He has no reason to expect anything but more sand and more silence. Even though he carried a dream in his heart for years, the dream of delivering Israel died in him a long time ago.

When we pick up the story, he’s been in the desert for 40 years, and he’s now 80 years old. At the age of 80, with the dream that once burned in his heart now dead and the amazing life he once had (a life of opulence) a distant memory, he walks into the wilderness and notices that there’s a bush that’s burning, but it’s not being consumed. What happens next is that God takes a life inside of a man who thought his life was finished, and God turns it around in amazing ways. God can do the same thing for you. 

So, what does this mean for you today? A few things.

1. You May Think It’s Over, But It’s Not Over Until God Says It’s Over.

Moses had long since filed his big dream under the “over” category. For 40 years, he had been a fugitive turned shepherd, and he fully expected to die in that desert. He was not looking for God. But God came looking for him.

How this applies to you:

— Moses was born with the death sentence over his head because of the great assignment that he had. Moses lived this life knowing that something was great in him, but God never spoke to him while he was in the palace. God waited until he was in the middle of the desert. That’s how it sometimes is with us. 

— Exodus 3:1-2 ERV shows the call coming while Moses “led the sheep to the west side of the desert.” The fire fell on the forgotten man in the forgotten place. 

— You may feel like God has forgotten about you and the purpose he placed inside of you, but if you’re still breathing, God is not through with you yet. 

— 40 years of silence had convinced Moses his best days were behind him. God showed up to prove his best days were in front of him.

— Your obscurity is not your disqualification. Remember, in the kingdom of God, greatness is developed in obscurity. 

— The backside of the desert felt like exile, but heaven was using it as a classroom. The very trails Moses walked with sheep are the trails he would later walk with a nation. God was not wasting the wilderness; He was teaching him the terrain.

— The place you think is the end is often the place where God begins.

— Some of you have written off a whole season as a detour. But the bush did not burn in Egypt. It burned in the wilderness. God still shows up in the place you thought He forgot.

2. You Never Fit In, And That Was Always The Plan.

Here is something about Moses that is easy to skip over. He spent his entire life as an outsider, never truly “fully” at home in any sphere he ever lived in. Most people would read that as a problem. Keep reading, because God read it completely differently.

How this applies to you:

— Moses never fully belonged anywhere, and that was not his curse but his preparation.

— He was raised in the palace from the time he was three months old. He ate like an Egyptian, dressed like an Egyptian, and was schooled like an Egyptian, but in his heart he knew he was a Hebrew. He looked the part and never felt the part.

— He was too Israeli to be Egyptian, and too Egyptian to be Israeli.

— Exodus 2:22 AMPC says Moses named his son Gershom and explained, “I have been a stranger and a sojourner in a foreign land.” Even with a wife and a son, the word that fit him best was stranger.

— But look at what God was building. The deliverer had to know Egypt well enough to confront Pharaoh, know the Hebrews well enough to lead them, and know the wilderness well enough to cross it. The man who fit nowhere was the only man whom God had made fluent everywhere.

— I can identify with Moses, because I have never “fully” fit either. I was one of the first Dominicans born on my corner in Brooklyn, raised among blacks and Puerto Ricans on hip-hop, then I leaned into my own culture and merengue, and I became the only one allowed to move freely between all of them. Later, as a warrant officer, I operated in rooms with generals and senior executives without being one, equally comfortable with the CEO and the janitor, the billionaire and the brother on food stamps. I never fit one box, because God was preparing me to carry His grace into all of them.

— When I retired from the military, I wanted to follow in the footsteps of my mentors. I wanted to start a church and go into full-time ministry. Even then, God would not allow me to do what I have seen other people do. God has always wanted me to trail my own path. Now I’m in ministry. I’m in the marketplace. I preach in churches, and I minister in corporate America. I preach in black churches, white churches, and Hispanic churches. I’m ministering behind a pulpit and in boardrooms, and I really don’t know anyone God has called me to be like. I just have to be comfortable with my own assignment. 

— If you have never quite fit in, stop grieving it. God was setting you apart, not leaving you out.

3. Your “Who Am I?” Is The Wrong Question; His “I AM” Is The Answer.

When God commissions Moses, Moses’ first words are a question about himself: “Who am I?” It is a fair question from a fugitive shepherd nomad. But God never answers the question Moses asked. He answers a far better one.

How this applies to you:

— Exodus 3:11 ERV records Moses asking, “How can I be the one to go to Pharaoh?” God’s answer in Exodus 3:12 was not about Moses at all. He simply said, “I will be with you.”

— God did not boost Moses’ confidence in Moses. He pointed Moses to Himself.

— Then Moses asks for God’s name, and Exodus 3:14 ERV gives the answer that holds up the universe: “I AM WHO I AM.” Not “I was.” Not “I will try to be.” I AM. Whatever you need, God already is.

— In Hebrew, “I AM” sits in a tense the English language does not even have, a tense that is not boxed into a single moment in time. In English, we have past, present, and future tense. In Hebrew, they have something that’s known as the perfect tense. So when God said “I AM,” He was declaring Himself the God of your yesterday, today, and tomorrow; the God of your past, present, and future; the God of the already, the right now, and the not yet. The same God who carried you through your past is already standing in your future.

— Your assignment never rested on who you are. It rests on who He is.

— Moses spent 80 years measuring himself and kept coming up short. The prince became a fugitive, the fugitive became a shepherd, and the shepherd felt like a nobody. But the moment I AM spoke, none of Moses’ math mattered anymore.

— When you know the I AM is with you, “who am I” stops being a problem.

4. Get In Step With God And Stay There.

At the bush, God was not telling Moses to charge ahead, and He was not telling Moses to give up. He was calling a forgotten shepherd back into rhythm with Himself. Watch what that means for the way you walk out everything God has shown you.

How this applies to you:

— Discovering your destiny is not just learning the plan; it is staying in step with the God who wrote it.

— Faith is not running ahead, and it is not falling behind. Faith is moving in harmony with God.

— Moses learned this the hard way. At 40, he sprinted out front and made a mess. At 80, he dug in his heels and almost missed his moment. Both times, he was out of sync with God.

— Exodus 4:12 ERV says, “So go. I will be with you when you speak. I will give you the words to say.” God answered Moses with His presence, and that assurance of His presence is really all you need.

— Your watch of expectation has to be set to God’s clock of manifestation.

— This is why fellowship with the Holy Spirit is everything. You cannot stay in step with Someone you are not walking with. The more time you spend in His presence, the more you feel His rhythm and His timing, and the less you launch ahead or lag behind.

— God is not after your ability; He is after your availability. So move when He says move, wait when He says wait, and watch the I AM do through you what you could never do on your own.

That’s enough for today. 

Declaration of Faith:

Father, I thank You that You meet me right where I am!

The place I thought was the end is where You begin!

I never fit in because You were setting me apart!

What felt like rejection was really preparation!

My obscurity is not my disqualification!

My “who am I” is answered by Your “I AM”!

My assignment rests on who You are, not on who I am!

I refuse to run ahead of You, and I refuse to freeze when You say go!

You are not after my ability; You are after my availability!

This is THE YEAR OF DISCOVERY, and GREATER IS COMING FOR ME!

I declare this by faith. In Jesus’ name. Amen!

This is Today’s Word. Apply it and prosper!