Time passed. Moses grew up. One day he went and saw his brothers, saw all that hard labor. Then he saw an Egyptian hit a Hebrew—one of his relatives! He looked this way and then that; when he realized there was no one in sight, he killed the Egyptian and buried him in the sand.
The next day he went out there again. Two Hebrew men were fighting. He spoke to the man who started it: “Why are you hitting your neighbor?”
The man shot back: “Who do you think you are, telling us what to do? Are you going to kill me the way you killed that Egyptian?”
   Then Moses panicked: “Word’s gotten out—people know about this.”
Pharaoh heard about it and tried to kill Moses, but Moses got away to the land of Midian. He sat down by a well.
The priest of Midian had seven daughters. They came and drew water, filling the troughs and watering their father’s sheep. When some shepherds came and chased the girls off, Moses came to their rescue and helped them water their sheep.
When they got home to their father, Reuel, he said, “That didn’t take long. Why are you back so soon?”
“An Egyptian,” they said, “rescued us from a bunch of shepherds. Why, he even drew water for us and watered the sheep.”
He said, “So where is he? Why did you leave him behind? Invite him so he can have something to eat with us.”
Moses agreed to settle down there with the man, who then gave his daughter Zipporah (Bird) to him for his wife. She had a son, and Moses named him Gershom (Sojourner), saying, “I’m a sojourner in a foreign country.”
Many years later the king of Egypt died. The Israelites groaned under their slavery and cried out. Their cries for relief from their hard labor ascended to God:
God listened to their groanings.
God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob.
God saw what was going on with Israel.
God understood.
according to wiktionary a ’sojourner’ is a person who resides temporarily in a place.
I’ve been feeling restless recently. A sort of fidgetty-ness of the soul.
It strikes me that Moses was never really ‘at home’. Adopted into Pharoah’s househol, hiding out in the desert for years and then going on to lead his people through the wilderness for years. Leading them towards their new home-land, which he wouldn’t enter.
He truly was a sojourner.
And that’s my/our calling too. To be a temporary stranger. The resist the lure of a settled, comfortable life. To keep on journeying.
God listened to their groanings – wow! that bit hit me…
I have been ‘groaning’ a lot recently! Partly because I have so much work to do, partly because I am still trying to work out what I am doing all this for, partly because I am ready for a break, and partly because I always feel restless!
What I need to remember is that God understands!! awesome
Hi everyone. My name is Phil and I am new to the Dream Lectio site..so please be patient with me as I embark on my maiden voyage on this blog!
I don’t know about you but I have become almost despairing in my attempt to try and make some sense, and form some kind of informed opinion about all that is happening in Gaza at present.
A big part of me believes that Israel has the right to fight and strike back against those it feels are intent, yet again, from wiping them off the face of the earth. But another part of me is angry, furious even, at the horrendous scale of the suffering being inflicted on so many innocent Palestinian civilians.
Yesterday when Israeli forces “mistakenly” (hmmm…not so sure!) bombed the UN compound, destroying all food and medical relief supplies being stored there, I was almost incandescent with rage.
And then I read this in today’s passage.
“And God saw what was going on in Israel”
Exactly what God is making of what is going on in Gaza is maybe a bit more difficult to discern, but isn’t it the question we are all struggling with to some degree or another “Just what IS going on with Israel?” The question appears to be ancient… yet modern.
But isn’t the closing phraseology so powerful…”God listened…God remembered…God saw…God understood…”
and for me, I just have to remember, and at times cling onto the fact that that now, as then…
God listens, God remembers, God sees and above all else, unlike me…thankfully… God understands!
Just one more thing and then I will leave you all in peace and go and have a longish lie down!!
One thing stuck me about Moses…he appears to have had a real protective streak…OK so it landed him in big trouble, but it strikes me that he had a really compassionate heart.First he tries to come to the aid of one of his fellow Hebrew slaves who was being bullied by his master, and then a bit later, he comes to the aid of the seven women being intimidated and harrassed by some of the other shepherds.
As a bit of an underdog myself, I find myself really identifying with his gut feelings, though you will be glad to hear that I have not yet had to go on the run to avoid capture!!
I too am a sojourner..I too had felt unsettled in the job I do ever since I qualified to do it and have also known a ‘call’ on my life for over 10 years that has grown ever stronger but not being able to really know what it is. In that over 10 year journey work has felt a bit like a wilderness, not a baren place most of the time but never a job that has felt like ‘home’ I have been asking many questions of God about this call over the years and wrestled with my wrestlessness and groaned quite a bit but never felt I had been told it was the right time to step out. In recent weeks however for the first time I believe I have sensed God revealing that call. I have to explore a new path on the journey and see where it takes me. Whether the destination is where I believe it is or not the journey is important, I know that for sure.
Is being a sojourner part of the normal Christian experience?
I wonder if it is connected to being in the world but not of it.
For me I feel restless all the time in church as if I know that there should be more to my faith in God than the conventional Sunday fare.
And so I keep searching, looking for God a range of places. Is this what Moses felt when he was in Midian? He knew somewhere in his heart that there was more to his life.
I also find comfort in the words ‘God understood’. It gives me hope.
What struck me was that whilst Moses was away from his people… journeying on and may well have felt away from God, he still helped those around him. He didnt stop being the person he was. In my wanderings it feels that Im not often getting anywhere. Im not entirely sure where this journey is taking me, but as I think about this passage, I feel Im still doing things that glorify God. They may be small things that help others and they may not always be acknowledged, but thats not why I do them. It doesnt look like Moses was looking for that either. But what Moses did could only glorify God… he was loving his neighbour… perhaps I do that more than I think! And that’s a comforting thought.
ps I’m new here and love the whole Dream idea…just a pity it hasn’t arrived in Leicester yet! So I’ll just have to get involved online for now.
Oooo, I am feeling heartened that I am not the only one who feels terribly restless!! I don\’t know to what extent this feeling is an indication that I should move on and to what degree I should never feel truly \’at home\’ as a Christian because I am meant to be \’in the world but not of it\’. There are very few times in my life that I have actually felt that I \’belonged\’ somewhere, and they have never been permanent (although I have, at times, felt assured that I was in the right place for that time). I don\’t know how much of that is simply my psychological make up tho\’!!!!!!
Moses must have been a sojourner for most of his life, as he went on to lead the Israelites out of Egypt and into the wilderness, where he eventually died. I wonder if he felt more at home amongst his own people though- even thought they had no collective home? He must have known that his mission was God-given and that must have given him some focus, although there were times of doubt and frustration. Wish God would give me that underlying clarity- I am getting jolly tired of waiting. It has been at least six years for me and, in my book that takes the mick!!! (Putting it politely. Ahem.)