(F)or he said, I have been a stranger in a strange land.

Moses In Midian

Moses marries Zipporah, one of the seven daughters of Jethro. At the birth of his son he names him Gershom. The name literally means foreigner. To Moses the birth of Gershom is the final chapter of his life, a life liveds as “a stranger in a strange land.”

Moses had learned a hard but necessary truth, he was a stranger in a stranger land and would remain that way. If Moses was to lead God’s people to their true home, if he was to bring them to the land of Canaan that God had promised to Abraham, then he could never settle for any country other than the Promised land.

It was only after the birth of his son and realizing who he was, a stranger in a strange land, that God then could use him to one day deliver his people from Egypt. Moses had lost all that Pharaoh had to offer, he lost all that his own people had to offer but it was at that point that he found all that only God could offer.

Hebrews 11:27-29 27 By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king: for he endured, as seeing him who is invisible. 28 Through faith he kept the Passover, and the sprinkling of blood, lest he that destroyed the firstborn should touch them. 29 By faith they passed through the Red sea as by dry land…

None of those great deeds and accomplishments could Moses do until he had learned where to place his hope and faith. Until he learned that Egypt and the rest of this world was not his home, that In Midian he was still a stranger in a strange land but that one day he would know what it was to truly go home. There in an eternal home he would no longer be a stranger but the beloved friend and child of God.

Christians In The World

It is a lesson every child of God needs to learn. We also are strangers in a strange land. And believe me it is getting stranger with ever passing day. This world is not my home. I am just a poor wayfaring stranger and I’m looking for that city whose builder and maker is God, eternal in the heavens.

 Listen to what the Bible says about Abraham the other named friend of God.  Hebrews 11:8-10 By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went.  By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise: For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God.

Abraham looked for a city whose builder and maker was God. I believe that is what Moses did. What John did. What Paul did. What Peter and all the apostles and disciples did. Isn’t this what all the great heroes of the faith did?

And isn’t this what we are called to do? Looking for that city whose builder and maker is God.

We dare not get comfortable in this world. We dare not put all our trust in those around us. We can’t allow ourselves to get used to the sin, the sorrow or the suffering of this world. I can’t feel at home in this sin-sick, pain-filled, hope-crushing world anymore. We are on our way to that city with unshakeable foundations built by God. That is our home, that is where we are headed, that is where we can finally fully find rest.

Listen to what Paul said in 2 Corinthians 4:18 While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.

And In 2 Corinthians 5:1 For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.

If we, like Moses, understand that we are all just strangers here. If we believe what God’s word promises about heaven and that celestial city, then we should be willing to sacrifice for it, we should invest in it, and we should be willing to go wherever God may send us and do whatever our Lord may command us because we are looking for that city.

Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount made it so plain. In Matthew 6:19-21 Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.