I’ve always loved birds. The multi-colored feathers, the stark beak, the need for a flock. I especially like eagles and hawks  and even owned the nickname “bird” in my youth. I watch the way they glide through the air, the wind confronting them with its various gusts, arresting their wings and suspending them in flight. Have you ever watched a bird glide through the air with the greatest of ease? This aerial species seems weightless. This was not always the case in a bird’s life. Once tiny eggs nestled into a cozy twig home, silently awaiting their entrance. They eventually break out of their shell as humble featherless creatures, relying entirely on a parent’s provision to sustain them for the first weeks of life. 

 Moses was born into a humble Hebrew home. Through a series of harsh governing events he shifted into an Egyptian family arriving in his own “nest” of sorts. A little water craft of twigs and glue. He grew…feathers if you will. Then the time came for him to fly. He wasn’t like his fledgling family but he knew he was different. In the last few weeks before leaving his adoptive family he rashly killed an Egyptian man for treating a fellow Hebrew roughly. Moses was a punchy young man and his unleashed compulsion expedited his flight into the wilderness to escape the Pharaoh’s wrath. Moses lost control in more than one way. 

  So, how did this man Moses move from merciless murderer to “meekest man in the history of mankind.”? We find Moses perched outside Egypt in a desert trying to recreate a new life. He finds a man, marries his daughter, and works hard managing sheep. (Why are some of God’s closest friends sheep herders? Are children a close second to sheep?) In this wilderness, in a place that most would call “God forsaken”, He found God. God’s initial conversation with him was out of a bush that was on fire but didn’t burn up. He met face to face with a God who was in control. As Moses met with this God he became like him in word and deed. 

 Moses learned that, “Intercession is not petition. Intercession is position. It is not something we do- it is something we are. It is not an exercise we engage in at a certain time of the day- it is a life that we live.” Ronald Dunn 

 He learned that his identity was in his position of relationship with this God who had seen the suffering of the people and heard their cries for help. God helped Moses deliver his Hebrew brothers and sisters out of the slavery that had held them captive in Egypt for 400 years. Moses led this people who were called the “Children of Israel” out of slavery and toward the land God promised them. After their exodus from Egypt the children forgot how gracious God had been to deliver them and had not yet grasped their position in His family. After enduring long fits of disobedience and rebellion from these “children,” God had had it. To boil it down in easy terms He said, “Moses, I am done with these people, let’s just make it you and me. I will make you great, let’s forget them.” Now before you chide God for being rash let’s not forget that God’s motives are always pure. He had rescued and miraculously provided for the children time and time again yet they doubted Him and had turned away from Him like aliens.

 In the book, Prayer- The Real Battle it says, “God holds out a carrot to Moses: “I will make you into a great nation” (v. 10). No man in history, apart from Abraham, ever had such an offer. I have to wonder if any of us standing before God would be able to turn down such a proposal. Amazingly Moses does not seize the honor. Instead, he pleads with God: “O Lord, why should your anger burn against your people, whom you brought out of Egypt with great power and a mighty hand? … Turn from your fierce anger; relent and do not bring disaster on your people” (Exodus 32:11-12).”  

 What an offer. Right? But Moses wasn’t tempted by it. See his response? It wasn’t rash, compulsive or ready to execute. It was an act of intercession for these wayward children. God had brought Moses up under his wing for many years now and had lovingly prepared him well for this test. So when this carrot was offered to him he not only turned it down but was speaking up and defending the children. This lesson proved he was capable of governing his people with meekness. He wasn’t about to give up on his flock and consider his own interests but had the tenacity to hold onto God’s spirit just as a bird leans into the wind and displays strength under control. As they allow the wind to harness their wings the strength, surrender, and majesty are on full display. Biblical meekness is a wise self-controlled calm mind displaying gentleness that is not rash. Have you felt it? The power of meekness and gentleness in your spirit? 

 When Moses let go of “taking matters into his own hands”, found his position in relationship with God, and gave the rightful worship to God the more meekness he displayed. His relationship with God saved the Children of Israel that day and God’s heart was moved by Moses. Birds were created for flight not as passive creatures but they daily join the symbiotic dance of the wind and the wing, just as you and I are created for gentleness and meekness. Let’s get out there and fly! 

Philippians 4:5 says, “Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near.”