30. The old man meets the true god in the fire. After wasting his life, the god waited until the very end to use him

“God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” [James 4:6]

When people grow old, besides reminiscing about the past, what else do they have to remember?

At eighty years old, he sat beneath the shadow of a huge rock halfway up Mount Sinai, watching lazy sheep gnawing on the grass squeezed out between the stones, and gazing at the wilderness below the mountain scorched red by the sun. The weather was so hot it felt like a fire, and the sheep instinctively climbed the mountain to find grass. He sat dazed in the shadows, sweat drying and leaving grooves on his dust-covered wrinkled face. His graying hair was messy like withered thorns around him, and his eyes occasionally teared by sunlight seemed to be the only proof he was alive. Just wait. If one day I die silently like this, I’ll be fine—I’ll no longer fear the Egyptians hunting me.

After fleeing for forty years and traveling thousands of miles, his heart was tense every day. He would rather herd sheep than come to the deserted mountainside than go to the crowded plains.

If I die, my true identity will be buried underground along with it. Perhaps my soul can return thousands of miles away to see my kin enslaved in Egypt.

Family, I haven’t seen you for forty years. Back then, I saw the Egyptian foreman oppressing you and, in a moment of anger, killed that cruel fellow. If you didn’t appreciate it, it would be one thing, but why did you spread the story of my murder so wildly that it reached Pharaoh’s ears, forcing me to flee?

I can only flee southeast into the wilderness of Midian, escape the vast lands of Egypt, and flee from the furious Pharaoh who pursues me! I grew up with him in the Egyptian palace. His sister rescued me from the Nile, and because of that, he learned my Hebrew heritage. When he heard that I had personally killed his officials, he flew into a rage and vowed to hunt me down to the ends of the earth, warning all Hebrews who tried to resist Egyptian rule.

O Egyptian godmother who rescued me from the Nile, how could I not thank you for saving my life? But the God who rescued me arranged for my own sister to recommend my birth mother to you as my nurse. My mother nursed me and told me my true background when she shed tears when I became aware of my origins. I kept the hatred of national oppression buried deep in my heart, enduring it silently until I was forty, until I saw that ruthless Egyptian foreman before it finally erupted.

I thought there would be a call of equal response, that compatriots would gather and rise up. Ha, how naive and ridiculous my thoughts were back then! I lived in a magnificent palace, dressed in Egyptian royal robes, speaking fluent Egyptian. In their eyes, I was no hero who saved them from disaster. I am nothing but a stubborn man who mistakes a thief for his father.

Even if my murder hadn’t been exposed, even if they had followed my orders, how could I have led them out of Egypt? A group of slaves fighting a powerful Egyptian army would be like an egg striking a rock. All are gone. I have been on the run for forty years, and eighty years of my life have only been a sigh, drifting everywhere, nothing compared to the thorns before me—born here and dying here.

Only, God of Israel, my mother often spoke of you, about you who promised my ancestor Jacob over two hundred years ago that we would leave Egypt and return to Canaan. But God, how could this promise possibly be fulfilled? The Israelites had lived in Egypt for two hundred years and had become slaves at the mercy of others. Their fate was to die from exhaustion in brick kilns and quarries. How could they possibly return to Canaan? Thinking of this, a thorn suddenly sprang up in front of Moses, crackling loudly.

Moses snapped out of his thoughts, looked up at the sky, and saw that the sun was truly on fire. He looked again at the burning thorns; the flames were red red, but no smoke rose. How is this possible? He couldn’t help but look closely at the fire—the thorns were completely unharmed in the flames!

How is this possible? Thorns burn but do not burn! Moses stood up, approached the fireball, rubbed his eyes, and examined them carefully. Suddenly, a voice rang out from the flames: “Moses, Moses.” ”

Moses was shocked and instinctively replied, “I’m here.” The voice in the fire continued, “Don’t come any closer here.” Take off your shoes, for where you stand is holy ground. I am the God of your Father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob. ”

Moses trembled with fear, took off his shoes, fell to the ground, and covered his face with his hands, as if dead. God said to Moses in the fire, “I have indeed seen the suffering of my people in Egypt, and I have heard their cries of lamentation because of the oppression of the overseers; I truly know their pain. I have come to deliver them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them to a place of beauty and breadth, to Canaan, which flows with milk and honey. Now, go and I will send you to Pharaoh to bring out my people, Israel, out of Egypt. ”