There are times when it seems like there’s a lot of wandering and not a clear direction.  It’s the sheep who asks the shepherd, “Where are we going again?  Is there any way you can send some encouragement this way?”

And then there is wisdom in the life of Moses.   Perhaps he thought his mission was over.  He had left the halls of the princes and exchanged them for the sheep in the desert after he had killed a man.  He married.  He had children.  And I doubt he expected anything different than raising a family and living the shepherd’s life.

But “God’s gifts and his call are irrevocable” (Rom 11:29).  While Moses thought he was just chasing sheep in the desert, look at what the Lord God Almighty was doing:

1)  Moses knew nothing about desert life.  He was an Egyptian city boy.  Worse, he was a royal palace brat.  Translation–he knew nothing about surviving in the desert.  Now he was an expert.

2)  Moses had never really learned about leading people.  He had driven them, yes,  but leading them?  Perhaps not so much.  I’m sure it was a fiasco when he tried to “drive the sheep.”  But now he was a father and learning to be a leader to his children.  Leading, not driving.

3)  In the first 40 years of his life he knew his call but trusted himself to make it happen by killing a man.  Now he was trusting God.

4) He started out in the palace halls being a bit proud and the self-proclaimed savior of his people.  Now he was so humbled he wasn’t quite sure he was the one.

The years that Moses might have thought he was wandering were actually years he was in training.  Had he led his people when he was a young man it probably would’ve been disastrous.  He needed that dependency on the Lord, the knowledge of the desert, the training to be a leader and so much more.  It was essential to his call, even when others and perhaps even himself may have thought the mission was one that was lost.