“Moses was taught all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and he was powerful in both speech
and action. “One day when Moses was forty years old, he decided to visit his relatives, the
people of Israel. He saw an Egyptian mistreating an Israelite. So Moses came to the
man’s defense and avenged him, killing the Egyptian. Moses assumed his fellow Israelites
would realize that God had sent him to rescue them, but they didn’t.” Acts 7:22-25 (NLT).
Moses must have received the Divine revelation that God will use him to deliver the
children of Israel from slavery in Egypt. However, he made two presumptions that
proved to be wrong and costly.
First, he presumed that the call to deliver the Israelites was to be carried out
immediately. A closer study will show that Moses was ten years earlier than the timing
of God. The result was the children of Israel spent 430 years in Egypt instead of 400
years (Acts 7:6 vs Exodus 12:40).
Secondly, he presumed that the Israelites would realize that God has called him to
deliver them. Unfortunately for Moses no only was this presumption wrong it cost him
spending forty years in the wilderness.
Many times, we presume that a Bible verse or passage is saying something that is not
completely correct because we are too lazy to open our Bible and read it again. We may
then prayer based on what we presume that Bible verse is saying. We also make
decisions based on such wrong presumptions. Sometimes our presumption is based on
what we have heard somebody say regarding a scripture instead of acting like the
Berean Christians who searched the scriptures themselves to verify what they heard
Paul and Barnabas preach.
Just as Moses’ presumption was costly to him and the whole nation our presumptions
can be costly to us and other people in our lives. When Joseph and Mary left Jesus
behind in Jerusalem and presumed that Jesus was in their company, they paid a huge
price when they arrived Galilee and discovered that Jesus was not with them.
To avoid presumption errors let us learn not only to read the word of God, but to study
and meditate on God’s word. If we learn to do this, we will be more effective in our
prayers, avoid many errors and costs associated with it.
THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK
Your destiny is faith defined. The only way to get there is by faith.