HOW TO HANDLE LIFE'S INTERRUPTIONS - Bible Study Series
Friendship Baptist Church
Bible Study Lesson
www.friendshipbaptistchurchga.com
Session 1
“WHEN GOD INTERRUPTS YOUR LIFE”
Hebrews 11:8-19
The Point
When God interrupts our plans, we can trust what He’s doing.
INTRODUCTION
Interruptions can be so irritating:
• A phone call in the middle of dinner
• Your baby starts running a fever just as you’re leaving for church
• Car trouble during a date night with your spouse
Interruptions ignore the clock. They don’t care about your plans or who you’re with. They barge in unannounced and arrest your attention, often claiming time and money as well.
Have you ever felt like your life has been hijacked by this thief? I have. I used to complain a lot that I couldn’t get anything done for all the interruptions! I glanced over my schedule recently only to find a series of interruptions that sent serious turbulence through my to-do list.
Interruptions come in many forms. Some can alter your day. Others can rewrite the rest of your life. How should we view these intrusive experiences?
During the next six sessions, we’re going to drop in on Abraham, Joseph, Moses, and others who show us how to handle these speed bumps on life’s road. Turns out, interruptions aren’t thieves that take from us. They can be messengers sent by God to show us something we would not otherwise see. They can be construction zones designed by God to develop character. It all depends on our response. By seeing God’s invitation in the interruption, He can turn it into an on-ramp to new opportunities, deeper faith, and greater intimacy with Him!
THE BIBLE MEETS LIFE
Three significant events were triggered by:
• A wrong turn
• A change in the wind
• A mistake
History is replete with major shifts that were prompted by small interruptions that unleashed a series of consequences no one could have imagined.
• What if Archduke Franz Ferdinand’s driver had not accidentally turned down the wrong street, giving a Serbian assassin his opportunity and starting World War I?
• What if the wind had not shifted to the north, forcing the Spanish Armada to retreat in their battle with the English fleet?
• What if an uncovered Petri dish of staphylococcal bacteria in Alexander Fleming’s lab had not been contaminated with penicillium mold, producing a life-saving discovery?
The Bible contains many such stories whose outcomes were dramatically altered by a providential turn of events, angelic appointments, or God’s calling.
Abraham’s day started out like any other, with well-worn routines running their course. Then, God interrupted. How Abraham responded would put in play a series of outcomes that were bigger than he could have ever dreamed.
Question 1: What’s one of the best interruptions you’ve had in life?
WHAT DOES THE BIBLE SAY?
Hebrews 11:8-12
8 By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. 9 By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. 10 For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God. 11 And by faith even Sarah, who was past childbearing age, was enabled to bear children because she considered him faithful who had made the promise. 12 And so from this one man, and he as good as dead, came descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the sand on the seashore.
By every worldly standard, Abraham had it made. He was “very wealthy in livestock and in silver and gold” (Genesis 13:2), with hundreds of servants (Genesis 14). He also lived in the happening city of Ur (Genesis 12). “Ur” might sound like what we utter when we can’t find the right word, but in its heyday, Ur was sophisticated, wealthy, religious, and safe. Abraham was happily married to Sarah and, at 70, life was very comfortable.
But Abraham had no knowledge of God. Joshua 24:2 tells us that Abraham grew up in a family of idol worshipers. He was thoroughly pagan, serving gods of his own making, with no thought of the God who made him.
Then, it happened. God interrupted his life! Acts 7:2 says, “the God of glory appeared to our father Abraham.” His words unsettled everything for Abraham, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you” (Genesis 12:1). God’s orders came with promises, including the pledge to give Abraham the land where he was going, to bless his family, and that “all peoples on earth will be blessed through you” (Genesis 12:3).
Put yourself in Abraham’s sandals. Life in Ur was very comfortable. But God was standing in front of him, calling him to leave his old life behind and go with Him into an unknown future, armed with promises that were amazing, but not very detailed. Abraham faced the question in life’s interruptions: “Can I trust God? Will He do what He said?”
Hebrews 11:8 tells us what happened: “.By faith Abraham, when called … obeyed and went.” Just like that. He didn’t balk at the sacrifice he was called to make. He didn’t wait for more information. Abraham believed that this God who cared enough to interrupt his life must be up to something bigger than he could imagine. “And He’s inviting me into it!”
God’s interruptions may not always make sense. They will always stretch you and test your faith. But you can count on this—God is weaving Romans 8:28 into your life. He’s taking you deeper into His purposes and shaping your character. Let’s look at a couple of ways God tested Abraham’s faith:
• The land promised to him was occupied. Verse 9 tells us Abraham remained “like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents” for the rest of his life.
• Then there was the problem of infertility. God promised that Abraham and Sarah would have a son (Genesis 12:7; 17:5-6), but they faced serious challenges. Sarah couldn’t have children. Twenty-five childless years passed after God’s promise (Genesis 21:5) and they were now past their childbearing years.
So, what do you do when things don’t go the way you imagined? You do what Abraham did. By faith, he reasoned that God’s promises must not be confined to the present. Something bigger, better, and longer lasting is coming (v. 10). Abraham looked past his temporary life to heaven. He couldn’t wait to trade his flimsy tent for the eternal city God was constructing. That future-looking faith kept him going.
In verse 12, the Holy Spirit shows us the world-shaping outcome of Abraham’s faith. It’s an amazing thing when God invites us into His plans. And often, interruptions are His calling card! It makes me wonder if I am willing to go with Him when He interrupts my life, believing that He wants to work in and through me in a big way.
Question 2: How do you typically respond when life changes directions in a way you didn’t expect?
Hebrews 11:13-16
13 All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance, admitting that they were foreigners and strangers on earth.14 People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. 15 If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. 16 Instead, they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.
The Book of Hebrews calls a time-out in Abraham’s story to help us answer the question— How did Abraham do it? Verse 13 fast-forwards to the end of three generations in Abraham’s family, and they all share the same eulogy: “He didn’t receive all that God promised, but he never lost his confidence in the Lord.” What’s the secret to this overcoming faith? Verses 13-16 show us what happens inside the person who trusts in the Lord with all his heart, soul, mind, and strength. Three motivating conditions are:
1. Maintain A Pilgrim Mindset. The patriarchs saw themselves as foreigners and strangers on earth” (Genesis 23:4). This family “show that they are looking for a country of their own” that wasn’t on this planet (v. 14). Believing God’s promises severs our roots in this world. We’re foreigners here, waiting to go home. We don’t fit in.
2. Anticipate Heaven. Hebrews 11:1 tells us that “faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.” Faith is a rock-solid trust that is so convinced God will keep His promises that it becomes a foretaste of the fulfillment right now! Faith helps us see and embrace what is coming as real and wonderful.
• The patriarchs so believed God’s promises that they “saw them,” and “welcomed them from a distance” as though they were near (v. 13). They desired “country” than this world offers, “a heavenly one” (v. 16).
• The same heavenly mindedness will strengthen us. “For no matter how many promises God has made, they are ‘Yes’ in Christ” (2 Corinthians 1:20).
3. Refuse to Return. Every hero of Hebrews 11 had the chance to return to his or her old life. “If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return” (v. 15). The living conditions for Abraham were certainly better in Ur. His family and friends would welcome him back. If he wanted an easier earthly life, it was within reach. Yet, he never turned back. Unlike Demas, who loved this present world (2 Timothy 4:10), Abraham didn’t dwell on the past or pine for his former life. He looked forward in faith, cherishing God’s promises like the priceless pearl worth more than everything he owned (Matthew 13:45-46).
Question 3: What obstacles get in the way of trusting God when our lives are interrupted?
Hebrews 11:17-19
17 By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice. He who had embraced the promises was about to sacrifice his one and only son, 18 even though God had said to him, “It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.” 19 Abraham reasoned that God could even raise the dead, and so in a manner of speaking he did receive Isaac back from death.
This is an uncomfortable part of Abraham’s story—one that confronts what we believe about the kindness of God and the cost of following Him. When God interrupted Abraham’s life and called him to trust Him regarding things that weren’t visible yet, Abraham took God at His word. Even when it defied common sense and biological ability, Abraham remained convinced that the one true God was committed to his good and up to amazing things in this world.
This interruption in verse 17 challenged all that. Where will Abraham find the faith to lay his son on the altar? Though we’re never told Abraham’s inner musings, I suspect he wrestled with the same questions we ask when we’re hit hard.
• “Why are You doing this to us?” Abraham and Sarah had waited twenty-five years for God’s promise of a son to be fulfilled. And now, when Isaac was a teenager, God pronounced a death sentence over him?
• “What possible good can come from this, God?” On a parental level, God knew the toll this would take on Abraham. He described Isaac as Abraham’s “one and only son,” capturing how cherished and important Isaac was as the son of the promise. How would Isaac’s death serve God’s purposes?
Genesis 22:1-19 captures the full story. After God makes this incomprehensible demand to Abraham (vv. 1-2), early the next morning he started the three-day journey to Moriah with Isaac and servants. Somewhere between the wrenching command and their arrival at Moriah, something happened inside Abraham. Years of waiting and wandering on this pilgrimage with the Lord had formed a deep God-confidence in his soul. He had this unflinching conviction about God—something Moses would later write: “God is not human, that he should lie, not a human being, that he should change his mind. Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfill?” (Numbers 23:19).
Abraham’s unwavering confidence in God’s faithfulness led him to stake everything he had—even the life of his son—on the integrity of the Lord. On that basis, he reasoned that God’s promise through Isaac and God’s command about Isaac were not contradictory. God had bound Isaac to His purposes for the future, and God had required that Isaac be sacrificed. There could only be one solution: God intended to raise Isaac from the dead.
God interrupted Abraham once more, this time in the split second before he plunged the knife into his son. Abraham’s story of faith reminds us that no one gets through life without severe tests that will sift the quality of our confidence in God. Even when we don’t understand what God is doing, we can bank everything we have on our faithful God, who always keeps His word.
Question 4: How can spiritual disciplines help us prepare for life’s interruptions?
Question 5: How has our group helped you persevere when your faith was tested?
LIVE IT OUT
When God interrupts our plans, we can trust what He’s doing. Choose one of the following applications:
• Shift your focus. Meditate on Scriptures about heaven (Revelation 21:1-4,22-27; 22:1-5). Read Randy Alcorn’s book, Heaven. Sing songs about what it will be like when you are home with Him.
• Follow God’s leading. Train yourself to obey God immediately. When He urges you to pray with a friend, help someone financially, or share the gospel—don’t ignore Him. Obeying God’s leading opens doors to experiencing Him in wonderful ways.
• Learn to reason by faith. When challenges arose, Abraham considered what is unchangeable and true about God before deciding what to do. God’s Word, prayer, and wise counsel provide godly guardrails when life gets confusing.
Friendship Baptist Church
Bible Study Lesson
www.friendshipbaptistchurchga.com
(470)-251-5100
Session 2
“WHEN LIFE GOES TERRIBLY WRONG”
Genesis 39:21-23, 40:5-8, 41:10-14
The Point
Even hard interruptions place us where God can use us.
THE BIBLE MEETS LIFE
The birth of a giraffe is shocking to behold! First, the newborn calf drops ten feet to the ground at birth. Then, his mama kicks him. Hard! Somehow, the calf knows what this means and tries to stand. But those stilts-for-legs rarely work on the first try.
Bam! A second kick sends the calf sprawling. This cycle of kick, try, and fall repeats until the infant giraffe finds its wobbly balance. Then, bam! Mama kicks him off his feet! Her baby must learn how to rise and get moving right away or predators will pick him off.1
I’ve got some things in common with a baby giraffe.
• I’ve been knocked off my feet.
• I’ve been kicked while I was down.
• I’ve been kicked by the people from whom I expected kindness.
Can you relate?
Joseph certainly can! His life was interrupted by wicked people, stinging injustice, and brutal hardship. Yet, his God-centered response offers a trustworthy roadmap through the fog of shock and the tears of life’s hard kicks.
Question 1: What’s your favorite thing to see or experience at the zoo?
WHAT DOES THE BIBLE SAY?
Genesis 39:21-23
21 the Lord was with him; he showed him kindness and granted him favor in the eyes of the prison warden. 22 So the warden put Joseph in charge of all those held in the prison, and he was made responsible for all that was done there. 23 The warden paid no attention to anything under Joseph’s care, because the Lord was with Joseph and gave him success in whatever he did.
Meet Joseph. In Genesis 37, he’s probably a teenager and his life is a soap opera. But nothing could have prepared him for what was about to happen.
• He was born into a dysfunctional family—perfect for reality TV.
• His half-brothers took turns being brutal, conniving, and openly immoral.
• He was his dad’s favorite, and his brothers hated him for it.
• Jacob’s gift of the “coat of many colors” conferred firstborn privileges and position to Joseph, deepening the rift with siblings.
• God gave Joseph dreams foretelling his preeminence in his family. Excited and naive, Joseph shared this with his family. You can guess how that went.
So, what happened when daddy’s favorite, with firstborn rights and big dreams of future influence, was spotted by his malicious brothers as he walked toward them in a remote area—wearing that infuriating coat? Answer: something vile.
Like a pack of wolves, they pounced on Joseph, ultimately selling him into slavery. They savaged his prized coat to make it look like death by a wild beast, then headed home with a lie to tell their father and a secret to bury deep.
In one afternoon, Joseph went from pampered heir in a wealthy family to pitiful slave bound for Egypt, where he was sold to Potiphar, Pharaoh’s captain of the guard. We can imagine what Joseph felt during that terrible road trip: injustice, grief, and anger.
We all carry wounds inflicted by others. It’s easy to pitch a tent in Camp Hurt and stay there, replaying how we’ve been wronged and what it cost us. Questions come unbidden in such times:
• “Where is God in all this?”
• “How could He let this happen to me?”
But Joseph’s story offers a different perspective—God has not walked out on you. Quite the opposite: He is with you in the valley.
As Genesis 39 opens, Joseph had a choice to make.
• He could let what others had done to him define his life, becoming a hardened, bitter man.
• He could trust that God the Dream-Giver was present and purposeful in ways he couldn’t yet see.
Joseph chose God and that made all the difference. Four times in Genesis 39, we read that “the Lord was with Joseph” (vv. 2,3,21,23). Hebrews 13 tells us what happens when we believe like this: “God has said, ‘Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.’ So we say with confidence, ‘The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can mere mortals do to me?’” (vv. 5-6). Sounds like Joseph, doesn’t it? Confidence in God guarded his heart from poisonous emotions and opened him to God’s blessing. Each time God’s presence with him is mentioned, we’re told his work prospered. It’s obvious that Joseph told Potiphar and the prison warden the reason for his attitude or competency (vv. 3,23). They acknowledged that God was the explanation for Joseph’s life.
Even when Mrs. Potiphar propositioned him daily (v. 10), Joseph never yielded to temptation. He was living his life according to God’s principles—he would not succumb to this “wicked thing” and sin against God (v. 9). It was costly obedience. She slandered Joseph’s character, and it landed him in prison (vv. 11-18). Joseph did what was right and got burned.
How encouraging it must have been for Joseph when, while imprisoned, the warden gave him favor and complete trust. It makes me think: How many times has God met me with mercy and help in the darkest nights of my life? How often, in those hard places, has He opened doors I would never have seen?
Question 2: When have you sensed the Lord’s kindness especially extended to you?
Genesis 40:5-8
5 … each of the two men—the cupbearer and the baker of the king of Egypt, who were being held in prison—had a dream the same night, and each dream had a meaning of its own. 6 When Joseph came to them the next morning, he saw that they were dejected. 7 So he asked Pharaoh’s officials who were in custody with him in his master’s house, “Why do you look so sad today?” 8 “We both had dreams,” they answered, “but there is no one to interpret them.” Then Joseph said to them, “Do not interpretations belong to God? Tell me your dreams.”
When we hear of a “God-forsaken place,” we usually picture a location so harsh, desolate, and miserable as to be unfit for human thriving. That prison took a toll on Joseph.
David described Joseph’s plight: “They bruised his feet with shackles, his neck was put in irons” (Psalms 105:18). I have never been handcuffed in my life, let alone chained to a wall.
The trauma of his confinement shrink-wrapped Joseph’s life. He felt claustrophobic, his whole existence narrowed to the length of his chains in a cell likely located underground. His limitations would raise questions—the kind that haunt us when circumstances confine us:
• “What are You doing, Lord?”
• “God, what do I do now? I’m stuck.”
• “How can I serve You here? It feels like Your purposes have passed me by.”
Sometimes, we Christians say to one another, “God is good all the time.” We declare this as public praise and mutual encouragement when prayers are answered, or when sickness is healed, or when God opens doors. But here’s an important question: Do we really believe God is good all the time?
We aren’t given the details, but judging from Joseph’s actions, he was steadied by his faith. He believed God had him there for a reason, which was validated by release from his shackles, his promotion over the prisoners, and his God-enabled success in his work.
So, when Pharaoh’s attendants told Joseph their confusing dreams, God enabled him to interpret them: the cupbearer would be restored to Pharaoh’s service, while the baker would be hanged. Both were fulfilled exactly as Joseph predicted.
Joseph served God’s purposes while in prison. If God can use Joseph in a dungeon, Daniel in a lion’s den, and Paul in prison, he has work for you to do right where you are too.
Question 3: How can we affirm and reflect God’s goodness even in difficult circumstances?
Genesis 41:10-14
10 Pharaoh was once angry with his servants, and he imprisoned me and the chief baker in the house of the captain of the guard. 11 Each of us had a dream the same night, and each dream had a meaning of its own. 12 Now a young Hebrew was there with us, a servant of the captain of the guard. We told him our dreams, and he interpreted them for us, giving each man the interpretation of his dream. 13 And things turned out exactly as he interpreted them to us: I was restored to my position, and the other man was impaled.” 14 So Pharaoh sent for Joseph, and he was quickly brought from the dungeon. When he had shaved and changed his clothes, he came before Pharaoh.
Years before, God gave Joseph two dreams (Genesis 37:5-11). Now, while in prison, Joseph heard from two fellow inmates that they both had dreams on the same night. They were distraught. Joseph said to them, “Do not interpretations belong to God? Tell me your dreams.” (Genesis 40:8). When he heard the dreams of the cupbearer and baker, he provided the interpretation. With the interpretation, Joseph made a heartfelt plea to the cupbearer to mention him to Pharaoh once he was released (Genesis 40:14). I’m sure the cupbearer pledged that he wouldn’t forget, but he did.
Genesis 40:23 delivers the blow: “The chief cupbearer, however, did not remember Joseph; he forgot him.” Joseph’s whole life seems to be two steps forward, three steps back—a dance step no one wants to learn. Then Genesis 41:1 adds to the pain. Read literally, it says, “When two full years had passed …” Joseph felt every empty-handed day in prison, each one pounding the truth into him: he was stuck in that miserable waiting room.
Question 4: How has faithfulness in small situations opened the door for larger opportunities in your life?
Yet, Joseph’s trust in the Lord didn’t waver. His humility and focus on God when he stood before Pharaoh reveals the character-shaping work of his testing. I don’t know what truth about God helped him through this. So many stories in the Bible follow this pattern:
• Someone is in pain.
• All they can see is a dead-end street.
• Suddenly, they recognize that God had been working all along in their suffering.
Joseph couldn’t see the bigger picture, but he trusted God with the unknown. It happened in a flash—the king had two fantastical dreams, and Egypt’s occultic magicians couldn’t make sense of them. The cupbearer’s memories of prison were jogged. He recounted Joseph’s accurate interpretation of his and the baker’s dreams to Pharaoh. One royal command later and Joseph’s unjust imprisonment was over.
Joseph interpreted Pharaoh’s dreams, pointing him to God’s wisdom and power as he explained the coming famine and Egypt’s role in global relief. Hearing God’s plans through Joseph, it was clear to the king who should administrate the plan Joseph proposed. And so it was that a Hebrew slave became the prime minister of Egypt.
It had been thirteen brutal years since Joseph was sold into slavery by his hateful brothers—years filled with abuse, injustice, slander, and long, dreary days of sorrow. But Joseph endured faithfully, looking past the wrongs and the losses. Joseph looked to God, who was readying him for astounding purposes.
Question 5: How has God used our group to help prepare you for life’s challenges and opportunities?
LIVE IT OUT
Even hard interruptions place us where God can use us. Choose one of the following applications.
• Pray about everything. Develop the habit of conversing with God about your daily experiences and emotions. Read 1 Peter 5:7 and 1 Thessalonians 5:17, then set reminders to stop and pray throughout the day.
• Fuel your faith. God is bigger than your problems, pain, fears, and future. Make a list of your current trials and difficulties. Increase your faith through reading God’s Word. This week with your list of troubles in hand, read and reflect on these verses: Job 42:2; Matthew 10:29-31; 19:26; Romans 8:28,32.
• Reconsider your perspective about suffering. Life is hard and unfair. People can be thoughtless and cruel. But God is good. Set aside time to meditate on what Joseph said to his brothers in Genesis 50:20. How could that perspective help you? Share with others as you have opportunity.
Friendship Baptist Church
Bible Study Lesson
www.friendshipbaptistchurchga.com
Session 3
“WHEN YOUR ACTIONS CAUSE AN INTERRUPTION”
Exodus 2:11-15, 19-22
Exodus 3:7-10
The Point
God can redeem our mistakes.
THE BIBLE MEETS LIFE
I’m fascinated with stories of “chance encounters.” History is full of them, and so is your life.
• Ever made a left turn when you should’ve gone right?
• Ever knocked on the wrong door?
• Ever stood in a long line only to discover thirty minutes later you were in the wrong line?
We don’t usually see these as life-changing encounters, but they could be. James Chadwick stood in the wrong line, and science is glad he did. James was only sixteen when he enrolled at Manchester University. This young upstart had his eye on studying mathematics—until he got in the wrong line.
Chadwick got in line to register for mathematics, but it turns out he was registering for physics. He decided to stay enrolled, though, because he liked the professor he talked with: Dr. Ernest Rutherford.
This wrong line and chance encounter led to a lifelong friendship and partnership. Was that a big deal? It turns out that Rutherford, who mapped out the atom, instilled in Chadwick a love for physics. Chadwick went on to discover the neutron, and he became a pioneer in nuclear science.
Your mistake could be an opportunity too. We sometimes wonder if God writes us off when we make rash or sinful decisions. But Moses shows us that God can use the mess we make of things to refine us if we let Him.
Question 1: What’s a mistake you made that you still laugh about today?
WHAT DOES THE BIBLE SAY?
Exodus 2:11-15
11 One day, after Moses had grown up, he went out to where his own people were and watched them at their hard labor. He saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his own people. 12 Looking this way and that and seeing no one, he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand. 13 The next day he went out and saw two Hebrews fighting. He asked the one in the wrong, “Why are you hitting your fellow Hebrew?” 14 The man said, “Who made you ruler and judge over us? Are you thinking of killing me as you killed the Egyptian?” Then Moses was afraid and thought, “What I did must have become known.” 15 When Pharaoh heard of this, he tried to kill Moses, but Moses fled from Pharaoh and went to live in Midian, where he sat down by a well.
Orphaned since he was young, Moses was now an adult, highly educated, trained for Egyptian royalty, and “powerful in speech and action” (Acts 7:22-23). His was a life of luxury and privilege.
But there was an ache in his heart that only orphans understand. Moses wanted to know his roots. What he discovered in his search was far bigger than bloodlines. Moses learned about God the Creator, who called the Hebrew people His own—and this captured him. In time, Moses embraced his heritage: he was a son of Abraham, not the son of Pharaoh’s daughter.
Hebrews 11 tells us that Moses renounced his status in Pharaoh’s family to join the faith and the suffering of God’s people (v. 24). We’re told he “went out to where his own people were” to see their suffering up close, and spotted “an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his own people” (Exodus 2:11, emphasis added).
Why would anyone choose to go from riches to rags? The world pushes in the opposite direction. Why would Moses do this? Hebrews 11 explains.
“By faith Moses … regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt, because he was looking ahead to his reward” (vv. 24,26).
In other words:
• Moses knew what God had promised to Abraham regarding his descendants.
• He understood that God would bring the Messiah into the world through His people.
• Moses believed God’s promises.
• His complete confidence in God freed him from the temptations of “the good life” he had. He looked to greater things from God that were coming.
All of this compounded in Moses when he saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew slave. Scholars differ over the details—did Moses already sense that God wanted him to liberate Israel? Was this murder or defense of a third party? On one point, they agree: Moses was reckless and sinful, and his actions sparked unintended repercussions.
This was wrong on several levels. It was unnecessary—he could have ordered the Egyptian to stop. It wasn’t God’s will, as He had not yet called Moses to free His people. And it wasn’t God’s way.
Moses’s conscience was obviously warning him. Notice his efforts to make sure no one was watching. He worked hard to conceal the evidence, but the next day, he discovered that the news had leaked. The camaraderie with his kinsmen that he had hoped to generate had backfired (vv. 14; Acts 7:25). When Pharaoh heard of it, Moses had to run for his life.
He didn’t anticipate any of this. He had good intentions, but one “secret” act had crashed his whole life. As this royal-turned-outlaw ran for the hills, he was probably stunned by what just happened.
Here’s what I’ve learned from the backside of some bad decisions: you can keep hitting repeat on the “if onlys” and stay stuck, or you can receive the bitter harvest of what you sowed as a necessary part of your spiritual growth.
Question 2: How would you describe our culture’s view of sin and consequences?
Exodus 2:19-22
19 They answered, “An Egyptian rescued us from the shepherds. He even drew water for us and watered the flock.” 20 “And where is he?” Reuel asked his daughters. “Why did you leave him? Invite him to have something to eat.” 21 Moses agreed to stay with the man, who gave his daughter Zipporah to Moses in marriage. 22 Zipporah gave birth to a son, and Moses named him Gershom, saying, “I have become a foreigner in a foreign land.”
As Moses fled Egypt, he faced a hard reality. Everything he had known was gone. Alone, with only the clothes on his back, Moses was running on empty. God never wastes time or experiences in our lives. The question is, did Moses learn anything from his failure? God tests us in ways that reveal and refine us, depending on how we respond. Moses was now up to bat.
• Test 1: Life in the Wilderness. Moses traveled about 300 miles to a place where he could disappear: the remote wasteland of Midian. There, his life was reduced to the daily necessities of water, food, and shelter. The wilderness is synonymous with scarcity, isolation, and adversity—the kind of hard place that forces you to seek the Lord. Many have met Him there.
Moses would later lead Israel through this very terrain, forty years down the road. But first, he had to follow the Lord through his own personal exodus:
1. Away from idols, like “the good life” in Egypt and his own self-sufficiency,
2. To wholehearted trust in the Lord and full identification with His people, Israel.
By the time his first child was born, something profound had shifted in Moses. He named his son Gershom, which is a play on Moses’s life story: “I have become a foreigner in a foreign land” (v. 22). When Moses looked back to his early years in Egypt, he recognized that as a prince, he was a resident alien in a foreign land. Now, living in Midian, he was once again an alien in a foreign land. Little did Moses know that his status as a resident alien was preparation for his leadership as the shepherd of the Israelites through forty years of wandering.
• Test 2: Starting a Family. While in Midian, Moses paused at a well. Soon, seven sisters came to fill the watering troughs for their father’s flock. While watering their flock, a group of shepherds arrived and pushed them and their flock out of the way (v. 17). The sisters’ work was delayed and their flock were forced to wait.
Moses intervened by coming to their rescue. He watered their flock. This display of bold, tempered compassion impressed the girls and their father, Reuel (also called Jethro), the priest of Midian. Moses was invited to dinner and eventually into their family. He became a husband and a father, building servant-leadership and self-denial deeper into his character.
Moses’s experiences show us that God can use the unintended consequences we bring upon ourselves to forge something new. God works in our hardships to clarify our allegiances and accelerate our spiritual maturity.
Question 3: How does seeing God’s provision for Moses give us hope in spite of our mistakes?
Exodus 3:7-10
7 The Lord said, “I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering. 8 So I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey—the home of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. 9 And now the cry of the Israelites has reached me, and I have seen the way the Egyptians are oppressing them. 10 So now, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt.”
Question 4: What obstacles must we overcome to allow God to use our past mistakes to enhance others’ lives?
The providence of God is a profound and comforting conviction that is woven throughout the Bible. It teaches us that God is personally and powerfully upholding and directing the universe and everything in it according to His purposes, all the time. God’s providential work in the minutiae and the massive means nothing happens by chance and that everything happens for a reason.
Look at how this plays out in Moses’s story. Forty years pass between Exodus 2:22 and Exodus 3:1. During this time, seemingly disconnected things converged into God’s call in Moses’s life.
• There was a change of leadership in Egypt, opening the way for Moses to return (Exodus 2:23-25).
• The prophesied time of God’s deliverance arrived (Genesis 13:14-16).
• God heard the groans of His people and remembered His covenant with Abraham to make his descendants a great nation with their own land.
• Meanwhile, Moses grazed the flocks further west than normal, and he saw something that made no sense.
Maybe Moses noticed the flaming bush in the distance but went on with his work. Then he looked again and saw that the bush was unchanged. Moses’s curiosity turned to awe as he realized that the flame, like God Himself, wasn’t dependent upon anything else. An unearthly source was at work here, displaying perpetual power, light, and glory.
Adding to the wonder, Moses then heard his name called. (“He knows me?!”) God cautioned him to keep his distance, then introduced Himself as the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. God had heard Israel’s groaning. He saw their sorrows. Then, as Moses cowered in the sand, God said something astonishing:
“I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them … into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey … So now, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt” (vv. 8,10).
God was saying, “Moses, Israel has prayed for deliverance, and you are My answer. I will lead them out through you.” Moses balked at God’s interruption. Yet, in the end, Moses returned to Egypt with God’s mighty hand upon him and Aaron by his side. Midian probably felt like the end of the line for Moses. But with God, wilderness time is only a detour, not a dead end. God redeemed Moses’s self-inflicted consequences, blessing millions of people, then and now.
Question 5: What circumstances in someone else’s life has God used to do a work in your own?
LIVE IT OUT
God can redeem our mistakes. Choose one of the following applications:
• Ask God’s forgiveness. If sin put you in the wilderness, confess your sin and receive God’s forgiveness. Read Psalm 103:10-14; Ephesians 1:7; Colossians 1:14; and 1 John 1:9.
• Recall wilderness times from your past. Reflect on the wilderness seasons of your life. Look back at times of unexplained waiting and try to determine if God used those times to refine you, from the inside out. In God’s hands, consequences aren’t just for correcting, but for cultivating.
• Follow God’s call. Moses felt disqualified, just like we do. Ask the Holy Spirit to guide you as you seek to be obedient to His call. Following Him is always what is best at every stage of life.
Friendship Baptist Church
Bible Study Lesson
www.friendshipbaptistchurchga.com
Session 4
“WHEN WELL-MEANING PEOPLE INTERRUPT YOUR PLANS”
Luke 8:40-50, 54-56
The Point
God-ordained interruptions call for a sensitive heart.
THE BIBLE MEETS LIFE
Peter Greig was on his way to his home in England as he hurried through Chicago’s O’Hare Airport. He soon learned that the Iceland volcano had grounded all flights. Peter asked God how He wanted him to use this interruption and his thoughts flew to his friend Joe, 150 miles away in Madison, Wisconsin. “Hey, I’m in Chicago,” he emailed. “Can I come crash on your couch?”
What Peter didn’t know was that Joe had just received terrible news, and not half-an-hour before, Joe’s wife had asked, “Who do you wish you had on your couch right now?”
“I wish Pete was on my couch,” Joe answered, “but I know that’s crazy.” Within hours of Joe’s stated longing, Peter was sitting on his couch.
Sometimes, God interrupts our lives with people in ways that feel like an answer to prayer. In our passage, Jesus was surrounded by people, but He took time for two desperate people. He responded with such spiritual sensitivity and power that it changed them.
Question 1: Who’s a friend who has an open invitation to crash on your couch anytime?
WHAT DOES THE BIBLE SAY?
Luke 8:40-42
40 Now when Jesus returned, a crowd welcomed him, for they were all expecting him. 41 Then a man named Jairus, a synagogue leader, came and fell at Jesus’ feet, pleading with him to come to his house 42 because his only daughter, a girl of about twelve, was dying. As Jesus was on his way, the crowds almost crushed him.
In Luke 8, Jesus was going from town to town, preaching and teaching about the kingdom of God, reclaiming what demons had stolen, and bending the laws of nature to reverse the effects of sin’s curse.
In verse 40, Jesus had just crossed the Sea of Galilee, docking in Capernaum. As soon as He stepped ashore, He was swept up into the current of human sin and need once more. Pressing through the throngs of people was one of the most prominent men in the community. Jairus was a synagogue leader who was responsible for overseeing the teaching and worship in Sabbath gatherings.
Since the synagogue was the spiritual and social center of life in a Jewish community, the townspeople would have recognized Jairus. What was he doing? Was he going to debate Jesus?
Jesus had been a firebrand for Judaism, and was likely held in contempt by Jairus’s contemporaries. He was a threat to their standing among the people, constantly calling their teaching and character into question. What would the other rabbis think?
But Jesus had been impossible for Jairus to write off. Capernaum had been His home base for ministry, so many of Jesus’s miracles and teachings were done on its streets. That gave Jairus access to eyewitness accounts and stories about Jesus. All of them showcased:
• His compassion for people
• His authoritative teaching
• The miracles He performed
• The rumors about who He was
What if it was all true? What if Jesus really was so much more than just another rabbi?
Jairus must have known that what he was about to do would be risky. But on this day, he wasn’t coming as a synagogue ruler; he was coming as a father, desperate for a miracle for his twelve-year-old daughter who was dying. As he fell to the ground at Jesus’s feet, Jairus came to the only One who could heal her. He begged Jesus to come to his house.
Now, shift your attention to Jesus.
Jesus’s mission had a time limit, making His every action purposeful. He contended with opposition everywhere He went. He faced the headwinds of increasing hatred from religious leaders. He bore the stress of being popular. The crowd always wanted something from Him. He felt weary from the pace of ministry.
Yet, we see no trace of impatience or irritation with Jairus or anyone else in need. Jesus never allowed pressures to squeeze an unloving or selfish word or deed out of Him or make Him callous toward people and their needs. Instead, He stopped, listened, and graciously responded to each need in appropriate ways.
When we consider how intentional Jesus was in His desire to please His Father in all things, what can we learn from Him about serving others when we’re hard pressed?
• People matter to God.
• God brings people across our path to engage us in His purposes.
• Like Christ, we must put others’ needs ahead of our own (Philippians 2:3-4).
• Walking in the Spirit keeps us ready to offer appropriate ministry that meets needs.
Question 2: What do you appreciate about Jairus’s encounter with Jesus?
Luke 8:43-48
43 And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years, but no one could heal her. 44 She came up behind him and touched the edge of his cloak, and immediately her bleeding stopped. 45 “Who touched me?” Jesus asked. When they all denied it, Peter said, “Master, the people are crowding and pressing against you.” 46 But Jesus said, “Someone touched me; I know that power has gone out from me.” 47 Then the woman, seeing that she could not go unnoticed, came trembling and fell at his feet. In the presence of all the people, she told why she had touched him and how she had been instantly healed. 48 Then he said to her, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace.”
Concealed in the human traffic jam surrounding Jesus was a woman whose very presence violated the Mosaic law. We don’t know why she was hemorrhaging, but her blood loss kept her physically weak and ceremonially unclean (Leviticus 15), costing her dearly.
• She couldn’t worship God with His people.
• She missed every family get-together.
• She was never invited over by friends.
• She couldn’t touch anyone without defiling them.
• She was required to announce her “unclean” status when near people.
• She had drained her financial resources on physicians, undergoing painful procedures that only made matters worse (Mark 5:26).
See her lingering on the fringe of the crowd? For years, this woman had been told to keep her distance. Can you imagine how emotionally starved and lonely it must have been to be an “untouchable”? How broken and destitute she must have felt.
Mark’s account tells us that she had heard the reports about Jesus (5:27). He was doing impossible things. Some said He was the Messiah. Her hope was reborn as faith in Jesus gripped her heart. Now, that faith would move her to action. Word of Jesus’s approach raced ahead of Him. She quickly formed a plan: get close, touch His garment, get away, and, hopefully, remain unnoticed. No need to draw unwanted attention to her unclean status.
Her pulse must have quickened as she stepped into the crowd. When Jesus passed by, she reached out and touched the edge of His robe. Two things happened in that moment. She was healed instantly. Mark adds that “she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering” (5:29). Her long ordeal was over. She was whole. Jairus’s emergency was put on hold as Jesus asked, “Who touched Me?” (v. 45). Jesus’s disciples were confounded by the question—noting the crowd. But Jesus was calm and determined to identify the person. Why did He insist on knowing who touched Him?
• Jesus wanted to express His compassion directly to this woman.
When the woman realized she couldn’t hide, “she came trembling and fell at his feet” (v. 47), telling “the whole truth” (Mark 5:33) to Jesus and the crowd. How would Jesus respond to her? How would the crowd react to her disobedience of the law?
Jesus called her “daughter,” a term of family status. She was welcomed to the family. She was seen, affirmed in her faith, and restored.
• Jesus wanted to focus on her faith in three ways.
1. Jesus wanted to dispel any idea that her healing came because she touched His clothes: “Your faith has healed you.”
2. He wanted to relieve her of any misgivings that “she had stolen this healing from Jesus” without His permission.
3. Jesus didn’t want her faith to be anonymous. Faith in Christ isn’t meant to be private. It must be publicly declared (Romans 10:9-11).
• Jesus wanted her healing to reflect His saving purpose.
This woman had lived with her illness for a long time, leaving her hopeless. Her faith in Jesus, expressed in the simple act of reaching out to touch His cloak, transferred her uncleanness and alienation to Him, while He made her clean and welcomed her. It was a beautiful picture of why Jesus came: taking our sin and shame upon Himself, giving us His righteousness.
Question 3: How can we determine when an interruption is a God-given opportunity to serve?
Luke 8:49-50,54-56
49 While Jesus was still speaking, someone came from the house of Jairus, the synagogue leader. “Your daughter is dead,” he said. “Don’t bother the teacher anymore.” 50 Hearing this, Jesus said to Jairus, “Don’t be afraid; just believe, and she will be healed” … 54 But he took her by the hand and said, “My child, get up!” 55 Her spirit returned, and at once she stood up. Then Jesus told them to give her something to eat. 56 Her parents were astonished, but he ordered them not to tell anyone what had happened.
Question 4: How can we remain focused on our mission yet open to God’s interruptions?
What do you think was going on with Jairus as he watched Jesus and the woman? Exasperation that they had stopped. Aggravation that Jesus was searching for someone. Exhilaration at the healing power and love of Jesus.
That’s when it happened. Jairus’s worst fears as a father were realized. Jesus and the woman were still speaking when a messenger arrived with the terrible news. Everyone overhearing this news drew the same conclusion. Death was the period at the end of the sentence. Jairus was too shocked to speak. Jesus wasn’t. He said something to Jairus that would collide with the hopelessness he felt: “Don’t be afraid; just believe, and she will be healed” (v. 50).
Now, think about this: Jairus had just witnessed Jesus’s healing power and heard this woman explain that she had been hemorrhaging for twelve years. She had been sick for as long as his daughter had been alive. She trusted Jesus and was made whole. Jairus had come to Jesus, believing He could heal his daughter. In that moment, Jairus went all in with Jesus. Jairus turned toward home with Jesus. Jesus corrected the perspective of the mourners about death, which they found laughable. Jesus was delusional, as far as they were concerned. But He knew something they didn’t. What happened next is mind-blowing.
• He tenderly took the dead girl’s hand, which was a defiling act for a Jew, but Jesus was about to remove any uncleanness.
• He said something this girl would have heard almost every morning when her parents awakened her. “Child, get up!”
When the One who is resurrection and the life says, “Get up,” to the dead, they get up. It’s that simple. The astonished disciples and overjoyed parents were awestruck by this truth about Jesus: He can raise the dead as easily as we wake our children for breakfast.
Question 5: When have you seen or heard of God working in a situation that seemed hopeless?
LIVE IT OUT
God-ordained interruptions call for a sensitive heart. Choose one of the following applications:
Become radically people-oriented. Create a list of people you know who are facing some type of personal crisis (physical, spiritual, emotional, relational). Pray that Jesus will go out of His way to meet their need and make God’s love real to them.
Receive a heart transplant. Ask God to give you a heart of compassion for people who are hurting and are desperately in need of what only Jesus can provide.
When you’re afraid, trust Him. Receive Jesus’s word, “Don’t be afraid; just believe.” Reflect on the following verses (Psalm 23:4; Psalm 56:3; and Hebrews 13:5b-6), and trust Him when fear grips your heart when you face the unknown. Know that He is near to you right now.
