3 men God used to save nations
Republished from Bible and Basketball, March 8, 2023.
God Loves all people. That does not mean he loves all ideas. A lot of times, God will move His hand through individuals to allow nations to experience His glory. The three men that God used in the Bible that I will hit on are Joseph, Moses and Joshua in that order.
Joseph was the 12th son of Jacob and Sarah. Joseph has a dream that his brothers were all worshiping him through a symbolic vision of stalks of grain. Long story short, Joseph was betrayed by his brothers and was sold into slavery, then falsely accused of harassing the wife of Potiphar, an Egyptian leader, and thrown into prison. Joseph was then released from prison to interpret Pharaoh’s dream. He interpreted the dream correctly and saved all of Egypt from famine.
Joseph was treated so wrongly and could have very easily turned his back on God. Joseph stayed faithful no matter what happened to him because he knew that God was working in his life. God had to put Joseph through extreme trials for him to be able to handle the extreme mountain tops he would experience. God used Joseph to rescue all of Egypt and his own family from famine.
Pharaoh means Egyptian king. Pharaoh in Joseph’s time is a different king than in Moses’s time.
The birth of Moses was 294 years after Joseph was born. Egypt has had a new king, and he ordered all the firstborn Hebrew baby boy to be killed. Moses’s mother and sister put him in a basket along the Nile River, where Pharaoh’s daughter found him. Moses grew up as an Egyptian, but finds through his education that he was Hebrew. He started to grow curious and was impelled to visit his people.
Moses then kills an Egyptian that was mistreating his people and creates a reputation that he is a killer. He flees to the desert, where he meets God through a burning bush. God gives him the vision that he will free his people and Moses goes back to tell Pharaoh to let his people go. God hardens his heart and refuses to do so. God sends a series of plagues and finally, after 10 plagues, Pharaoh lets the Israelites go.
Moses was used by God to free his people, but Moses needed to practice great faith for God to do so. Many people do not know this, but there were about 2-3 million people that Moses had to lead to the promise land. Moses needed to be a pure vessel for God to work through for his spirit to be present in the interaction with Pharaoh. When Moses met with God on a mountain in the desert, God told him he was to lead his people out of slavery. Moses responded fearfully, saying he was not good at speaking. Moses did not want to do this. He made a choice to honor God.
Joshua was a mighty warrior under Moses who took lead over the Israelite army. Moses died and Joshua’s time to reign had come. God anointed Joshua to finish what Moses started where he would need great courage to go into Canaan and take back what was rightfully theirs. Joshua is well known for leading the Israelite army to march around the walls of Jericho seven times when the walls came crumbling down. Joshua was a fearless warrior that was obedient to the voice of God. When a decision had to be made, Joshua did not shy away from what needed to be done.
Joshua and his army went into Canaan and destroyed every city. He then was led by God to create boundaries for each tribe of Israel. The land was divided among the 12 tribes of Israel. They made it!
These men showed great courage and honor to the lord to do what God wanted them to do. They are biblical heroes and we all can learn what it truly looks like to put aside our comfort and commit to God’s vision instead. These men show us what it looks like to be true listeners of the lord.
3 men God used to save nations do not stop obeying God. If you’re going through a deep trial, consider it pure joy because that means God is preparing you to do something amazing. God will never forsake you so you can trust that he has you under his hand of protection.
