"The Great Refusal of Moses"

 

“The Great Refusal” of Moses

 

How important it is for you to know who you are? Do you allow others to decide who you are and then try to fit into their frame? In allowing so have you come to finally discover that it gives no good yield? An individual’s self-identity plays an important role in his or her character-building process.

Here is an example from the life of Moses, which I believe will challenge you! ‘Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh’s daughter’ (Hebrews 11;24) Moses was born a Hebrew, but he was raised as an Egyptian by Pharaoh’s daughter. He owed so much to the Egyptian Pharos for saving his life from death and preserving him to become the second in command in Pharaoh’s Kingdom. “The great refusal” Moses made as written in the book of Hebrews, deprived him of the treasures and wealth of the Pharaohs’. It also earned him Pharaoh’s wrath. A lot of people fall into such situations where they have to be the person that others would want them to be if not, there is so much, they would lose if they refuse.

What made Moses do this ‘Great refusal’? Moses was a man who had a sense of responsibility towards his own Hebrew people. The two interventions he made as recorded in Exodus 2: 11-13, would not have happened if Moses did not know that God had called him to free his people and lead them out of Egypt. So, he had to make a choice: ‘What am I going to do with my life? I’m not who these people think I am.’ Moses had the courage to make the right choice and the right decision, but it meant spending the next eighty years of his life in the desert. However, those eight years made him discover who he is according to God’s design. Just imagine if Moses did not make “The Great Refusal” there would be no Moses to go before the Pharaoh as God’s agent, there would be no one to divide the Red Sea and the list will go on. The world will become poorer if a person is not allowed to find his own Identity. “This results in the formation of an inauthentic self-identity, which leads to a weak personal brand.”

 

Every human being should be encouraged to come to grips with his or her identity. Every person carries with oneself a deep need and desire to discover and accept who he or she is. Trying to be who we are not, because others tell us who we should be, is a dangerous path to take. It will make us pretend to be who we are not.  Such pretence will never keep a person at ease and it will create more chaos for the person and make him fall apart publicly. It can form an inauthentic self-identity, which leads to a weak personal brand.

 

Moses having recognized this, made a wise decision to stop pretending any more. It may have been the hardest decision, however in the light of God’s plan and eternity it was the best one. “It’s liberating when we stop trying to be somebody we’re not, and accept whom God has made or called us to be.”

 

“When I discover who I am, I will be free”

Ralph Ellison - Novelist




 

Rev. Asiri P. Perera

November 1, 2020

 

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