And Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was mighty in words and deeds (Acts 7:22).

And with all that pagan learning, what was the first thing Moses did out of the gate to serve God? He murdered an Egyptian!

Moses was forty years old at the time (Acts 7:23)—my age. But was he fit for service? Apparently not. It would take Moses another forty years of exile in Midian before God used him to deliver the Hebrews out of Egypt.

Spiritual maturity takes time.

Are you patient enough…with yourself and with others?

Sometimes, when I finally “get” a key spiritual truth, and the proverbial light comes on, I want other people to be just as excited and as liberated by it as I am!

And then I can get pushy.

“Don’t you see it, too???” I ask, frustrated when people don’t respond the way I think they should. Is that the right attitude to take?

Miles Stanford made a thoughtful remark about the danger of pushing people into blessings:

So many of us, having entered into some of the deeper realities of our Lord, seek to immediately pull or push others into this wonderful advancement; and then we wonder why they are so slow to learn, and seemingly apathetic in their understanding and concern. We so easily forget the many years it took, and what wandering wilderness ways our Lord had to traverse with us to bring us over the Jordan and into Canaan...It is injurious for one believer to be forcing another into “blessing” which that soul may not be ready for. Forced advance really gives the enemy his opportunity to mislead, for those who try to rush on at the push of others cannot stand alone, nor bear the tests of their assumed positions (Stanford, The Complete Green Letters, p. 70).

Before Moses could get the blessing of Canaan, he had to spend forty years in Midian. Sadly, Moses fell short of his goal. Don’t risk the same result by pushing people into blessings for which they are not ready.