The life of Moses is dripping with God's sovereignty and grace. His name is the Hebrew word for "to draw out". And how appropriate. Pharaoh's daughter drew him out of the Nile River...out of that little reed basket painted with pitch to make it waterproof. That was God's plan. It was God's plan that while infanticide had been decreed by the reigning Pharaoh, midwives would disobey the king's edict. It was God's grace that allowed the Hebrews to continue to grow in numbers. It was God's sovereign plan that Moses' mother be allowed to nurse him even after Pharaoh's daughter had laid claim to him as an adopted child. It was God at work in Moses' life that placed him in a palace where he would be educated and groomed to become the leader of God's people. It was God's plan that his fugitive years in the wilderness would not be wasted as a sheep herder, but redeemed as valuable experience he would need for 40 years in another desert en route to the promised land.

Time and time again, God drew Moses out and carried him, disciplined him, shaped him. God drew on the parchment of his own sovereign mind the man he intended all along Moses would become when God first decided there would be a boy born who would be called Moses. And the sketch God drew on the parchment of his own sovereign mind was the blueprint he used to orchestrate the circumstances and choices of Moses' life to bring about what God desired for Moses and through Moses. Here was a child of destiny if there ever was one.

But being destined for greatness did not mean that everything was great! Moses' life was not easy. It was tough at the start. It was tough throughout. In Psalm 90 Moses writes near the end of his life "We are consumed by your anger and terrified by your indignation. You have set our iniquities before you, our secret sins in the light of your presence. All our days pass away under your wrath; we finish our years with a moan. The length of our days is seventy years-or eighty, if we have the strength; yet their span is but trouble and sorrow, for they quickly pass and we fly away." ( verses 7-10 )

Moses knew first hand the heartache of sin's consequences He disobeyed God and exploded in anger having witnessed over and over again God's generosity and faithfulness. As a result Moses was denied the privilege of crossing the Jordan River and setting foot in the Promised Land. He was forgiven for his sin, but he had disqualified himself as one who bore a unique sacred trust of leadership. A sobering example, that for presidents and those over whom presidents preside, there is a price tag attached to breaking public trust. In spite of forgiveness, justice must be maintained. We need not be concerned with the primary colors of politics as much as the black and white facts about a child of destiny and what we can learn from his life.

Because God's purpose in our lives is tied to His sovereignty and grace, we can face an uncertain future with confidence and a great sense of worth. Let me repeat it again.

Because God's purpose in our lives is tied to His sovereignty and grace, we can face an uncertain future with confidence and a great sense of worth.

You see, I don't believe for a moment that Moses is the only one that qualifies as a child of destiny. Let me tell you about another boy who also was separated from his mother while still an infant.He never knew his mother. Taken advantage of by an older man she hardly knew, Elsie Toderas conceived her son out of wedlock and gave birth to him at the innocent age of eighteen. By then a young man began showing interest in her. He loved Elsie and wanted to marry her, but he did not want to begin their life together saddled with the responsibilities of another man's child. And so Elsie surrendered little Hugh to the Vancouver Children's Aid Society when he was all of five months old.

Because he was a sickly child, Hugh was passed from foster home to foster home until finally at the age of two and a half, he was taken in by David and Mabel Steven. Unable to have children of their own, the Stevens welcomed this toe head with sparkling blue eyes into their lives. Because the boy's permanent record indicated a vulnerability to illness, David and Mabel were reluctant to formally adopt Hugh for fear that they would not be able to pay unforeseeable medical expenses should he become seriously ill. As long as he was a foster child the provincial government would take care of his medical bills. So they maintained their status as foster parents and collected the monthly stipend from the welfare system.

Two years after taking Hugh in, Mabel became pregnant and gave birth to a son of their own. And because little Jimmy was their own flesh and blood, four year old Hugh became a sort of Cinderfella child. He was fed, clothed and cared for, but he struggled continually with the feeling of not belonging. He couldn't explain it. But life seemed unfair and unnecessarily hard. There was a lonesomeness deep inside.

Not until Hugh was 15 years old did he learn that David and Mabel Stevens were not his biological parents. Even then he didn't find out that the Stevens had never adopted him. It was when he applied for a marriage license at the age of twenty a government agency informed him that he was still a foster child. All those years the Stevens had collected a monthly check to take care of him.

But God had his hand on Hugh. In high school he accepted Jesus Christ as his personal savior. The young woman he fell in love with and married was a committed Christian. They were blessed with two beautiful children and responded to a call to full time missionary service. While on the field in Mexico they had two additional children. Hugh began writing missionary service through Hugh's influence. All four of his children are married and walking with the Lord. Each of his nine grandchildren are professed Christians. What a legacy!

But throughout his forty years with Wycliffe Bible Translators Hugh longed to know about his birth mother. A year ago a call was made to try and uncover a past he never knew. I know. I made that initial call to Canada. You see Hugh is my wife's father.

One lead led to a string of providential pearls. Just last month Hugh was able to make contact with two half sisters and a half brother living in Canada. He learned that his mother died four years ago. He also learned that she never told anyone in her family about the boy she gave birth to 67 years ago. She went to her grave with a secret buried in her heart.

Hugh wrote a letter to his half-siblings in which he said..."For the record you need to know that I hold not the slightest bit of anger or unpleasant thoughts about being put up for adoption. I am confident that all this was within God's will. I had a clean, comfortable home and was deeply loved by my Grandparents... I always had enough to eat and a clean bed to sleep in... I learned to work hard and follow through and not give in no matter how hard the work..."

You see, Hugh knew, that in the midst of it all, God drew him out and brought about a life in keeping with His eternal plan. But my father in law is not the only one other than Moses for whom God has a fore-ordained purpose. We are all born under a sign. No, not an astrological sign. The sign that I have in mind reads...Masterpiece in process".

God has a purpose for each of our lives. His sovereignty and grace are celebrated when we are baptized or dedicated as infants. Those ceremonies are more than symbolic. They declare a factual reality. It's the reality St. Paul writes about in Romans 8:28 "For we know that in all things God works for the good of those who are called according to His purpose."

Because God's purpose for our lives is tied to His sovereignty and grace we can face an uncertain future with confidence and a sense of worth.

Moses was drawn out of the Nile. He was drawn out of a discriminatory system that threatened to annihilate the Jewish people. God drew him out of his insecure self when Moses resisted the call to lead the Israelites with every imaginable excuse.

God didn't draw you out of a hat. He drew you out of his heart. And He is drawing you out of what seems like impossible circumstance to carry you through those circumstances which in fact He is using to bring about His holy purposes for you life.

As you look into the life of Moses observe the multitudinous ways God was at work in Moses' life. But don't stop there. Recognize that the same God who drew Moses out of hard times at just the right time is doing the same thing for you.

Let me repeat my premise sentence. Because God's purpose for our lives is tied to His sovereignty and grace, we can face an uncertain future with confidence and a sense of self worth.

I've never read the classic story Black Beauty, but my wife Wendy and I and our three daughters watched the video several months back. It moved me deeply! It's a story about a horse that in reality is the story of us all. Born in the security of innocence, growing up to know both love and betrayal, learning to cope with the loss of what might have been, trust destroyed, disillusionment, physical decline. Well, at the end of the story Beauty is a disheveled worn-out broken horse unrecognized by his former stable boy. But then Joe brushes Beauty's matted mane away from his eyes and sees the unmistakable birth mark. Though disguised by disrespect and suffering, it was there all along.

You and I have a birth mark too. It's a tattoo on our soul that sin cannot undo. We have been born in the image of God. We have a capacity for knowing God. We have a capacity for hearing that still small voice that challenges our standards of what we think is important and affirms our personal worth and significance. We are destined for greatness.

JUST AS I AM

Strangely aware of a destiny tattooed upon my heart
I stated out not sure of how to find God's will for me.
Aimlessly I wandered in the desert land of doubt
detoured by the desires of my unsurrendered will,
until the presence of my father's God
flamed around me, called my name.
And the shame I'd worn too long
like rags fell off of me
as humbled by his call
I fell on my face
willing to fulfill
my now forgotten destiny.
Repenting of my pride
I confessed the fear I felt inside
and courageously
(though cautiously)
responded as I am

I love the son in the new Covenant hymnal "I Was There To Hear Your Borning Cry". The words paint a portrait of God's sovereignty and grace that begins at the beginning of our lives and continues throughout. Think of Moses. Think of my father in law. Think of what God is doing in your life that you may not even be aware of. Recently I saw a sign. It read "You don't have to be perfect in order to great!" And that's what God wants you to accept as gospel. You aren't perfect. None of us are. Moses wasn't, Hugh wasn't. But because God loves you and has a meaningful plan for you life, you are destined for greatness. You are a child of destiny.

Greg Asimakoupoulos is Director of Creative Communications for Mainstay Ministries (formerly Chapel of the Air). In addition to being an ordained minister, he is a regular contributor to several periodicals and newspapers. His books include: Jesus, The People's Choice, The Time Crunch, and Prayers from my Pencil. Greg and his wife Wendy have three daughters and live in Naperville, Illinois.

© All contents on this website are sole property of Jody Moreen
©2001- 2002 Adoption Blessings Newsletter

Credits: Greg Asimakoupoulos