“One day, when Moses had grown up, he went out to his people and looked on their burdens, and he saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his people.” — Exodus 2:11

It was a day of awakening for Moses. It was not his best day, but it was a turning point out of which would come good. 

He saw what he had never seen before, and he realized that his very own people were being oppressed. What good might have Moses done at that point if he had not done wrong? It was premeditated, that action he would take, but not thought out. It was all he knew.

His eyes had been opened.

He sought to resolve the injustice with injustice and end the violence with violence. It did not work, and he fled and remained in the school of shepherding for decades.

Our deepest lessons are not learned in palaces. We may not be prepared for what we will see when our eyes are opened. We must restrain ourselves from the first reaction toward evil that we have and move from reaction to response. 

There is an anger that is right and good, a rage that can be harnessed into an outrage and an indignation that can lead us to dignify the dignity of the oppressed.

Moses needed what and who he would encounter in the burning bush, but he also needed the years of preparation that would lead to that moment. But first, his eyes needed to be opened.

Eye-opening is a dangerous time. As we lead people to see the world through the wounds and suffering of the oppressed, we need to be present with them to guide them through the shepherd school to the burning bush.

Rethinking Failure
Luke 22:31-33open.substack.com