• God solves problems His way, not ours

• shepherd: person who guides and protects animals

• Moses reacted in a very human way to the cruelty and injustice he saw. But his way did not accomplish anything. It even made him a murderer in the eyes of the people he was trying to protect. God's ways are not like ours, but they work. We must submit to his ways of doing things.
• Moses looked like someone in the perfect position to help the Israelites. But he threw it away by taking revenge himself. God was still able to use him, but had to give Moses time to grow out of his anger, pride, and lack of dependence on God.

Activity: Pick one student to act out a shepherd. Have the other students act like sheep. Tell them that sheep tend to get lost, get attacked, and forget instructions quickly. Have the shepherd try to keep the sheep together. You be a wolf trying to attack the ones far away. Then discuss how this job trained Moses to be a leader, protect the weak, and deal with misbehaving sheep.
 
True or False

1. Moses identified himself with the Israelites. T
2. God had forgotten the Israelites. F
3. God approves of murder when a situation is unfair. F
4. Moses lost his influence in Egypt by killing the Egyptian. T

1. What does a shepherd do? protects and cares for animals.
2. Name Moses' new family. Zipporah and Jethro
3. Unscramble:    phedsehr

1. Act out Moses helping Zipporah water her flock.
2. Draw a sheep or goat.
3. Find Midian on a map.

1. What feeling drove Moses to kill the Egyptian? anger
2. What feeling caused Moses to flee Egypt? fear for his life
3. What feeling caused Moses to help Zipporah? compassion

1. When God's ways are taking too long, should we use our own methods to accomplish justice? no
2. How can a single mistake of anger (or desire) take away future opportunities for good? (if we steal or hurt people, we can lose their trust, job opportunities, and influence on others)
3. What can we learn from the consequences of our mistakes? (patience, how to build trust, how easy it is to make mistakes, how to help others recover from mistakes....)

1. Why did Moses flee Egypt? the pharaoh wanted to kill him for killing an Egyptian
2. What did Moses do after that? tended flocks for Jethro, priest of Midian
3. Who did Moses marry? Zipporah, Jethro's daughter

1. How could Moses have helped Israel as the son of a pharaoh? He could have influenced pharaoh or become a leader himself someday.
2. How did God train Moses out of his temper and pride? He made him a lowly shepherd for 40 years.
3. What emotion did Moses show both to the Israelites and Zipporah? compassion and a desire to help.