Burying Sins in the Sand
By Rev. Kyle Norman
One day, after Moses had grown up, he went out to where his people were and watched them at their hard labor. He saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his own people. Looking this way and that and seeing no one, he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand. - Exodus 2:11-12
There are two events that are most well-known in Moses’ life. First is his birth narrative, about being placed in a basket and set floating down a river. The second is the burning bush, where he meets the living God and receives his divine mandate. But tucked in the middle of these two events is the story of perhaps the worst day in Moses’ life.
Moses exists between two worlds. Everyone knows he is not Egyptian, but he has been raised by Pharaoh’s daughter and enjoys all the benefits of Egyptian royalty. He is Hebrew-born, but he lives apart from his people and doesn’t share the suffering. As we read here, he stands and watches them at their hard labor – maybe even longing to be a part of it. The implication in this text is that Moses watched the Israelite people often. But in one instant, Moses’ life, up to that point, crumbles.
The drama of the scene is poignant. Moses sees an Egyptian beating a Hebrew. He looks this way and that, spying to see if anyone would notice him. He kills the Egyptian and then proceeds to dig a shallow grave and bury his victim and crime. And if the guilt and the fear that surrounded his act were not enough, the very people that he tried to save seemed to turn on him. “Who made you judge?” they ask. Are you going to kill me too?”
Before we move on, let’s stop here. These questions are intriguing because they are questions that will be asked of Moses over the next 40 years. Who made you judge over us? Well, as we will read in Exodus 3, the Lord does. God calls Moses to be the leader of Israel, decide between matters of right and wrong, and sit as judge over the people. Similarly, Moses will continually be asked during the Exodus wandering if he is leading the people to death, when, in fact, his desire and his mission is to lead the people into life.
And yet, those are not the realities here. Moses acts in this place not out of a divine call – but out of a flurry of emotion. He wields not the Lord’s power but his own strength, and his rule over Israel, at this point, is a rule of death, not a rule of life. And because Moses acts impulsively, everything goes wrong. Everything crashes around him, and when he is found out - He runs. Yes, he runs from Pharoah’s wrath. He runs to escape being killed. But he also runs from his own sense of guilt, his own rejection, his own sin.
Intersecting Faith and Life:
God calls us, from time to time, to examine our lives. We are to look at our life before God and our need for God. Make no mistake, this can be uncomfortable. We don’t like to think about the sin in our life. But the act of coming to grips with where in our lives we need God’s redemptive love is incredibly important. We need to look at our spiritual life and ask if we are living according to God’s will for us or if we are taking life into our own hands and living from our own strength or perceptions.
More pointedly, what are the sins, the guilts, or the shame that we have buried underneath the sands of our lives, that remain undealt with? What are the sins that we have hidden that cause us to live in fear? In Psalm 32, David says, “When I kept silent, my bones wasted away through all my groaning. My soul was sapped as in the heat of summer. But then I acknowledged my sins to you, and you forgave the guilt of my sin.”
The reason why the Lord asks us to look at the sins that we may have buried is not so that we can be judged by them but so that we can be free of them. Jesus desires us to live our lives free from our spiritual burdens and weights, free to experience His
If you feel particularly burdened and weighted down today, may you recognize Christ’s gracious invitation. Stop heaping sand over that which you may want to remain hidden, but stand uncovered before the Lord and offer to God your complete selves. You won’t be forsaken or rejected. You won’t be condemned or cast off.
When we unbury our sins, we become unburdened, and only then can we step into the life that God calls us into.
Further Reading:
Psalm 32
1 John 1:9
What Does the Bible Say about Forgiveness?
Photo Credit: ©Sparrowstock
The Reverend Dr. Kyle Norman is the Rector of St. Paul’s Cathedral, located in Kamloops BC, Canada. He holds a doctorate in Spiritual formation and is a sought-after writer, speaker, and retreat leader. His writing can be found at Christianity.com, crosswalk.com, ibelieve.com, Renovare Canada, and many others. He also maintains his own blog revkylenorman.ca. He has 20 years of pastoral experience, and his ministry focuses on helping people overcome times of spiritual discouragement.
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