Moses a Work in Progress

By Dr. Shay Shelton Hoffman

This is a story. It is only a story. However, I have tried to make the story fit with the history surrounding the biblical account, along with other relative stories. This is an attempt to fill in details of an ancient story, so that it may be possible for the reader to visualize the life and development of one of our biblical heroes. Many times we think that perhaps God will just send us a burning bush experience and we will be ready to charge off into history doing great things for God. Yes, Moses had a burning bush experience and a spoken direction from God. And yes, he then led 2 million people out of slavery into freedom. But Moses was eighty years in training. It was not until he crossed the Red Sea that Moses began to live through a period of time that would afford his maximum learning experiences.

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Jul 10, 2015
• ISBN: 9781490877709

Dr. Shay Shelton Hoffman

Dr. Hoffman is a licensed chaplain with twelve years of service in the Texas prison system. She has her doctorate in Christian ministry and counseling. She is the author of Unchain My Heart, an interactive year-long personal spiritual-development program for those suffering restrained physical freedom. Dr. Hoffman holds special interest in the biblical record with specific interest in the archaeological, historical, and scientific evidence that significantly enriches the understanding of biblical truths.

Book preview

Chapter 1

Three spirits—so intertwined as to be blended into a single entity. In them is life. Without them, there is no life. There is nothing in existence except them. If this magnificent bundle of life were named, it would call itself God. If this God had others with whom to communicate, He could reveal different aspects of Himself, and these parts too could be named. However, once a thing is named, it loses some of its infinite nature.

The name God resists any attempt to display boundaries, so God is a good name for this living presence that is everything. In the realm that is God, there is nothing but God. No empty space. No darkness. No out there. Everything, including nothing, was and is in God. In the created realm everything of value is a reflection of Him, but God is the reality. Reality is God, and there is nothing else but God. Everything He created that is separate from Him was created within Him, and it is by Him that they exist and are held together. All spiritual beings—angels, seraphim, cherubim, and those others known only to God—were created inside Himself. All are a part of and through God. Within this realm called God, there is no limit on light and no time. No ticking clock. No end of the road. No death. No darkness. No dryness.

Angelic beings in this realm have the assignment of overflying this life-giving, light-sharing, water-supplying, food-preparing God. Their entire beings are focused upon the responsibility of glorifying God. Life flows through them. Light radiates out of them. The food and water that sustain them flow directly from God into them as they glorify and praise their source and purpose.

If angels or other heavenly beings ceased to glorify and magnify this God in whom they have their being, their lives and places within the realm would cease to exist. There is a place reserved for such creatures. It is a place that remains within God because all things that exist continue to exist only within Him. In this place are those beings that continue to exist and are left to figure it all out on their own. Men will always have a choice to live by divine life or purely intellectual understanding. The choice of guidance is theirs.

But our story begins inside a realm that is a creation of God—separate from Him, yet contained within Him. Our story will be told of the happenings inside this completely different realm that remains in God.

The angels met in small groups whenever they could to discuss the magnificence of God. The angels gave names to the separate parts of this all-encompassing life force. They called one part Father because they had seen that part speak in a manner that seemed to express the overall opinion or decision. It was a directing and declaring voice that rang throughout all eternity, and once released, it continued forever. Also, whatever this voice said just was. Once something became whatever He declared it to be, it was as if it had always been and would never cease to be without His direction. Yes, they agreed — Father was a good name. They had never known a father themselves, but the word had a good sound to it, and the great being loved being called by the name of Father. So Father it would be.

The angels also recognized there was another personality within this magnificent being. This personality enjoyed moving among them. He enjoyed listening to what they had to say. When He spoke to them, they felt a kinship with Him. He made the Father seem more approachable. Even though this personality sometimes seemed like one of them, He always agreed with the Father. In fact, it was this personality who tried to explain the purpose of the Father’s direction to construct another realm that would be separate but still remain within God. The purpose, the Father said, was ultimately for the birth of another being to be called the Bride. This new spiritual being would be so glorious that she would be worth all the trouble it would cause to bring her into being.

When the angels pointed out some of the difficulties they foresaw with this plan of God, this second definable personality would assure them that no trouble would overshadow the glory to be set before them in order to bring her into maturity. They named this personality the Son. He liked that name very much. No heavenly beings had yet been birthed, so there were no fathers, sons, brides, or other beings known by these terms, but they sounded right. The names were loved by the God, who was called by them.

In addition to these two, the angels recognized that there was something else that existed, yet had no name. They, being spiritual beings themselves, recognized a part of God that could not be contained within a name. It was like a breath. They experienced it whenever the Father or the Son spoke. Without anything else to call it, they just called it Breath or Spirit. The angels sensed that this Spirit was somehow more influential than their own spirits because it came directly from a holy place at the very center of God. Since their assignment included filling the atmosphere with a cry of Holy! Holy! Holy! Penetrating the fabric of the entire realm, they just called this breath the Holy Spirit.

After the other realm was designed and had been spoken into existence, the heavenly residents began to refer to this combined life force as the Creator. They used that name whenever they referred to the three parts acting as one.

However, our story is set in our time and on our planet, inside our universe, inside our realm — a realm that is all inside of God. Creation of this separate realm with limits on it seemed like a strange thing for the Creator to do. Neither Michael, nor Gabriel, the archangels, could completely understand God’s reason to do this thing of creating a place within Himself for another spiritual being who would far exceed even the highest level of angels. It was said the design was for this new being to become equal with God, Himself. The Father kept saying that soon they would see this glorious being. He would say that this being would be equal to the Son. She would speak with the very same breath of His Spirit.

I wonder. He keeps calling this being a bride, one would say to another.

"I wonder. What can this possibly mean?" another would ask.

In this manner, the heavenly beings would speculate among themselves. They said, I wonder so many times, they began to refer to her as a wonder!

Chapter 2

Our story is set in our created realm, in our universe, on our planet, on a little piece of desert in the land of Midian.

It was late afternoon in the desert camp. The Midianites who were not out in the field were finishing their heat-of-the-day rest period. The blazing sun was sending light waves across the desert floor. To the people camped close to an outcropping of acacia trees and thorn bushes, there appeared to be a large lake nearby. Generations of desert nomadic life had taught them that this kind of lake was only an illusion. Most had developed the ability to control their natural tendency toward thirst in the presence of this false lake. Jethro watched the shimmering heat waves and could almost feel the coolness of the water. This was only one of the traits that Jethro had that caused the others to ridicule him and reject both him and his counsel.

He may be a priest by heritage, but he talks of an invisible God. One who is like the magic water that appears in His own time and speaks with a voice on the wind, the people of his traveling group jeered.

This concept had separated Jethro from his people and the other priests who ministered to them. Jethro claimed to have a speaking relationship with the Creator of the universe, while those around him chose to follow the traditions of a pagan society so prevalent throughout the desert tribes.

Jethro refused to take part in the grand pageants that seemed to energize the people. They jumped around, sang repetitive songs, and petitioned their gods to perform for them. If they did not get their way, they looked for various—sometimes even barbaric—methods of pleasing their angry god. Jethro insisted that the real God who created everything could be seen if one just sat down and looked. He said that God could be heard if one simply walked over the open desert when the wind blew and sands danced.

Jethro further insisted that the God he knew was of a different character from the one (or ones) that they tried so hard to please. He would have explained that he found his God to be far too grand to allow Himself to become a tool in man’s hands, if anyone had wanted to listen. No, he would certainly have tried to say that it was he who was the tool, and God held the to-do list.

Jethro’s beliefs, along with his refusal to participate in the ceremonies so common in the desert, had caused him to become an outcast. The rejection had been slow in its progression. For that reason he had not been stripped of his priestly title, but no one listened to him anymore. He was patronized because of his uncommon ability to find water and locate the best fields in which to camp. None of the shepherds in the tribe would work for him, yet he maintained a flock of sheep that was known for its fine wool.

It was late afternoon when Jethro sat looking over the false lake and saw a very strange sight. It appeared that something