I Was Wrong

Many years later, when Moses had grown up, he went out to visit his own people, the Hebrews, and he saw how hard they were forced to work. During his visit, he saw an Egyptian beating one of his fellow Hebrews. After looking in all directions to make sure no one was watching, Moses killed the Egyptian and hid the body in the sand. The next day, when Moses went out to visit his people again, he saw two Hebrew men fighting. "Why are you beating up your friend?" Moses said to the one who had started the fight. The man replied, "Who appointed you to be our prince and judge? Are you going to kill me as you killed that Egyptian yesterday?" Then Moses was afraid, thinking, "Everyone knows what I did." And sure enough, Pharaoh heard what had happened, and he tried to kill Moses. But Moses fled from Pharaoh and went to live in the land of Midian.(Exodus 2:11-15 NLT)

Probably the most difficult thing for any of us to do is admitting when we were wrong.  We find ways to make jokes, change the subject, hide what we did, justify our actions, and even "change the rules" so they say that what we said or did was OK.  But we were wrong.  There's no way to change it.  We were wrong.

God knows when we are wrong.  We can't hide it.  We can't fight it.  We can't even change the rules to make it seek OK.  God made the world.  He made you and me.  That gives Him the right to make the rules.  When God says something is wrong, it's wrong.

I don't know if you ever really thought about how hard it would have been for Moses to bring the ten commandments down from Mt. Sinai.  Think about it.  Moses murdered a man.  He let his anger get the better of him.  Sure there were extenuating circumstances.  Sure, the man was doing something wrong himself.  But Moses didn't respond justly.  Moses wasn't fair.  He was just angry.  Then he looked both ways to make sure the coast was clear, killed the man and hid the body.  He was wrong...just wrong.

God made that clear to Moses when He handed down the ten commandments.  "You must not murder." (Exodus 20:13 NLT)  There it is.  It's written in stone.  His anger got the best of him.  He killed a man and it wasn't an accident or justified.  He was wrong.

Moses had to face his family, and God's family after doing something so wrong.  He didn't try to justify his actions.  He didn't try to change the rules.  Instead, he submitted to God and repented of his sin.  He changed his ways.  And, he taught God's people the truth...even though the truth said that he was in the wrong.

We can learn a lot from Moses here.  We should let God change us rather than trying to change God.  We should admit and repent of our sins when they happen, rather than trying to justify or cover them up.  Not only that, we should teach our children the truth even if the truth says that we were wrong.  We need to be willing to say, "I was wrong."  That way, we return to God and stop the cycle.  Think about it.  This is the only way it will work.