How Are You Wired?

Parashat Shemot, Exodus 1:1–6:1

Rabbi Stuart Dauermann, Shuvah Yisrael Messianic Synagogue, Plainview, New York

This may shock you, but in my sixty years of Yeshua-faith, I have on occasion had a revelatory dream. I'd say this has been on the average of once every 10 years, so don't imagine that I've become a raving lunatic or am laying claim to Elijah’s mantle.

In one of those revelatory dreams, I was moving into an old and big house, but it needed to be rewired. After it had been rewired, I went to throw the switch to turn the lights on and the lights blew. The message of the dream came clearly to me. God was telling me, “It takes more to rewire something than you think.” I believe Hashem was telling me that during the course of my life he was going to be rewiring me, changing the way I operate, but the process was going to be more involved than I might imagine. I'm 80 years old now: the dream was true. It's taken his infinite patience and considerable time for me to be rewired. And the work is ongoing.

How about you? How are you wired? What makes you tick?

God creates and redeems us to be lights in the world, lights of different kinds. Some of us will be lights of creativity. Some, lights of justice and truth. Some of us are lights of compassionate action. Some are lights of supernatural power. And on and on.

Whatever the case, God wants us to be lights in the world. That’s why he pays attention to how we are wired and so should we.

In today’s parasha, we get an early peek at how Moshe is wired. Just for background, we know that he was born into a Levitical family under slavery in Egypt. We know his mother saved his life in infancy, floating him in a basket on the Nile only to be discovered by Pharaoh's daughter who adopted him on the spot. He would be nursed by his birth-mother and when weaned would grow up in the royal household..

Next we read about how he conducted himself as an adult, and this introduces us to how he was wired. 

One day, when Moshe was a grown man, he went out to visit his kinsmen; and he watched them struggling at forced labor. He saw an Egyptian strike a Hebrew, one of his kinsmen.  He looked this way and that; and when he saw that no one was around, he killed the Egyptian and hid his body in the sand. The next day, he went out and saw two Hebrew men fighting with each other. To the one in the wrong he said, “Why are you hitting your companion?” He retorted, “Who appointed you ruler and judge over us? Do you intend to kill me the way you killed the Egyptian?” Moshe became frightened. “Clearly,” he thought, “the matter has become known.” When Pharaoh heard of it, he tried to have Moshe put to death. But Moshe fled from Pharaoh to live in the land of Midyan. One day, as he was sitting by a well, the seven daughters of the priest of Midyan came to draw water. They had filled the troughs to water their father’s sheep, when the shepherds came and tried to drive them away. But Moshe got up and defended them; then he watered their sheep. (Exod 2:11-17)

These three incidents provide for us a window on how Moshe was wired, and they foreshadow what will be his life’s work.

Already here, at the beginning of his story, Moshe is wired to take action against oppression and injustice. We might term him a prophetic activist. He is prophetic because he cares deeply about the truth. And he is an activist who cannot see the truth or falsehood without acting on it.

How did he come to be like this? Perhaps it was in part genetic. And no doubt, spending all that time in his mother’s house being nursed and weaned until about the age of five he heard stories about his people, the Jews, his tribe, the Levites, and his ancestor Levi who was himself a man of action, as when he and his brother Shim’on took revenge on Hamor the son of Shechem and  his entire village for having humiliated their sister. Their father Ya’akov disowned them for their violence and indiscretion. 

In all of this we see Moshe being shaped by what was going on at the time of his birth and his familial context, what his family was like, and how they raised him in his early years.

Inspired by the life of Moshe, let’s examine four factors that contribute to how God wires us.

How have these shown up in your life and how is God using them to shape you into an instrument of his will?

Entry Context—Looking back on our life we will often see how God used the setting into which we were born to shape us. This retrospection provides insight into the purpose for which God is shaping us. Our entry context would include things like the family, the generation, the location, the historical context in which we were born. Broadly speaking, we’re talking about being shaped by our starting point and first influences.   

 Natural abilities—Inborn capacities that show up early in life, develop, and remain. You might term these your creational inheritance.  

Acquired skills—Abilities that are the consequence of training and education. This covers things you have studied, learned, or were taught to do: not what you were born with but rather  what has been added along the way.

Spiritual gifts—God-given unique capacities imparted to each believer for the purpose of releasing a Holy Spirit empowered ministry via that believer.         

These four factors establish how you are wired, and how you are wired indicates what you ought to be doing with your life as God’s created and redeemed servant.

Each of us will have a focal point, that aspect of our wiring that is most prominent, our leading edge. For some people it will be natural abilities, such as being highly articulate since childhood. Another person’s focal point might be their prowess as a classical musician, an acquired skill. Another person has a reputation for successful healing prayer: that’s spiritual giftedness

Finally, when your wiring is working well, your entry context, natural abilities, acquired skills, and spiritual gifts will work in synergy, feeding off of and feeding into each other.

Why not consider all these factors and take another look at yourself?

Torah teaches clearly that Moshe was wired to deliver Israel. What are you wired for? And where and how should your light be shining?