Free By Way of the Wilderness by Gilbert Morris

heaven, and angels were on that ladder, ascending and descending. Moses longed for such a dream as this. He had asked Zuriel what the dream meant, and the old man had answered, “It means that there is a connection between men on earth and God in heaven. There is a coming and going of the servants of the Great Spirit, so be careful. You may encounter an angel.”
    â€œI wish I might see an angel.” Moses spoke aloud, and his voice seemed to shatter the night. He looked up at the stars and thought of how he would rejoice if the Great Spirit would let him know that He existed.
    He thought of Jacob, who was not the best man who’d ever lived but was a man to whom God spoke. Somehow this God of Jacob was calling him. Until now Moses had known only the sterile religion of the Egyptians. He had always hated their worship of death, and now as he made his way toward Midian, he was determined to find the God of Jacob, the giver of life.
    Suddenly Moses found himself on his knees, his arms stretched toward the stars of heaven, and crying out, “O mighty God of the Hebrews, you who have no visible form, I call out to the One I cannot see and the One I cannot hear. You know my heart, for you know all things. I have prayed, O Great Spirit, the only God, that you would free my people, and I pray also that I might be one with my people.”
    Moses prayed for a long time, his voice echoing in the silence of the desert. At times the howls of wild dogs and the cries of night birds joined with his voice. Moses waited, hoping to hear a voice, to see something, but he heard nothing and he saw nothing. Finally he lay back down and went to sleep without having met the God of Abraham.
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    After a long and dangerous journey, Moses reached the area of Ezion-Geber. He was aware that this was not the safest place in the world for him. It was a meeting place for caravans and travelers, a Red Sea port that served as a base for the pharaoh’s ships. It was always possible that someone would see him, recognize him, and report his presence to Pharaoh.
    Moses skirted the village, and when he approached a still smaller village, he came to a well just outside the settlement. He had been walking in the cool of the night, and it was early morning, before sunrise. He sat down within sight of the well to wait for daylight before entering the town.
    As had become his habit, he lifted his thoughts to the God of the Hebrews. “I wish I knew your name, O Great Spirit, great God of Abraham. Show yourself to me,” he prayed. “Let me see and hear you.”
    He thought again of how Jacob had had to flee his father’s house, and the first person he saw after getting to a strange land was a young woman. He fell in love with her at once, and they eventually married, but only after much difficulty.
    Moses longed for clear evidence of God’s hand on him, as Jacob had experienced. “O God of Jacob, put your hand on me as you did on your servant Jacob.”
    Even as he prayed, he looked up and saw a flock of sheep approaching. He paid little attention to the sheep, however, for his eye was on the young women who were leading them. The tallest of the group was in front. Her black hair fell about her shoulders, and she walked proudly.
    For a long time Moses sat there as the women drew water out of the well for their sheep. He had an impulse to go speak to them, as Jacob had done in his encounter with Rachel, but he knew that this situation was different. Rachel was Jacob’s relative, while he was a stranger in this place.
    The women were laughing and talking and had not noticed Moses, who was inconspicuous from his seat under a tree. They suddenly became upset, and Moses sat up straighter and saw that a group of rough-looking shepherds had come and were shouting at the women to get out of the way. They had brought their own sheep with them. The black-haired woman argued with him, and one of the roughest-looking of the