(Exodus 3:1-10) Now Moses was pasturing the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian; and he led the flock to the west side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. 2 The angel of the Lord appeared to him in a blazing fire from the midst of a bush; and he looked, and behold, the bush was burning with fire, yet the bush was not consumed. 3 So Moses said, “I must turn aside now and see this marvelous sight, why the bush is not burned up.” 4 When the Lord saw that he turned aside to look, God called to him from the midst of the bush and said, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.” 5 Then He said, “Do not come near here; remove your sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.” 6 He said also, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” Then Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.
7 The Lord said, “I have surely seen the affliction of My people who are in Egypt, and have given heed to their cry because of their taskmasters, for I am aware of their sufferings. 8 So I have come down to deliver them from the power of the Egyptians, and to bring them up from that land to a good and spacious land, to a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanite and the Hittite and the Amorite and the Perizzite and the Hivite and the Jebusite. 9 Now, behold, the cry of the sons of Israel has come to Me; furthermore, I have seen the oppression with which the Egyptians are oppressing them. 10 Therefore, come now, and I will send you to Pharaoh, so that you may bring My people, the sons of Israel, out of Egypt.”
After hearing the message from God, Himself, Moses has a few excuses...
(Exodus 3:11-12) But Moses said to God, “Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh, and that I should bring the sons of Israel out of Egypt?” 12 And He said, “Certainly I will be with you, and this shall be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall worship God at this mountain.”
And after every excuse, God patiently responds (no matter how silly the excuse is)...
(Exodus 4-1) Then Moses said, “What if they will not believe me or listen to what I say? For they may say, ‘The Lord has not appeared to you.’”
(Exodus 4-10) Then Moses said to the Lord, “Please, Lord, I have never been eloquent, neither recently nor in time past, nor since You have spoken to Your servant; for I am slow of speech and slow of tongue.”
(Exodus 4-13) But he said, “Please, Lord, now send the message by whomever You will.”
Okay, so on that last one, Moses pushed it just too far. In other words, on that final excuse, Moses was outright saying that he did not want to obey God! God grew angry at Moses, yet still was not going to forsake Moses...
(Exodus 4-14-17) Then the anger of the Lord burned against Moses, and He said, “Is there not your brother Aaron the Levite? I know that he speaks fluently. And moreover, behold, he is coming out to meet you; when he sees you, he will be glad in his heart. 15 You are to speak to him and put the words in his mouth; and I, even I, will be with your mouth and his mouth, and I will teach you what you are to do. 16 Moreover, he shall speak for you to the people; and he will be as a mouth for you and you will be as God to him. 17 You shall take in your hand this staff, with which you shall perform the signs.”
From this we see:
- God is always with His children
- God will discipline and challenge His children
- God wants to guide and take care of His children
Personal experience: there were times where I have felt very alone, and could not even feel God's presence. Like in university, when I was going through a depression. Years later I realized that I had brought that on myself. I had grown arrogant in my walk with God and prayed, "Lord, open my eyes to see all the human needs around me. I can handle it!"
Well, my eyes were opened. And attending Temple U during the 80s, let me tell you - in north Philly - there are a LOT of needs!!! Very quickly, I became overwhelmed. And still, I just kept trying to deal with it on my own. Duh! And even during those 4 months while I kept pleading for God to help me - or just let me feel His presence - I believe He was teaching me an enormous lesson. He WAS allowing me an ample amount of time to see if "dealing with it on my own" was going to work out. First of all, I had to realize and confess that it was a sin to think that - I - could handle it.
Today's takeaway: I don't know if Moses' approach was any better than mine? But the conclusion to his lesson was the same - WE NEED GOD ! ! ! God can handle it. God SHOULD handle it.
I know I just used some of these verses recently, but - they are great verses which I could read every single day just as a reminder. And in the first batch of verses below, we can see how God helped Moses grow in his faith and obedience...
(Exodus 14:13-14) But Moses said to the people, “Do not fear! Stand by and see the salvation of the Lord which He will accomplish for you today; for the Egyptians whom you have seen today, you will never see them again forever. 14 The Lord will fight for you while you keep silent.”
(Psalm 28:6-8) Blessed be the Lord, because He has heard the voice of my supplication. 7 The Lord is my strength and my shield; My heart trusts in Him, and I am helped; therefore my heart exults, and with my song I shall thank Him. 8 The Lord is their strength, and He is a saving defense to His anointed.
(2 Timothy 1:7) For God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but of power and love and discipline.
(Ehepesians 6:10) Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might.
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