Exodus – God’s Way Out
When God asks us to be His representative, joining Him in His work of salvation, do we jump up and run to Him without question? Is “YES” our first thought? It probably is yes because we are being as by God! But, then the “how in the world are we going to do that” cascades our thoughts with fear and trembling. We are human, it happens. It happened to Moses.Remembering that all of God’s Word is about Him and how He works in the lives of His people, we come to Moses’ response to God’s invitation command to free God’s people from the bondage of slavery in Egypt. Watch how God handles Moses– it is nothing short of miraculous! This is a just a small taste of what God will do through Moses in Egypt. Why does God work in this way? He is training Moses and building His faith for the mission.
HOLY PAUSE:
God knows how Moses will respond and God is ready with showing Moses that HE will be doing all the heavy lifting in this mission to save God’s people. God, not Moses.
Do we say yes then allow the demons to list all the reasons why we cannot do what God is asking us to be and do?
Bigger Question: Do we really believe what we say we believe about God?
Who we believe and Who we trust with total faith decides what we will be and do in this life. Faith can and does conquer our fear.
Moses learns quickly, don’t mess with the God of Creation!
Exodus 4, The Message
Moses objected, “They won’t trust me. They won’t listen to a word I say. They’re going to say, ‘God? Appear to him? Hardly!’”2 So God said, “What’s that in your hand?”
“A staff.”
3 “Throw it on the ground.” He threw it. It became a snake; Moses jumped back—fast!
4-5 God said to Moses, “Reach out and grab it by the tail.” He reached out and grabbed it—and he was holding his staff again. “That’s so they will trust that God appeared to you, the God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.”6 God then said, “Put your hand inside your shirt.” He slipped his hand under his shirt, then took it out. His hand had turned leprous, like snow.
7 He said, “Put your hand back under your shirt.” He did it, then took it back out—as healthy as before.
8-9 “So if they don’t trust you and aren’t convinced by the first sign, the second sign should do it. But if it doesn’t, if even after these two signs they don’t trust you and listen to your message, take some water out of the Nile and pour it out on the dry land; the Nile water that you pour out will turn to blood when it hits the ground.”
10 Moses raised another objection to God: “Master, please, I don’t talk well. I’ve never been good with words, neither before nor after you spoke to me. I stutter and stammer.”11-12 God said, “And who do you think made the human mouth? And who makes some mute, some deaf, some sighted, some blind? Isn’t it I, God? So, get going. I’ll be right there with you—with your mouth! I’ll be right there to teach you what to say.”
13 He said, “Oh, Master, please! Send somebody else!”
14-17 God got angry with Moses: “Don’t you have a brother, Aaron the Levite? He’s good with words, I know he is. He speaks very well. In fact, at this very moment he’s on his way to meet you. When he sees you he’s going to be glad. You’ll speak to him and tell him what to say. I’ll be right there with you as you speak and with him as he speaks, teaching you step by step. He will speak to the people for you. He’ll act as your mouth, but you’ll decide what comes out of it. Now take this staff in your hand; you’ll use it to do the signs.”18 Moses went back to Jethro his father-in-law and said, “I need to return to my relatives who are in Egypt. I want to see if they’re still alive.”
Jethro said, “Go. And peace be with you.”
19 God said to Moses in Midian: “Go. Return to Egypt. All the men who wanted to kill you are dead.”
20 So Moses took his wife and sons and put them on a donkey for the return trip to Egypt. He had a firm grip on the staff of God.
21-23 God said to Moses, “When you get back to Egypt, be prepared: All the wonders that I will do through you, you’ll do before Pharaoh. But I will make him stubborn so that he will refuse to let the people go. Then you are to tell Pharaoh, ‘God’s Message: Israel is my son, my firstborn! I told you, “Free my son so that he can serve me.” But you refused to free him. So now I’m going to kill your son, your firstborn.’”
24-26 On the journey back, as they camped for the night, God met Moses and would have killed him but Zipporah took a flint knife and cut off her son’s foreskin, and touched Moses’ member with it. She said, “Oh! You’re a bridegroom of blood to me!” Then God let him go. She used the phrase “bridegroom of blood” because of the circumcision.
27-28 God spoke to Aaron, “Go and meet Moses in the wilderness.” He went and met him at the mountain of God and kissed him. Moses told Aaron the message that God had sent him to speak and the wonders he had commanded him to do.
29-31 So Moses and Aaron proceeded to round up all the leaders of Israel. Aaron told them everything that God had told Moses and demonstrated the wonders before the people. And the people trusted and listened believing that God was concerned with what was going on with the Israelites and knew all about their affliction. They bowed low and they worshiped.
THINK ABOUT IT…
Yesterday we learned who God is with many I AM statements. Today we learn about what God does with I WILL declarations.What has God done in your life to get your attention? Is there anything He has given and then taken away to show He is God?
What and where was your latest “burning bush” revelation?
Did you say yes immediately? Was that followed by doubts about your abilities to do what God was asking you to do?
Where are you now? What is God asking you to be and do now?
THERE’S MORE TO THE STORY OF GOD IN MOSES!
In Greek the word means “the way out.” At first glance, the reader may think this refers to the way out of Egyptian bondage. But if that were the case, the book should end at chapter 15 with the great song of praise after the crossing of the Red Sea.
However, the fact that the book does not end there but continues with the giving of the law and the building of the tabernacle provides a clue that the author does not consider the physical bondage in Egypt to be the Israelites’ most critical problem. Even in the story of the Israelites’ deliverance, the recurring phrase “You (or they) shall know that I am the Lord” suggests that the primary problem was theological. To be sure, the Hebrews did need deliverance from bondage; their cries of distress had been heard by a compassionate God. But more than that, they needed to KNOW God.
Had their sole need been for deliverance, one climactic act would have sufficed. Instead, there were ten plagues, which in fact constituted a demonstration of God’s absolute superiority over all other powers. Their physical deliverance is not an end but a means to an end.Nor was that end merely theological understanding; it was the experiencing of God as vitally present among them. As Exodus shows us, it was necessary that the people experience his delivering power (chs. 1-18), enter into a binding covenant with him (chs. 19-24), and give themselves in glad service to him (chs. 25-40), in order to experience his presence (40:35-38).
The powerful acts of God were as much for the Israelite people as much as it was for the Egyptian leadership!
HOLY PAUSE
Have we experienced God’s delivering power in our lives through Jesus saving act of love?Have we entered into a binding, “no turning back” covenant with Him?
Are we daily giving ourselves in glad service to Him? (Refer to Romans 12)
Our answers depend on and will decide the experiencing of His Presence in our lives.
Dear Heavenly Father, God of Creation, Savior and Lord,
I bow to you. You are God and I am not. Continue to do what you must in me so I will be all you intended for me to be in you. My desire is to walk in Your Presence. Always.
In Jesus Name, Amen. I believe.
