I have been thinking about Moses lately. He was a great spiritual leader. Yet, when God first called him at the burning bush - he was not so keen on following the call. Truth be told, he was quite hesitant. Reading through Exodus chapters 3 and 4, it seems that Moses was quite the expert at making excuses. But our God, the great I AM, was not to be denied.
Actually, Moses had quite a life. He ended up serving God faithfully. Saved by his parents from certain death as an infant (that is a quite a story in and of itself), hidden in the river with his sister looking out for him - found by the princess and then raised in Pharaoh's palace. He couldn't have had a better life! He had it made.
However, Moses fled Egypt in fear of being executed for killing an Egyptian while defending a Hebrew worker. Pharaoh found out about this incident and indeed sought to slay Moses. So he fled from only home he knew. He dwelt in the land of Midian. He made his home with the Midianites, married Zipporah -and had a child. Once again, he was living a good life. He had a good wife, a good job and a family. I suppose Moses thought he once again "had it made."
God had a very different idea for Moses. As Moses was leading his father in law, Jethro's flock, he came to Mount Horeb. Here he saw a burning bush - burning but not consumed. This episode once again changed his life. If you are familiar with this story - you will remember what happens next. God declares himself to Moses and Moses is afraid. He hides his face. We see here that he meets God with great reverence and fear. This was God speaking to him --out of a bush flaming with fire and yet was not burnt up. What an awesome, holy and wonderful sight! Moses must have been amazed by what was happening.
God tells Moses that He has heard the cry of His people and is aware of their great affliction. God has remembered the promise he made to Abraham, and to Isaac and Joseph. He is going to deliver them from the hand of their oppressors and He - God has chosen Moses to be their leader!
Whoa! Now wait a minute, God - I mean I'm impressed by this bush and all -- but, huh - I think you are asking just a little bit much here. I am always somewhat puzzled by the what happens in this story. I mean, here is Moses talking to God. He is familiar with the God of his fathers. He knew who this was. He had been taught by his own mother (who was chosen to be his nurse). He knew about Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. He had to know about God's promise to them. The scriptures tell us that Moses does not doubt this is God who is speaking with him. At first he has the utmost respect for the Almighty Father, even hiding his face from him. But when God tells him he has work to do, Moses immediately starts making excuses. Go figure that one out!
Moses puts God off five times - not once or twice -- but five times! I keep thinking -"what was he thinking?" How can you be afraid one minute and then in the very next minute he is putting God off... almost to the point of arguing with him. And then I think -- ha! Well, we do pretty much the same thing sometimes. Think about it.....
The first thing Moses says is -- "Who am I that I should go to Pharoah?" Now, remember Moses had fled from Egypt because the Pharoah had wanted to kill him. So I imagine he was afraid to think about going back. He assumed his life would be in danger. But in asking God who am I that I should go do this great job?? You can tell that Moses does not think much of himself. He thinks the king wants to kill him, but he also remembers that the Hebrews don't have much faith in him either. He is probably intimidated not only by the huge task that this will be -- but also by the fact that he is afraid that his own people will not respect him. But still, Moses -- this is God you are talking to - the creator of the universe.
God assures Moses that He will be with Him. Next, Moses says - well OK, but who am I going to tell them has sent me? I mean, who are you really? What, Moses? Really - you are asking God who He is? He has already declared Himself to you. It's almost like Moses is saying -- "Show me your badge -- I mean -- let me see your I.D. please, sir." So then God says, I AM THAT I AM. I don't guess you can get much plainer than that.
God describes in more detail what he wants Moses to do -- what He is going to do through Moses. Thirdly, he says - "OK God - so suppose I do go ahead and go back to Egypt. And I tell your people that you sent me to free them. --They are not going to believe me. They are going to tell me "The Lord has not appeared unto you." Moses could be thinking all kinds things here. You know - like why would they believe me? I'm the guy who turned chicken and ran away. And why would the Lord show himself to me of all people? I am the one that had a spoiled life - raised in the palace. They probably think of me as a traitor anyway. --- Of course, you and I both know that I don't really know what Moses was thinking. I am just imagining. Yet, I know something was holding him back -- in the face of God telling him in person that He wants him to do this. In the face of I AM promising that He will be with him all the way -- Moses is still trying to squirm his way out of this.
God gives Moses three signs to show the people so that they will know he has been sent by Him. You remember -- the first one was the rod turning into a snake, the second one Moses' leprous hand, and the third one being turning water to blood. Does Moses agree to go yet? No --Moses still has a couple of more excuses to offer up. He tells the Lord -- "I am not eloquent - I am slow of speech and slow of tongue." Well - it doesn't say so quite yet - but I think the Lord is starting to get a little impatient with Moses. He said "Who made man's mouth?" Who indeed, Moses? God says - I will be with thy mouth and will teach you what to say.
Moses tries one last time to get out of doing what God wants him to do. In Exodus 4:13 Moses pretty much says - please Lord, send anybody but me. Now -- here in v. 14 we see that the anger of the Lord was kindled against Moses. Our Lord truly is longsuffering! He doesn't get angry until after the 5th excuse! I'm not sure, but I don't think my parents would have been too happy about giving me 5 chances at anything. I usually got in trouble way before that! God goes on to tell Moses that He will send Aaron to meet him and to help him.
Finally, ---finally Moses obeys the Lord. He goes to his father in law and tells him he has to go back to Egypt. God keeps His promise. He is with Moses and Aaron. Moses does God's bidding and we realize as we read Exodus that God is the one who frees his people. God only uses Moses and Aaron. It is God who performs the miracles and brings on the plagues. It is the power of God that causes the Pharaoh to let the Hebrews - the Isrealites leave their life of slavery. Through God, Moses becomes a great leader -- and Moses and God develop this wonderful relationship.
I said earlier that I find it hard to believe that Moses would argue with God like that; but really don't we still do the same thing today. True, He does not speak to us through a burning bush. But He does speak to us through the Bible. "God's word is quick and powerful and sharper than any two edged sword." To believers the Bible IS God's word and it speaks to us today.
We say that we believe His word -- but when it comes to certain works of the church - we start making excuses as to why we can't work for God. We're too busy; or maybe we think we aren't smart enough; or maybe we think our past will keep us from talking to people about God. Maybe we say - "I've done this before, let's give somebody else a chance." Really, think about it - how many excuses can we give to God about doing His work before He gets angry with us too?
I know this has gone on rather long -- but when we think about Moses we forget that he was very hesitant. This task seemed to be an enormous one. Maybe Moses was just plain scared. Sometimes we do get scared when we think about doing something we have never done before. God was with Moses in a mighty way. Why do we doubt that He will be with us in the same way? Why won't we let ourselves truly become His servants? Why do we think doing His work applies to everyone else but us?
Many of us work very hard for our Lord. Many of us devote countless hours in serving Him. However, many of us don't realize how much He needs us. We don't understand that He will be with us when we try something out of our comfort zone -- some new work or service for HIM. We are afraid to let Him use us to glorify Him. We fail to see what wonderful blessings we might gain when we work in His kingdom. And we miss out on the opportunity of developing an ever closer - ever more wonderful and rewarding --very special and unique relationship with our God -- and with His son - our Redeemer.
Please don't put off serving God -- please be willing to say Yes to Jesus.
I know I've said it before -- but He died for us. How can we not live for Him?
Christ above all things,
Robin
No comments:
Post a Comment