Written by: John Dean
Exodus 4 v 1-5
Then Moses answered, “What if the people of Israel do not believe me or listen
to me? What if they say, ‘The LORD did not appear to you?’”
The LORD said to him, “What is that in your hand?”
Moses answered, “It’s my walking stick.”
The LORD said, “Throw it on the ground.”
So Moses threw it on the ground, and it became a snake. Moses ran from the snake,
but the LORD said to him, “Reach out and grab the snake by its tail.” When Moses
reached out and took hold of the snake, it again became a stick in his hand.
The LORD said, “This is so that the Israelites will believe that the LORD appeared
to you. I am the God of their ancestors, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac
and the God of Jacob.”
Notes
1st January, 2005 - a New Year and a new chapter in each of our lives! Have
I – or have you - any objective in view for 2005? What is it? A new job,
a new course of study, planning to get married, or what? Or are we just waiting
to see what happens?
Today we begin a fresh chapter of Exodus. This week’s Bible passages in Exodus chapter 4 break into a story that has already begun. It is the action part of God’s plan to bring people out of a life of slavery into a life of freedom. It sounds interesting. (Now please read the Bible verses again.)
Moses was God’s chosen leader. One essential quality of a leader is that he needs his own people to be enthusiastically with him. But Moses himself was not enthusiastic about his own task. Today’s verses begin with the third of his five excuses: “What if the people do not believe me or listen to me?”
God answered him with words backed up by actions. Those who travel on the London Underground, and other trains, hear the announcement: “Mind the gap”. This refers to the gap between the train and the platform. There is no “gap” between God’s words and His actions! In the following verses we see God’s patience as He answers Moses, His power as He turns Moses’ stick into a snake and back again, and His purpose as He tells Moses that the people will believe him.
Going into 2005 facing both hopes and fears, what is our foundation? For those who believe, it is that God is a God of patience, power and purposes for His people.
Prayer
Lord, thank You that You appeared to Moses and, with both words and actions,
answered his unwillingness to speak to the people. Help me to remember that
You are a God Who is patient and powerful and has a plan for me in 2005.
In this New Year, may my actions be consistent with my words. Amen
Exodus 4 v 6-9
Then the LORD said to Moses, “Put your hand inside your coat.” So Moses put
his hand inside his coat. When he took it out, it was white with a skin disease.
Then he said, “Now put your hand inside your coat again.” So Moses put his
hand inside his coat again. When he took it out, his hand was healthy again,
like the rest of his skin.
Then the LORD said, “If the people do not believe you or pay attention to the
first miracle, they may believe you when you show them this second miracle.
After these two miracles, if they still do not believe or listen to you, take
some water from the Nile River and pour it on the dry ground. The water will
become blood when it touches the ground.”
Notes
We have a young relative who, until the recent school half-term, was unable
to swim. His much more confident twin sister has been swimming for a year.
During the recent holiday, he spent several hours over three days sitting
quietly by himself by a pool watching other children swimming. Then he entered
the water himself and swam a width. The next day he swam a length. He learnt
by watching others, trying himself and finding he could swim.
Can you swim? If “yes”, how did you learn? Not by going to long lectures on
the subject, but by having some basic instruction, then trying and doing. The
Lord God wanted Moses to learn to trust Him. (Now please read the Bible verses
again.)
Earlier in the passage, God had begun to teach Moses to trust Him. God told him to do something. He did it, and saw God’s power at work. Now God tells him, “Put your hand inside your coat”. He did so. When he took it out again it was white with a skin disease. God repeated His command. Moses again obeyed. He found that this time his hand was healthy again like the rest of his skin.
Again Moses saw God’s power when he did what God said. He learnt to trust God by obeying what He said. He learnt by doing.
What is God, through the Bible, telling each of us to do? Moses was sent to speak to his people to encourage them in God’s way. God has put each of us where we are to speak for Him.
Prayer
Lord, thank You that You patiently taught Moses to trust You for the enabling
for what You told him to do. Help me to know what You want me to do as a
Christian and then to do it, trusting You for Your help and enabling. Amen
Exodus 4 v 10-12
But Moses said to the LORD, “Please, Lord, I have never been a skilled speaker.
Even now, after talking to you, I cannot speak well. I speak slowly and can’t
find the best words.”
Then the LORD said to him, “Who made a person’s mouth? And who makes someone
deaf or not able to speak? Or who gives a person sight or blindness? It is
I, the LORD. Now go! I will help you speak, and I will teach you what to say.”
Notes
I have exactly the same name as a senior executive of the United Bible Societies.
One day I visited an overseas Bible Society office and asked to see the General
Secretary. “That is not possible,” the receptionist replied. “He is in an
important meeting.” I then showed her my business card. She saw the name,
went pale, grabbed the phone and blurted out, “John Dean is here.” I was
immediately shown into the General Secretary’s office. His important meeting
was with his mid-morning cup of coffee. Was the receptionist’s statement
a valid reason, or was it a convenient excuse to delay my seeing the General
Secretary?
God had told Moses to go to the elders of the people, speak to them and get them “on side”. Together they were to go to the king and speak to him about the people going into the desert to sacrifice to the Lord. Moses answered, “I have never been a skilled speaker… I cannot speak well… I speak slowly and can’t find the best words.” Moses was trying to excuse himself. It was an excuse but not a valid reason. Spot the short word appearing three times in the first two lines: “I”. He was looking at himself and thinking of his own inadequacy. It was false humility. God reminded him that it is He who makes a person’s mouth and makes people able to speak. He then promised Moses, “I will help you speak, and I will teach you what to say.”
God wants each one of us, as opportunity arises, to speak of Christ to those we meet day by day. Why do we so often fail to take our opportunities? Is it because we just look at ourselves and make excuses? Let us rather remember God’s promise to Moses.
Prayer
Lord, thank You for the promise You gave to Moses all those years ago when
he felt inadequate to speak. Help me when I feel inadequate to remember that
You made my mouth. May I trust You to help me to speak for You. Amen
Exodus 4 v 13-17
But Moses said, “Please, Lord, send someone else.”
The LORD became angry with Moses and said, “Your brother Aaron, from the family
of Levi, is a skilled speaker. He is already coming to meet you, and he will
be happy when he sees you. You will speak to Aaron and tell him what to say.
I will help both of you to speak and will teach you what to do. Aaron will
speak to the people for you. You will tell him what God says, and he will speak
for you. Take your walking stick with you, and use it to do the miracles.”
Notes
I was talking to a former colleague and asked about the family, including his
grandchild. “They’ve split up,” he said, referring to their daughter and
her husband. He went on to tell me how their elder daughter was now struggling
to keep her job, pay the rent and care for the child. We recalled a similar
conversation two years ago, with him telling me how both parents had tried
to persuade her against the proposed marriage and how both her brother and
sister had told her she was totally stupid “to marry that guy”. She had been
determined to have her own way. Within just two years she was in this painful
situation. Can you think of anybody you know who has found themselves in
trouble through thinking they knew best and being determined to have their
own way?
God had answered all four of Moses’ excuses. Now Moses said, “Please, Lord, send someone else”. Those words show the real problem. He was unwilling to do what God had wanted him to do. God had told him to go and speak to the elders and the king. He was unwilling to take on the public role. He wanted his own way: to be in contact with God as the priest, but not to be the prophet (prophet usually means speaker in the Bible).
God was angry and gave him his own way. Aaron was a helper, but more often a hindrance than a help. He caused Moses problems and great pain by leading two rebellions against his leadership. (See Exodus 32 and Numbers 11-12.)
Have you ever insisted on your own way about something God has made plain to you? What happened? Psalm 106 v 15 says that God gave them their request, but He sent leanness to their soul.
Prayer
Lord, help me to be honest with You and honest with myself. Make me see that
my own way can be foolish, dangerous and painful. Convince me that Your way
is best and help me joyfully to obey You, trusting in Your help. Amen
Exodus 4 v 18-23
Moses went back to Jethro, his father-in-law, and said to him, “Let me go back
to my people in Egypt. I want to see if they are still alive.”
Jethro said to Moses, “Go! I wish you well.”
While Moses was still in Midian, the LORD said to him, “Go back to Egypt, because
the men who wanted to kill you are dead now.”
So Moses took his wife and his sons, put them on a donkey, and started back
to Egypt. He took with him the walking stick of God.
The LORD said to Moses, “When you get back to Egypt, do all the miracles I
have given you the power to do. Show them to the king of Egypt. But I will
make the king very stubborn, and he will not let the people go. Then say to
the king, ‘This is what the LORD says: Israel is my firstborn son. I told you
to let my son go so he may worship me. But you refused to let Israel go, so
I will kill your firstborn son.’”
Notes
An aeroplane on the tarmac is out of place for what it is designed. It is often
pulled slowly at 4 mph by a tractor! It fulfils its potential when it takes
off and flies at 550 mph and at 35,000 feet. Christians who are reluctant
to obey God are out of place. We do not fulfil our potential. In today’s
reading, we see that Moses stopped making excuses, started on the path of
obedience and experienced the truth of God’s promises as His purpose unfolded.
Moses took action. He asked permission from his father-in-law to leave his job as flock master. Jethro gave it to him, possibly to his surprise. God opened the way for him to start out. Along with the clear command to go, God had told him that the men who wanted to kill him were now dead. God gave him peace about a major worry. So Moses, in obedience, set out taking that important walking stick with him.
The Lord spoke to him again. He told him to perform the miracles that He had shown him, those actions of God that gave credibility to His words. God does not expect us to see a walking stick become a snake, or water from the local river become blood! But He does expect us to give credibility to our words by the upright and blameless lives that we live.
God warned him that at first the king would be stubborn. According to the promise He had made earlier, God told him what to say to the king. This included a message of serious consequences if the king refused to obey God. We are not to tell people that their eldest sons are to be killed, but we are to warn people of the seriousness of unbelief.
Prayer
Thank you, Lord, that as soon as Moses began to obey You, he found Your promises
to be true and Your purposes begin to unfold. Help me to obey You, especially
in speaking to others of You and Your love, trusting You to fulfil Your promises.
Amen
Exodus 4 v 24-26
As Moses was on his way to Egypt, he stopped at a resting place for the night.
The LORD met him there and tried to kill him. But Zipporah took a flint knife
and circumcised her son. Taking the skin, she touched Moses’ feet with it
and said to him, “You are a bridegroom of blood to me.” She said, “You are
a bridegroom of blood,” because she had to circumcise her son. So the LORD
left Moses alone.
Notes
Modern cars have all sorts of gadgets which make driving easier and more convenient,
including central locking, heating for the winter, AC for the summer, power
steering, and more. It is possible to be moving along in comfort and at a
good speed, and then suddenly come to a stop with a puncture. Even though
a very small thing in itself, a puncture completely prevents progress. Today’s
Bible reading is a strange story to modern ears. Moses was finally really
on the move but nearly came to a complete stop with regard to God’s purpose
for him.
We read that on the way to Egypt, at an overnight stop, the Lord “tried to kill him”. This was possibly by allowing a fatal illness. Moses had overcome his reluctance to obey God and was on his way, experiencing God’s power and faithfulness. So, what was the problem? He had failed, either deliberately or by negligence, to obey a clear command from God to all His people in those days that all their sons be circumcised. Why did God take this drastic action to try to kill him? It is because God regards disobedience as wrongdoing and very serious. We reject unwashed crockery and cutlery when setting the table for a family party. It was only after Zipporah, his wife, circumcised their son that we read: “So the Lord left Moses alone”. After that he was able to continue, and continue successfully, with the task God had given him.
If we persist in any disobedience to God, either deliberately or by negligence, we cannot expect His help. We shall find ourselves in increasing anguish and frustration. God gives the Holy Spirit to those who obey Him (Acts 5 v 32). We cannot expect to receive His help if we are being disobedient.
Prayer
Lord, please help me to realise the danger and foolishness of disobedience
and show me any areas in my life where I am not walking in Your way for me.
Please then give me the will and the strength to say “yes” to Your way. Amen
Exodus 4 v 27-29
Meanwhile the LORD said to Aaron, “Go out into the desert to meet Moses.” When
Aaron went, he met Moses at Sinai, the mountain of God, and kissed him. Moses
told Aaron everything the LORD had said to him when he sent him to Egypt.
He also told him about the miracles which the LORD had commanded him to do.
Moses and Aaron gathered all the elders of the Israelites, and Aaron told them
everything that the LORD had told Moses. Then Moses did the miracles for all
the people to see, and the Israelites believed. When they heard that the LORD
was concerned about them and had seen their troubles, they bowed down and worshipped
him.
Notes
“Mind the gap” is an expression used in announcements on the London Underground
and some Network Rail services. It refers to the “gap” or break in continuity
between the train and the platform edge. We live in times when there is perceived
to be a gap between what some politicians say and what they do. This is one
reason for the lack of trust in politicians. There is a break in continuity
between what they promise and what they do. There is no “gap” between what
God says and what He does. He has the will and the power to keep His promises.
Previously we saw how Moses was reluctant to obey God because he did not think
the people would believe him. Today, as the chapter closes, we read that the
people not only believed, they bowed down and worshipped. Two things contributed
to this.
First, God’s faithfulness to His promises and purposes. He had told Moses that his brother, Aaron, would come and meet him. This happened. He had told Moses to do the various miracles. He enabled him to do so. He caused the people not only to believe, as He promised, but having seen His power and then hearing of His concern for them, they bowed down and worshipped. “We can trust God to do what he promised” (Hebrews 10 v 23).
Second, the obedience of His people. Aaron obeyed God and went into the desert to meet Moses. There they worked as a team, Moses performed the miracles and Aaron told the people all that Moses had said. Have you ever sung: ‘Trust and obey, for there’s no other way, to be happy in Jesus, but to…”?
Prayer
Lord, in my reluctance to speak of You and my doubt that hearers will believe,
help me to remember that there is no gap between what You promise and what
You do. Help me then to obey You, trusting You to do what You have promised.
Amen
word-on-the-web uses the Scripture text taken from the Youth Bible, New Century Version (Anglicised Edition) copyright 1993 by Word Publishing Milton Keynes