Exodus Part 4 " Finding Strenght In Our Discouragement" Series

Exodus

“The story of God’s presence”

Part 4

“Finding strength in our discouragement”

I believe I can safely say

Like last week we all offer Excuses from time to time in our lives

Especially in our Christian walk

We all also face discouragement in our lives

I do not believe our Christian walk is immune from this either

In life

I am sure you as I have had been discouraged

With a job

A relationship

A situation

Maybe even a new horse

In our Christian walk

Especially in our early Christian walk

Discouragement can creep in on quiet little caterpillar feet

Or storm in like a raging lion

As of you who have accepted the Lord as your savior and come to me with the decision

Know that I always tell you

Your life is apt to get worse before it gets better

Old Slick is not happy with your new decision or your new life

And he wants to discourage you

To keep you from your new purpose and your new calling

Maybe you have been saved for a while

And

You are really trying to do what you know you are supposed to do

But

Your witness has been ineffective

No one has responded

People just think you are weird

You are not alone

I can tell you from my perspective and the perspective of any preacher- teacher of God’s word

Discouragement is a common theme

But we are not alone

Once again God shows us in his word

In the book Of Exodus

That Discouragement is a reality of life

Moses and his brother Aaron were no exceptions

They too suffered from discouragement

Last week we looked at Moses excuses

And how we make often excuses about why we are not obedient

We saw what God thought about his excuses

And how he feels about ours as well

He thinks they all stink

But we also saw that after all the excuses

Moses finally went to do what God wanted him to do

He went back to Egypt

He began living the life that God had planned for him

He began the long road of fulfilling his purpose

Remember I told you about the signs that God gave Moses so that the Hebrews would believe that he was truly sent by God

Their God

The God of Abraham

The God of Isaac

The God

Of Jacob

Yahweh

The great I AM

Moses showed these signs to his people

He showed them the staff that turned into a snake

He showed them his diseased hand

He showed them the Nile water turning to blood

He told them who God was “told them his name

And he gave them God’s message

And

They believed him

You see

God had prepared their hearts and they accepted Moses’ message

So now was the time for Moses and Aaron to take the next step

In Exodus chapter 5 and 6 we are going to see an unfolding of God’s plan

Please open your bibles to Exodus Chapter 4

Verses 29-31

29 Then Moses and Aaron returned to Egypt and called all the elders of Israel together. 30 Aaron told them everything the LORD had told Moses, and Moses performed the miraculous signs as they watched. 31 Then the people of Israel were convinced that the LORD had sent Moses and Aaron. When they heard that the LORD was concerned about them and had seen their misery, they bowed down and worshiped.

Now look at chapter 5

Verse 1

“After this presentation to Israel’s leaders, Moses and Aaron went and spoke to Pharaoh. They told him, “This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: Let my people go so they may hold a festival in my honor in the wilderness.”

Moses had gone as God instructed

His people/ the Hebrews had listened and accepted his words

Now he was supposed to Go to Pharaoh and ask for a small thing

Just 3 days to go and worship God

And offer sacrifices to God

We know that

But God had open the hearts of The Hebrews

But

We see in scripture that He had actually hardened the hearts of the Egyptians

Notice Moses was not asking for freedom here, he was not saying turn us loose

He was just asking for a long weekend

But Pharaoh wasn’t having any

Verse 2

2 “Is that so?” retorted Pharaoh. “And who is the LORD? Why should I listen to him and let Israel go? I don’t know the LORD, and I will not let Israel go.”

Pharaoh was a bit full of himself

He had been told he was a “god”

Treated like a god

He believed he was a “god”

And he did not like being told what to do – none !!