God's Grace Is With Us! Series

God’s Grace is With Us!

Exodus 4:1-12; Mark 9:24; Romans 8:14;

Luke 12:12

If the Lord appeared to you tonight in a dream like He did king Solomon and said, “ask for whatever you want” (1 Kings 3:1-15), what would be your request be? For some maybe you would ask for a larger bank account, for others maybe stronger and more loving ties with your family, and for others maybe your heart’s desire would be better health and longer days on this earth. But when we think about what will truly last the test of time is it not the grace of God what we need most? We live in a world that is not our home (Hebrews 13:14-16) and in jars of clay that are easily broken (2 Corinthians 4:7) and truthfully without grace the wages of sin remain death (Romans 6:23) for who could ever pull themselves out of their depravity and ever attain the right to be called a child of the Most High God? While we say with our lips that our hearts and flesh cry out for the living God (Psalms 84:2) we tend to interpret the Lord’s words, “whatever your ask shall be given unto you” (Matthew 7:7-8; John 16:23-24), as a mere blank check of greed instead of a glorious invitation to discern His will and walk the path He has set out for us. It is easy in seasons of blessings to say, “the Lord is with me” and be willing to follow Him to green pastures but to be invited to serve in the valleys of trials and tribulations which of us would respond like the Prophet Isaiah, “here I am, send me” (6:8)? Is it not in the dreary storms of life where the genuineness of our faith is refined and proven to be of greater value than that of even gold (1 Peter 1:7)? Is it not by grace and faith that the greatest gift ever given to humanity can be obtained, adoption into God’s very own family? And yet even though we firmly believe Christ atoned for our sins and we are indeed His children and one day will partake in His great banquet in heaven (Luke 145:15-23), when called to serve we tend to wear our doubts, lukewarmness, and selfishness as filthy rags of pretend righteousness rather than seeing them as giant planks of sin (Matthew 7:3-5) keeping us from drawing nearer to the Lord so that He might draw nearer to us (James 4:8)! Let’s turn to Moses’ call so that we might learn that thankfully even in disbelief God can take an initially unwilling, unknown, and doubtful servant like you and me and transform us into the ambassadors and priests that we were intended to be (2 Corinthians 5:20; 1 Peter 2:9)!

Grace Given to Moses

As Moses tended the flock of Jethro his father-in-law (3:1) one can’t help but wonder how often he thought about how dramatically his life had changed. It was not that long ago that Moses was drawn from the Nile River as a slave (1:1-22), adopted by Pharoah’s daughter (2:10) and had access to the great riches, education, philosophy, and power of Egypt. If only he had looked the other way instead of killing that Egyptian who was beating a Hebrew slave (2:11) his grandfather Pharoah would not have sought his life and he would not have needed to flee to Midian (2:15) and become a shepherd. And yet despite his grave sin in murdering another, God’s grace was extended to Moses at Horeb (3:1) with a unique but humanly impossible proposal. God told him he was selected to be an emissary to be “sent to Pharoah to bring My people the Israelites out of Egypt” (3:10). Though while on holy ground Moses was too sacred to even look at God (3:2-6), this did not stop him from proceeding to spew out of his mouth a litany of excuses to try to get out of his call! Though God promised He would be with Moses (3:12) and though God announced “I AM WHO I AM” (3:14) would not only free the Israelites but make the Egyptians so favourable unto them that their departing gifts would feel like plunder (3:21-22); Moses refused to believe that the Israelites would believe he was sent by God (4:1), a mere shepherd and a nobody! Even when God showed Moses he had been granted the ability to do miraculous signs, such as turning a staff into a snake (4:3), making his hand change from leprous and back to healthy again (4:6-7), and the ability to turn the Nile water into blood (4:8-9); Moses still felt inadequate to fulfill the call of God because his tongue was not able to speak eloquently (4:10)! To this God replied that the Creator of his tongue would Himself teach him what to say (4:12). By God’s grace He did not give up on His servant and once Moses replaced his excuses with faith; Moses arose with the staff of God in his hand and served (4:20)!