“Crisis Management”
Exodus 5 & 6
When we look at the life of this man named Moses we find that the OT is filled with stories of his life. It would be easy I believe to preach a full year of sermons on his life but I feel sure it would be just me and Ross and my wife and I’m not completely sure about them. So we will settle for 8 weeks. We have already studied 4 of those topics and now there will be 4 more.
One of the things we see as we study the life of Moses is that his life seems to be divided into 3 segments. The first 40 years, the 2nd 40 years & the last 40 years. It has been said that Moses spent the first 40 years of his life thinking he was a somebody, the 2nd 40 years realizing he was a nobody and the last 40 years realizing that God can turn a nobody into a somebody.
Moses has now brought the Israelites out of Egypt. They had been slaves to Pharaoh and the work they were doing was very difficult. They were making bricks all day long. The foreman on the job would supply them with straw to place inside the bricks and it would basically bind them together to be used in their building projects.
Moses steps in and exercises his authority as a leader and says to Pharaoh that God commands him to let His people go. Pharaoh replies who is the Lord that I should obey him and let Israel go? I won’t do it. Pharaoh becomes angry and orders the foremen on the job to do two things (1) don’t supply them with straw any longer and make them go and gather it themselves and (2) they will still be required to make the same number of bricks as before. They couldn’t do it of course so they were punished. They were beaten.
Now the people come to Moses and they are all furious. They are afraid they will be killed. V. 21. So just when Moses thought things were bad, now it is a full blown crisis. Know this…as a leader we will face problems. As a leader we can be misunderstood. Ever been misunderstood? You did the right thing, you did it the right way but someone read something into your actions that you never intended. And now you feel like you’re walking around with a cloud over your head and it just won’t go away. It is a part of being a leader that there will be times when you are misunderstood. Could be by a close friend, a relative, your boss or even your spouse.
The Bible tells us then in v. 22 that then Moses returned to the Lord. I think Moses realized he had nowhere else to go . He had no friends in Egypt, his wife was in Midian with the kids and his father in law, Jethro was tending sheep, his brother Aaron was apparently clueless so Moses goes back to the one who called him in the first place and he says Lord, why have you mistreated the people and why did you send me. It was like he was saying Lord didn’t I tell you back at the burning bush when you kept saying you’re the man Moses, you can do it, didn’t I keep telling you Lord I’m not cut out for this…like me I was actually cut out to be a singer, I just didn’t get sewn up right. Ever noticed that everybody on the platform has a microphone in front of them except me and Boonie. What’s up with that? Anyway. He says Lord I finally gave in to this leadership thing and now I’ve got all of this pressure on me…how come nobody told me leadership would be this hard? Moses is saying why me Lord? Why now? Why this? How am I gonna get through this crisis?
Have you ever wanted to be God for a moment? I don’t know what you would say to Moses right here but by this time if I were God I would be a little impatient, maybe even a lot impatient with Moses. But this is one of the things I love about the Lord…He didn’t say Moses you ought to be ashamed of yourself…if you come to him with this aching question in your heart or on your mind that is really crying out for an answer…..He never pushes us away.
In fact look at his response to Moses “now you will see what I will do to Pharaoh. It may seem like Pharaoh is in charge but ….vv.1-2. God was saying Moses listen I’m just getting warmed up. I’ll take care of this…don’t worry.
So Moses went to the people and told them what God had said but here’s the problem---the people were discouraged. By now they were irritated, impatient…they were made at Moses and when you’re mad at the preacher then you have trouble listening to the message. It says they didn’t listen because of their cruel bondage. Here is a truth. Criticism can be misdirected. They blamed Moses for what was happening. And why not? Things go wrong and what do we do…blame the person in charge. Right?
As leaders there will be times when you will be in over your head. At that point the Bible says that He came back to the Lord. That phrase describes someone who has gotten into deep water. They have gone in deeper than they should. It refers to someone who has gotten into water they try to stand up and they realize the water is over their head. When that happens you can’t just walk out. You have to swim. That’s where Moses was. Hurt, frustrated, lonely, discouraged, sinking….and he kept coming back to the Lord.
There will be times when as a leader we will be like Moses. As a leader there will be times when other people will doubt our ability to lead. It may be jealousy, it may be they are just critical or guess what it may be they are right. Another thing…there will be times when we as a leader will doubt our ability also. We lose confidence.
And the Lord was there every single time. Look with me. Vv. 10-11. Then the Lord said to Moses, go tell Pharaoh, king of Egypt to let the Israelites go. V. 12. But Moses said to the Lord, if the Israelites will not listen to me why would Pharoah listen to me …… I have a speech problem. In terms we would use today Moses was saying Lord I’m at the end of my rope and I don’t see how this is going to work. I can’t do it.
Before we move any further let me underscore major truth from the scripture. Here it is. The best framework for God to do His best work is when the situation we are in seems impossible to get out of and we feel totally unqualified to handle it. Those are His ideal working conditions.
Paul. Paul had a thorn in his flesh, some sort of terrible disease we think. He came to the Lord 3 times asking Him to take it away and God said, my grace is sufficient for you for my power is made perfect in weakness. V. 10. Then I am strong.
It is in this situation that God uses our weakness to show His strength. Man comes to God and I says I can’t do this or that, I’m not strong enough, I’m not rich enough, I’m not smart enough, I can’t, I can’t and God says “You’re just the person I’m looking for.” He did it with David when he was put up against Goliath, with Noah when he lived out in the desert, never rained before and God said I am going to send a flood. Joseph was thrown into a pit and was sold into slavery and then emerged to become 2nd in line to the King. The list goes all the way through the scriptures that every man and woman God used in a mighty way had a profound weakness in their lives. And it was not until they fully realized it that God began to use them.
Moses was going through a very dark day as a leader. Pharaoh had rejected his leadership, his own people rejected his leadership and then God told him to go back and try again and this time to go in the strength of the Lord. There is an underlying theme in this passage of scripture that Moses did not seem to comprehend… to understand.
Open your Bible again, grab a pen. I want you to see this.
Exodus 6:2, v.6, v.7, v. 8, and v. 29. I AM the Lord.
Time after time God says to Moses your eyes are in the wrong place (again). Get your eyes back on me. (again) Remember who I am again. You see until you and I get our eyes fixed on the Lord we will not be able to get through those times of crisis those times when things suddenly go from bad to worse. The writer of Hebrews says let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith. There is simply no substitute for that. When things get tough, when the amount of work you have to do presses in, when people disappoint you when the doctor brings you news you don’t want to hear when everything is falling apart, get your eyes fixed on Jesus and keep them there.
Look at your Bible again. After the Lord said to Moses “I am 5 times, now He has a 2nd message.
See what I will do . v.1 I will bring. V. 6. I will deliver. V. 6. I will redeem. V. 6. I will take…I will be…I will bring….I will give.
This is what I believe God says to us here….. Because I am who I am, I will do what is best for you. It was God’s word for Moses and it is God’s word for you today.
