Let’s continue to worship our God by hearing His Word from Exodus 4 and learn more about our God and how we are like Moses. I made a statement last week that Moses seemed to be satisfied with God’s answers in Exodus 3:11-14; I should have known better; We are just like Moses, we would tell God we’re satisfied then a few moments later, we find ourselves complaining again.
Read along with me Exodus 4:1-17 and learn from Moses and God………
After all the promises and assurances from God to Moses and the Israelites in Exodus 3:15-22…… what do we hear from Moses in Exodus 4, v1?
Moses came up with another excuse not to go back to Egypt!
What was wrong with that excuse??
God just told Moses in Exodus 3:18 that Israel would listen to him; Moses was either not listening, did not believe or just forgot what God said!
Do we see ourselves in Moses?
But again, because God is love, God was again gracious and responded to Moses’ concern! God gave Moses 3 powers! (v3-9)
1. Moses’ staff could turn into a snake and back again!
2. Moses’ hand could be leprous then be healed again!
3. Water from the Nile River could turn to blood!
As we have been noting, we can learn much through Moses with his faith in God. In verses 3-9, I think we can note something simple about Moses’ faith. Yes Moses’ faith was still weak for he was still trying to get away from doing God’s work. What can we say about Moses’ faith in v3-9??
Moses’ initial reaction to God’s miracle was fear when he saw the snake; but even though his hand went leprous, we do not read any fear from Moses! How would we have responded to a staff turning into a snake and our hand becoming leprous? Moses’ faith grew from fear to no fears! And so, Moses’ faith was growing, was he then ready to go and do God’s work?
v10: Our hero Moses thought of another excuse – he could not speak well? – Remember, for 40 years Moses was trained to be King of Egypt!
What an excuse!! One of the reasons God placed Moses in the Egyptian Pharaoh’s care for 40 years is to be a confident ruler someday!
Let’s talk about God’s answers to Moses:
God gave Moses 2 answers! What was God saying….
v11?? Again, God will not ask us anything which can not be done (Luke 1:37……..)
v12?? God will be with Moses! What does one have when they have God??
Moses had everything he needed from God, but then what?
v13: Moses did not have an excuse but basically retreated from God’s calling! Lord (Lord??), please send someone else!! Moses called God “Lord” but yet did not want to trust and obey! Let’s briefly note here what Jesus said to fake believers…”Why do you call me Lord when I never knew you!”
v14-17: God finally got upset at Moses but gave what Moses needed anyway!
What should we note for our lives today?
First of all,
Moses had a specific job from God. Each one of us also have a specific job(s) from God!
1. We are to know our specific duties for God! Make a list, pray about them, learn, prioritize, trust and obey!
And like Moses, we all have moments of complaining, hesitations, and even abandonment of God. Let us note that….
2. God understands our excuses and concerns; but here’s the question - are we truly believing and listening to God?
God understands our sins and shortcomings and He tells us what we are to do! Are we listening, believing, and doing what God says?
3. Do we really believe that God can do anything? Let’s make a commitment to pause daily to think about our Almighty God! Find the awesomeness of God in everything we see and feel! Think about the power of God in creating everything; let’s just think about the sun for a moment; what would happen if we don’t have a sun?? what is the sun?? picture….. where did the sun come from??
And by the way, our sun and solar system is in the Milky Way galaxy; how many suns are in the Milky Way??? – over 250 billion suns are in our galaxy. Now, how many galaxies are ther in the universe?? – there are over 2 TRILLION (2 with 12 zeros behind it)! And the universe is still growing!! WHO CREATED THE UNIVERSE?
And in closing, Moses’ confidence grew as his faith grew.
4. We must see ourselves grow in our faith in God.
How do we grow our faith??
How are we doing with Romans 10:17?
