The “Who” To Moses “Why”
By David Moore, Pastor, Braehill Baptist Church, Belfast, Northern Ireland
Text: Exodus 6:1-8
Introduction: Phillip Brooks, a famous pastor of the 19th century, was in his office, pacing the floor, frustrated. Somebody walked in and saw him and asked, "What’s the matter, pastor?" He said, "I’m in a hurry and God isn’t!" (Patrick Allen - sermoncentral.com/sercentral/sermon.asp?SermonID=31031)
As we open our Bibles to Exodus 6 this morning, we find this is exactly Moses’ problem. For eighty years God has been preparing Moses to do something truly great, to lead 2 million slaves out of the grip of the world’s superpower and into national freedom and Moses wants it done after one, maybe two visits with Pharaoh. But God is never in a hurry. You see all we have is time, whilst God has eternity. God doesn’t have to finish His work within the limits of our finite time spans, even if we die, God is not done. His work goes on through someone else, so you and I who are constantly rushing to beat the clock have to learn that God is not in a hurry, and that we must be patient while He works out His purposes.
You will recall that Moses and Aaron have made their first visit with Pharaoh. The result was not what they had hoped for, indeed as things transpired it was much worse than they might ever have expected. Instead of letting the people go, Pharaoh decreed that the people would stay and that their burdens should be made greater. Then, after a delegation of Israelite officers visited with the king, Moses and Aaron became about as popular as Hugo Duncan! The Israelites hated them. In fact they pronounced a curse upon them!! “The LORD look upon you and judge.”
Then as chapter five closes out Moses approaches the Lord with his “Why” questions. Why? Why me? Why this? Why now? Moses had to learn the value of patience, of waiting on God.
Now, in chapter 6 God is going to give Moses an answer to his why questions. Now I said last week that the question we should ask when things go from bad to worse is not why, but who? Who is in control here? Who is behind these things? I said that “Why” questions are rarely answered and when they are they are rarely satisfying? But the who question is much more comforting. You see the “why” questions only lead to more why questions.
Illus: A small child constantly asking why.
So the why question only leads us into more difficulties, but the who question leads us to God. In chapter 6 the Lord answers Moses’ plea by answering the “Who” question. This chapter is about the Lord, and what we need to understand about God when our lives take a turn for the worse. Notice how God responds to Moses’ concerns, and how Moses had to:
I. Trust God’s Plan – vs 1.
A. You know, sometimes when we are dismayed at life, or we are confused about our circumstances or may be even angry with the Lord about how things have turned out we may do as Moses did and cry out to God.
1. In response we might expect God to be angry with us.
a. That is natural – anger usually only serves to stir up more anger.
b. But God is not natural – He is supernatural, and His reactions are almost always the opposite of what we might naturally expect.
2. But notice that God is not angry with Moses.
a. Here we find no word of reprimand, reproach, of rebuke.
b. You see, the Lord knows us better than we know ourselves, and in that respect He remembers that we are but dust.
c. God never fails. God never gets inpatient. God never gets discouraged – but we experience all those things – and never more so than when we put the responsibility for God’s work upon our own shoulders and expect great things to happen.
B. In response to Moses’ cry the Lord simply encourages the man to look beyond the trails of the present to see the final outcome.
1. You know the Lord expects all of us to do that.
2. In Romans 16:20 the Church at Rome were encouraged with the words “And the God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly.”
3. In other words they were reminded that their victory in Christ was sure – that no matter how bad things seemed, and they must have seemed bad when we bear in mind that Christians were being thrown to the lions and made to do battle with gladiators armed to the teeth, that ultimately they would secure the victor’s crown.
3. Likewise in Psalm 73 we read of the complaint of Asaph, who bewailed the fact that the godly seemed to do very well for themselves, thank you very much, whilst God’s people struggled daily and suffered at the hands of the wicked.
a. See Psalms 73:16-17 & 24
b. He saw that for the lost judgment was coming – their bad day was about to happen, but for the saved the best was yet to come.
4. Again Paul, and I come back to this passage often, said “For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.” (Rom 8:18)
5. Those who survive the very worst of days, the loneliest times, the saddest times, the most painful times, the times of struggle and trial are those who hold on to the truth that the best is yet to be . . . they understand that God has determined an end, that He has laid down a plan, and that that plan lends itself only to ultimate victory and to glory.
a. You need to hang on to that truth sometimes if you are going to survive.
b. Though Moses’ heart was disappointed at the down turn of events in Egypt God reminded him that the day was coming when Pharaoh would not just let the people go, but now an added detail, he would actually drive tem from the land.
II. Trust God’s Person – vs 2.
A. Already, at the burning bush, God had revealed Himself to Moses by His Name.
1. Remember, when Moses asked “What am I going to say when they ask who sent you,” and the Lord responded with “I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.”
2. Now the Lord reminds him of that “I am the LORD.”
3. Interestingly, the Lord says in verse 3 that Moses’ forefathers, Abraham and Isaac and Jacob did not know Him by that name, but simply as El Shaddai, God Almighty.
a. Yet there are many references prior to this time and during the lives of these men when this name is used.
(i). God used it with Abraham – Gen 15:7
(ii). Rebekah uses it to Jacob in reference to Isaac and Esau – Gen 27:7
(iii) Abraham, Isaac and Jacob all knew this name – it was in the public domain.
b. But what is intended here is not the idea that they had never heard, nor knew it, but that they had not discovered its full significance, either in their experience or by Divine explanation.
c. To Abraham, Isaac and Jacob God was known and experienced as the Almighty, but to Moses He was Yahweh, Jehovah, the eternally self existent One.
d. In other words He is the God who is always there.
(i) He was there yesterday, He is here today and he is there tomorrow.
(ii) This is important for Moses to remember, you see God was there when Pharaoh said “Who is the Lord” God is here when Moses cries “Why Lord?” and God is already ahead, already in tomorrow when the exodus is finally accomplished.
4. This is important for us also.
a. You see if you are harbouring yesterday’s hurt, I want you to know God was there when that hurt happened.
b. If you are facing dismay at what happened yesterday, the Lord is here to acknowledge your disappointment, dismay, apprehensions today.
c. And if you are looking at a bleak future because of yesterday’s events, understand God is already in the future and He is telling us don’t worry, it’s going to work out.
(i) You see He is the “Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, . . . which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty. . . Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last.”
5. Do you see now what we mean when we say the important question when faced with life’s disappointment’s is not “Why” but “Who?”
III. Trust God’s Promises – vss 4-5
A. When your world is falling apart it is hard to believe that God’s Word is standing sure – but it is.
1. Again this comes down to who God is.
2. Who is behind the promises? The God who cannot lie.
B. As Moses left Pharaoh’s court his heart nauseous with the feeling of rejection, the promise of the exodus seems a little hollow.
1. When the people’s burdens are increased and the delegation comes out of Pharaoh’s office to confront Moses, the promise of freedom and Canaan land is quickly taking on the person of a straw man.
2. But it was vital that Moses held fast to God’s promises.
3. This thing with Pharaoh was going to take a while – Moses didn’t know it, but what he had booked as a short business trip was going to become a forty year trek in the desert!
4. Throughout all these trials it was imperative that Moses clung to God’s Word.
5. This is just as valid a truth for us.
a. “Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises.” (2 Peter 1:4 a)
b. But mark my words, as soon as trouble comes, as soon as our road is blocked, as soon as the devil strikes our heart with one of his fiery darts those promises are the first things to go.
c. “Where’s your God now.” What about all those promises ‘I will never leave thee . . .’ why can’t you hear his voice, how come it only happens to you etc.”
d. Friend, you must keep an eye on God’s plan, a faith in God’s person and a hope in God’s promises.
IV. Trust God’s Purpose – vss 6-8
A. I said earlier that we are never more disappointed than when we put the responsibility for God’s work upon our own shoulders and expect great things to happen.
1. For example – I preach and no one is saved – so I go home feeling low, feeling incapable, ineffectual, as though it were my fault – but hold it – who’s responsibility is it to convict men of sin, to speak to their hearst too impress their need upon them – it’s not mine but the Lord’s
2. Again, maybe you are a parent, and you are doing all you can for your child, yet the child is going astray – now you think “I am a bad parent . . it is all my fault . . .I am to blame.” You had aspirations for that child, but now you are disappointed. But wait a minute, If we are doing all God told us to do then it is up to God to turn that child’s heart.
B. Moses has left Pharaoh’s office feeling like a failure, he is an A1 flop.
1. This is confirmed by the reaction of the Israelite officers toward him.
2. He thinks (rightly) that he is obviously not up to the job!! He thinks it is his responsibility to see to it that Israel gets out of Egypt, when in fact his job is only to act as an errand boy and deliver the message(s) God gives him.
C. God has a much bigger plan that Moses could even imagine.
1. You see while Moses is thinking about the exodus – God’s purpose is redemption.
2. God help us if the plan of redemption had been left to Moses (or you or me).
3. No, this is God’s work.
a. Seven times, notice, in verses 6-8, God says “I will.”
(i) “I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians” . . . this is God’s purpose of grace – Matt 11:28
(ii) “I will rid you out of their bondage” . . . this is more than deliverance, this is complete severance from the past – Heb 2:14-15
(iii) “I will redeem you with a stretched out arm and with great judgments” . . . redemption comes by price and by power – for the Jews this was the Passover and the Red Sea crossing, for us it is Calvary followed by the resurrection.
(iv) “I will take you to me for a people” . . . God takes a down trodden nation and makes them His peculiar treasure – Titus 2:14
(v) “I will be to you a God.” . . . Pharaoh thought he was a god unto them, but the exodus, the Red Sea crossing, guidance through the wilderness, the miraculous provision of food and water would all serve to prove who there God actually was. For the Christian also the Lord is specifically our God – 2 Cor 6:16
(vi) “I will bring you into the land” . . . redemption is always an out of into experience – Col 1:13.
(vii) “I will give to you for an heritage: I am the LORD” . . . this was the goal to which God was working. All of this was to be done that they might enjoy the inheritance promised to their fathers. Of course this aspect of redemption is only fully realised during the millennium – and we will have our portion to enjoy also – Eph 1:14.
Conclusion: How important it was for Moses to be in harmony with God’s purposes. To look beyond the problems of today to the end of the plan. To see in those problems that God was there, yesterday, today and tomorrow. To see that God’s promises to his forefathers were still good. His covenant was sure. His Word certain. Moses had to see that he was just a bit player in a far greater production.
Recently I read about an historic Lighthouse, on the east coast of America that was in danger of falling into the Atlantic Ocean due to coastal erosion. So the powers that be examined the situation and released £8 million to have it moved almost 3000 feet away from its original standing to safety. This was a tall order, that lighthouse stood two hundred feet high and weighed many hundreds of tons. It had to be jacked up and inch by inch slowly moved along the coast line. It took the engineers 23 days to do that. But did you know that from the moment the officials began assessing what to do about the problem to the moment they finally got that lighthouse moved and operating again was over seventeen years. That’s seventeen years of thought, debate and deliberation. Seventeen years of surveys and calculations. Seventeen years of diligent research followed by 23full days of painstaking, careful removal from one location to another. Why did it take so long? Small things can be moved quickly, but big things take time. Most people tend to overestimate what can be done in a week and underestimate what can done in a lifetime. (James Wilson - sermoncentral.com/sercentral/sermon.asp?SermonID=31585) God is not in a hurry, and neither should we be. Moses had to learn that and so do we. Have you been hurrying God lately? Have you been pressing him with “Why’s” wondering why he doesn’t act sooner? Be patient friend – God isn’t even close to finishing yet.
