Exodus 4:1-12 And Moses answered and said, But, behold, they will not believe me, nor hearken unto my voice: for they will say, The LORD hath not appeared unto thee. 2 And the LORD said unto him, What is that in thine hand? And he said, A rod. 3 And he said, Cast it on the ground. And he cast it on the ground, and it became a serpent; and Moses fled from before it. 4 And the LORD said unto Moses, Put forth thine hand, and take it by the tail. And he put forth his hand, and caught it, and it became a rod in his hand: 5 That they may believe that the LORD God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath appeared unto thee. 6 And the LORD said furthermore unto him, Put now thine hand into thy bosom. And he put his hand into his bosom: and when he took it out, behold, his hand was leprous as snow. 7 And he said, Put thine hand into thy bosom again. And he put his hand into his bosom again; and plucked it out of his bosom, and, behold, it was turned again as his other flesh. 8 And it shall come to pass, if they will not believe thee, neither hearken to the voice of the first sign, that they will believe the voice of the latter sign. 9 And it shall come to pass, if they will not believe also these two signs, neither hearken unto thy voice, that thou shalt take of the water of the river, and pour it upon the dry land: and the water which thou takest out of the river shall become blood upon the dry land. 10 And Moses said unto the LORD, O my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither heretofore, nor since thou hast spoken unto thy servant: but I am slow of speech, and of a slow tongue. 11 And the LORD said unto him, Who hath made man's mouth? or who maketh the dumb, or deaf, or the seeing, or the blind? have not I the LORD? 12 Now therefore go, and I will be with thy mouth, and teach thee what thou shalt say.
Here is one of those passages that really needs no explanation but can really be a blessing to us if we will make proper application of the truth being taught. Moses has been put on notice by God that he is the deliverer that Israel has been waiting for in Egypt and he is to go to them and deliver them from the bondage of Egypt. So Moses begins to praise God for choosing him for this very important task and pleading with God for the grace to accomplish the task...Right? Wrong! Moses begins to make excuses about the people's lack of belief and his lack of abilities. So what does God do? Does He say, "You're right Moses I must have the wrong man?" No!
God points out the provisions that He has already provided and the provisions that He will provide Moses to carry out His will. In verse two God draws Moses' attention to what he already has as the resources that God will use to carry out His work through him. It is the stick in Moses' hand and the hand that holds the stick that God chooses to use to convince the people of the validity of Moses' claims that God has sent him to deliver them from the bondage of Egypt. Moses then turns to what he doesn't have as an excuse. Moses highlights his inability to speak well in verse ten but God's rebuttal is in essence, "I know. I made your mouth." After dealing with these provisions that Moses was not recognizing in his life, God presents Moses with another provision...His Presence in verse twelve. God promises to be with Moses as he carries out the ministry that God has given him. So what is the take-away from this narrative?
God knew that He would give us the ministry of reconciliation and rescue that the Gospel makes possible. God knew that we would be given the task to deliver men from the bondage of sin and self and reconcile them unto God through the power of the Gospel. God has provided us with the things we would need for the task and they are already in our hand as Moses' staff was, we just may not recognize them. God has made us for the task. We may need to allow the Lord to hone some skills and abilities, but God has fearfully and wonderfully crafted us for this ministry. Finally, God has given us the wonderful provision of Himself in the person of the Holy Spirit living in every Believer to guide and comfort us as we carry out the work of the ministry. God isn't taking any excuses because He already anticipated them and has made provisions for them so we may as well stop giving them. So let's join God wholeheartedly in the ministry of reconciliation and rescue of the multitudes in bondage to self and sin through the power of the Gospel. Matthew 28:18-20 And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. 19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: 20 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.
Here is one of those passages that really needs no explanation but can really be a blessing to us if we will make proper application of the truth being taught. Moses has been put on notice by God that he is the deliverer that Israel has been waiting for in Egypt and he is to go to them and deliver them from the bondage of Egypt. So Moses begins to praise God for choosing him for this very important task and pleading with God for the grace to accomplish the task...Right? Wrong! Moses begins to make excuses about the people's lack of belief and his lack of abilities. So what does God do? Does He say, "You're right Moses I must have the wrong man?" No!
God points out the provisions that He has already provided and the provisions that He will provide Moses to carry out His will. In verse two God draws Moses' attention to what he already has as the resources that God will use to carry out His work through him. It is the stick in Moses' hand and the hand that holds the stick that God chooses to use to convince the people of the validity of Moses' claims that God has sent him to deliver them from the bondage of Egypt. Moses then turns to what he doesn't have as an excuse. Moses highlights his inability to speak well in verse ten but God's rebuttal is in essence, "I know. I made your mouth." After dealing with these provisions that Moses was not recognizing in his life, God presents Moses with another provision...His Presence in verse twelve. God promises to be with Moses as he carries out the ministry that God has given him. So what is the take-away from this narrative?
God knew that He would give us the ministry of reconciliation and rescue that the Gospel makes possible. God knew that we would be given the task to deliver men from the bondage of sin and self and reconcile them unto God through the power of the Gospel. God has provided us with the things we would need for the task and they are already in our hand as Moses' staff was, we just may not recognize them. God has made us for the task. We may need to allow the Lord to hone some skills and abilities, but God has fearfully and wonderfully crafted us for this ministry. Finally, God has given us the wonderful provision of Himself in the person of the Holy Spirit living in every Believer to guide and comfort us as we carry out the work of the ministry. God isn't taking any excuses because He already anticipated them and has made provisions for them so we may as well stop giving them. So let's join God wholeheartedly in the ministry of reconciliation and rescue of the multitudes in bondage to self and sin through the power of the Gospel. Matthew 28:18-20 And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. 19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: 20 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.
Daily Devotional: Judges 2:10-19 Cycles of Disobedience
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