Ex 4:1-9, No Excuses (5)

Moses questioned God as to His name.  God’s answer made it clear that He was God who would be able to do what He was planning to do, and what Moses was being called to be part of.  Because Moses spoke for God, he would have God’s authority before the people (3:16) and before Pharaoh (3:18-22).  And God also had authority over the nations in Canaan so that He could promise it to the people of Israel (3;17).  God promised to be with Moses, and God proclaimed Himself to the self-existent, eternal God, LORD of all.  But that still was not good enough for Moses.

·       Excuse #3: “What if they won’t listen to me?” (4:1-9)

I suppose if you consider such things important, you might try to suggest that Moses had a “poor self-image.”  But that is not the case.  Yes, Moses had tried in the flesh to deliver Israel, and he had failed miserably.  So now, you think, he’s down on himself.  Perhaps God needs to give him a peptalk.  “You can do it Moses.  After all, you were trained in Egypt and have all the polish of a highly educated leader.  You just need to get back into the leadership role.” Ha!

God has already said that Moses’ abilities are not the key to anything.  God will be with Moses, the God of all the universe.  So no, Moses’ whining is really doubt and unbelief in God’s promise and ability. 

Nevertheless, God does recognize that Moses is being called to a service that is unusual, and that he will need some corroborating authority.  This is for the sake of the people as much as for Moses.  What Moses is calling them to is not only different that the approach he had taken earlier (killing the Egyptian, expecting to be acclaimed and followed by the people); it is a highly unusual approach (involving a series of plagues to convince Pharaoh to send Israel off with his blessing and with the plunder of Egypt (3:19-22). 

Now, we are concerned about this same issue in ministry in the Body of Christ.  Remember how Paul told Timothy not to let anyone despise his youth (1 Tim. 4:12)?  The concern was that people would reject God’s word because it was being delivered by someone too young to know what he was talking about.  After all, Church leaders are often called “elders” even as was the case in Moses’ time (Ex. 3:16).  Since we are concerned about “transferrable concepts” (is this truth given in Moses’ time for Moses only or is it for us today in the Church) we would like to spend a couple of days on the subject of, “The Purpose of Miracles.”  We hope you will find this helpful.  Our goal is the same as God’s in Ex. 4: we want people to hear and to believe the word of God.