9-27-14. Exodus 4:1-17. Engage Your Faith And Go With What God Has Given -my devotional

Exodus 4:1-17                                                                  Kevin E. Jesmer

Key Verse: 4:2                                                                  9-27-14

“Then the Lord said to him, “What is that in your hand?” “A staff,” he replied.” (NIV)

 Lord Jesus. I come to you drink deep of your living water. Quench my soul with your powerful word. Satisfy my heart with your love, truth, hope and Spirit. I pray in Jesus’ name. Amen!

 Part 1: Knowing You Are Helpless Is A Good Spot To Be In (1-9)

Verses 1-9, “Moses answered, “What if they do not believe me or listen to me and say, ‘The Lord did not appear to you’?” 2 Then the Lord said to him, “What is that in your hand?” “A staff,” he replied. 3 The Lord said, “Throw it on the ground.” Moses threw it on the ground and it became a snake, and he ran from it. 4 Then the Lord said to him, “Reach out your hand and take it by the tail.” So Moses reached out and took hold of the snake and it turned back into a staff in his hand. 5 “This,” said the Lord, “is so that they may believe that the Lord, the God of their fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob—has appeared to you.” 6 Then the Lord said, “Put your hand inside your cloak.” So Moses put his hand into his cloak, and when he took it out, the skin was leprous —it had become as white as snow. 7 “Now put it back into your cloak,” he said. So Moses put his hand back into his cloak, and when he took it out, it was restored, like the rest of his flesh. 8 Then the Lord said, “If they do not believe you or pay attention to the first sign, they may believe the second. 9 But if they do not believe these two signs or listen to you, take some water from the Nile and pour it on the dry ground. The water you take from the river will become blood on the ground.”

God can work through us when we realize we are totally helpless to do his will with our own efforts. There are no wasted years when we are in Christ. Once Moses had been confident of his ability to lead his own people out of bondage. He had depended on his palace education and human skill. But when he was 40 years old, able and self-confident, he tried his best to free his people using his own human wisdom and power. He killed an Egyptian slave driver. But even with his best effort, his own people rejected him. Now, after 40 years in the wilderness, he had lost all of his self confidence. When God called him to stand up as a deliverer of his people, look how Moses responded in Exodus 4:1, “Moses answered, “What if they do not believe me or listen to me and say, ‘The Lord did not appear to you’?” And also he revealed his awareness of his weaknesses in verse 10, ““10 Moses said to the Lord, “Pardon your servant, Lord. I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since you have spoken to your servant. I am slow of speech and tongue.” (NIV) We can see after four decades Moses was changed! It took 40 years, and a lot of hard, spiritual training, but he was changed. God is faithful to work in any person’s heart and transform them into his image. They will become fruitful servants God. But it may take 40 years until you are equipped to embrace the purpose that God has for you.

Those 40 years in the desert were not a waste, but a necessary era of Moses’ life. He learned so many necessary things in order to live as a servant of the Lord. He learned to depend on God in his helplessness. This is right where he needed to be. He also learned how to be good husband, father and family man. In other words, he learned humanity. He also learned a lot from taking care of flocks and herds. There are so many spiritual lessons to be learned from taking care of real sheep. There is a book, “A Shepherd Looks At Psalm 23.” by Phillip Keller. It is all about how taking care of sheep helps us to understand God and humanity. There are no wasted years in Christ. As long as we remain in Jesus, we will learn and grow and God will use us greatly in this life.

I used to think that I could do something for Jesus with my own determination, self discipline and self sacrifice. I felt that I could lead my family to establish a house church ministry that would continue to grow and bear fruit for the Lord, well beyond my lifetime. But a few years ago I realized that I was totally helpless. I was helpless to form a student ministry from among my family at NIU. I was helpless to disciple people to the point where they could stand as spiritual leaders. Now, after 16 years of moving to DeKalb, our old Bible house is boarded up, the back yard is cleared of all I built, and it awaits demolition. I realize that the church is not the house. There are people whose lives have been transformed through the house church, but I really get a sense of how helpless I am to generate a work of God that perpetuates into future generations.

None of that time, however, was a waste. Our whole family grew a lot in faith and in the knowledge of God. The next season that we are brought into now, life in a community Bible church, is serving a purpose. I now embrace the work of God that he brings to me, knowing that I am truly helpless to do anything. Jesus is teaching us many, many important things. He is transforming us from the inside. He is making us useful vessels in his time. I am not pushing God, nor am I insisting that he do anything that is apart from his will. Like Moses in the desert I am allowing God to be God in me life. I pray that he molds me and my family and makes us after his wonderful will.

Simply being alive and having faith in Jesus is more than enough to serve God. Look at verses Exodus 4:1-5, “Moses answered, “What if they do not believe me or listen to me and say, ‘The Lord did not appear to you’?” 2 Then the Lord said to him, “What is that in your hand?” “A staff,” he replied. 3 The Lord said, “Throw it on the ground.” Moses threw it on the ground and it became a snake, and he ran from it. 4 Then the Lord said to him, “Reach out your hand and take it by the tail.” So Moses reached out and took hold of the snake and it turned back into a staff in his hand. 5 “This,” said the Lord, “is so that they may believe that the Lord, the God of their fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob—has appeared to you.” When Moses told God, “No one will listen to me”, God asked, “What is that in your hand?” Moses had his shepherd’s staff in his hand. God felt that was enough. He ordered Moses to throw it on the ground and it became a snake. God made this ordinary staff become an extraordinary sign to confirm God’s calling and Moses’ leadership.

God can use whatever we have in our “hands”. We don’t have to come up with all kinds of expensive equipment and tons of money and the latest in audio visual equipment. No. God can work with whatever you have. Because of this fact we should never despair about being able to serve God. Remember the passage about Jesus feeding the 5,000 men, plus women and children with five loaves and two fish. (John 6)?  The disciples did not have many resources. All they could come up with is five loaves and two fish. When Andrew offered this miniscule offering to Jesus with faith and a prayer, Jesus did a miracle.

There is another passage where Jesus healed a man born blind. (John 9:1-12) He reached down and mixed mud and spit in his hands, smeared the wet mud in the man’s eyes and told the man to go and wash in the river. Then he would be healed of his blindness. Jesus could have healed the man in very comfortable and “cool” way by simply touching the man and healing him. But Jesus was teaching his disciples (and this man) something. One thing the disciples needed to learn was that as long as his disciples were alive they had spit. As long as they were walking on this planet, they had mud. They always had Jesus with them and they could pray. There was nothing stopping them from doing the work of God….nothing.

Moses was eighty years old. He had rags for clothes. He lost the benefits of his Egyptian schooling. He had a few sheep and some aging family members. These are not much to be the deliverer of millions of people. But he had a staff in his hands. (He also had spit and mud and faith.) That was enough. God was going to use that staff, now and later on, in great ways. Simply being alive and having faith in Jesus is more than enough to serve our Lord Jesus and live according to God’s calling in our lives.

God has a purpose for performing miracles through his people. Look at Exodus 4:5 “This,” said the Lord, “is so that they may believe that the Lord, the God of their fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob—has appeared to you.”  The purpose of the miracles is not to entertain us. They are not just for our own personal salvation. They are there to reveal who God is and where we can turn to hear to message of salvation. The overriding purpose of all, God does and what we do is for the glory of God. “So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, doit all for the glory of God.” (1 Corinthians 10:31)

God does not give up trying to help people come to him. Look at Exodus 4:8, “. 8 Then the Lord said, “If they do not believe you or pay attention to the first sign, they may believe the second.” (NIV) He gives sign after sign. God always tries his best to reveal himself to us. If one sign doesn’t work, he will try another. It is not God’s fault for not trying. He tries so hard to reach us, through nature, through thoughts, through people, through music, through the Bible, through our joys and our sufferings, through his redemptive plan that began since the very first human being came into this world and ultimately through sending Jesus into this world, to suffer and die for our sins and rise from the dead. (John 3:16) God tries and tries. It is us who have closed eyes and ears and hearts.

Part 2: Take Your Staff; Utter A Prayer And Go! (10-17)

Verses 10-17, “10 Moses said to the Lord, “Pardon your servant, Lord. I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since you have spoken to your servant. I am slow of speech and tongue.” 11 The Lord said to him, “Who gave human beings their mouths? Who makes them deaf or mute? Who gives them sight or makes them blind? Is it not I, the Lord? 12 Now go; I will help you speak and will teach you what to say.” 13 But Moses said, “Pardon your servant, Lord. Please send someone else.” 14 Then the Lord’s anger burned against Moses and he said, “What about your brother, Aaron the Levite? I know he can speak well. He is already on his way to meet you, and he will be glad to see you. 15 You shall speak to him and put words in his mouth; I will help both of you speak and will teach you what to do. 16 He will speak to the people for you, and it will be as if he were your mouth and as if you were God to him. 17 But take this staff in your hand so you can perform the signs with it.”

We can never hide behind our “perceived” weaknesses when we are in Christ. Moses was made very humble through forty years of spiritual training. He had no more presumptions about himself. Look at Exodus 4:10, “Moses said to the Lord, “Pardon your servant, Lord. I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since you have spoken to your servant. I am slow of speech and tongue.” He was placed in the right condition of heart. Now was the time for Moses to take it to the next level. He needed to break free and rise to new heights in the Lord. God promised to be with him to help him in verses 11-12. “ The Lord said to him, “Who gave human beings their mouths? Who makes them deaf or mute? Who gives them sight or makes them blind? Is it not I, the Lord? 12 Now go; I will help you speak and will teach you what to say.”  God, Moses’ creator, Lord of all creation was going to be with Moses and even give him the words to speak. He was going to open peoples’ ears and eyes to accept the message Moses was called to preach. The promise of God’s help should have been enough for Moses to make the leap of faith and march into Egypt and begin his new gig as a deliverer. But it wasn’t so simple.

Moses took his humility a little too far. Moses said, “Send someone else.” Look at verse 12-14, “12 Now go; I will help you speak and will teach you what to say.” 13 But Moses said, “Pardon your servant, Lord. Please send someone else.” Then the Lord’s anger burned against Moses and he said, “What about your brother, Aaron the Levite?”  Moses took the humility thing a little too far. It was actually making him useless to serve God. It was paralyzing him. He was hiding behind his weaknesses. He needed to be delivered.

There is a problem when we use our perceived lack of ability as an excuse for not ever trying. More failures have occurred not because of lack of ability, but lack of faith to even try. We can not use our excuse making as a refuge from venturing into the unknown. We have the Creator of the heavens and the earth on our side, promising to be with us and to help us. How can we not obey the Lord when he is by our side?

Though his anger burned, God did not give up on Moses. He proposed another plan. Look at verses 14-16. “What about your brother, Aaron the Levite? I know he can speak well. He is already on his way to meet you, and he will be glad to see you. 15 You shall speak to him and put words in his mouth; I will help both of you speak and will teach you what to do. 16 He will speak to the people for you, and it will be as if he were your mouth and as if you were God to him.”  God’s anger may burn from time to time, but that does not stop him from loving his people and hoping in them. God is love. He is our heavenly Father. He will make attempt after attempt to include us in his redemptive work. He will even bring people along side us to help along the way, just as he did with Aaron. We need this kind of faith.

But God was not going to let Moses rest thinking that his brother Aaron was going to do all the work. He was still holding Moses accountable to exercise his faith. Moses was not to forget the initial principle revealed in Exodus 4:17, “But take this staff in your hand so you can perform the signs with it.” God told Moses to take his staff and go to Egypt and throw it down in front of Pharaoh. He still had to step out of his comfort zone and so something by faith. There is no hiding behind our perceived weaknesses in Jesus. In what ways is Christ calling you to take your staff and go and speak the words he would have you speak and embrace the missions he has called you to embrace? Everything is possible when we know the Creator is by our side and is more than ready and willing to help us. Just take “your staff in your hand”, whisper a pray and trust the Lord and go.

Prayer: Lord, I am unable, but you are more than able. I am helpless and full of excuses, but I know that you are my Creator and you will give me the words to speak and the strength to go. I place my hope and trust in you.

One Word: God has already equipped you with what you need.