TUESDAY 8th
Exodus 4:1-17
NIV (v2) – ‘Then the LORD said to him, What is that in your hand? A staff, he replied.’
ESV (v2) – ‘The LORD said to him, What is that in your hand? He said, A staff.’
We return to Moses’ encounter with the I AM at the burning bush, and in this chapter, he is still making his excuses. Firstly, and understandably, he asks what is going to happen when he gets to Pharaoh and he (Pharaoh) doesn’t believe all that Moses is saying, God deals with this issue in verses 2-9, then secondly Moses brings up a personal problem that he himself was not very good at speaking ‘I am slow of speech and of tongue’. At this point God reminds Moses that he himself is the one who has made man’s mouth, assuring him that he would be with him and would teach him what he should speak. But Moses is still not happy and almost begs God to give the task to someone else. At this point we read that God begins to get angry with Moses, (v14) and it leads to God appointing Moses’ brother Aaron to go on the task with Moses to be his mouthpiece.
When it comes to living for God and in serving him, I guess we have all been a little like Moses, when we have been asked to do something, or go somewhere we have found it easier to make up all the excuses we can rather than to go and do. But this account reminds us that whenever God calls, he will always equip, he will never call us to do something or go somewhere without that he will be with us and will provide for us. When it comes to the equipping, we may already have the skills and tools required, the phrase in our text, is ‘what is that in your hand’, Moses already had the staff, and it was going to become a tool that God would use in his hands as he acted in obedience and went. Up until that point, his staff had been an essential tool in his work as a shepherd with the sheep on the mountain, but now it was going to become an equipping tool as he takes up the responsibility of shepherding the people of Israel from out of Egypt and on their ongoing journey to the promised land. It may be that it is after we have taken the step of obedience that God will provide, what we need to learn to do is trust him, believe that if he has called he will not let us down. I remember when we were called by the Church to go from Suffolk to serve in North Wales, it was a big step for us and although I had already had my own inner conviction about the move prior to our being asked, and I had shared it with Elaine, I still questioned it when the call came, and around the same time someone not knowing about the situation, gave me a personal word of Scripture which was from Exodus 33:14 ‘And he said, My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.’ This was an amazing confirmation to me, and a reminder at the time that when God has called, he will not only equip and provide but he will be alongside as the ever-present guide. Interestingly as we continue the story of Moses, he still made excuses (see verse 30 of the same chapter) and God speaks to reassure him again in the following chapter, till eventually verse 6 shows us they went and did just as the Lord had commanded them. And the rest is history, but we will turn to it again tomorrow.