Good morning my “Walking with Jesus” friends as we begin another week together in the journey of our lives.
Have you ever received a promise which seemed too good to be true, especially if it came at a very difficult time in your life? Yesterday I left you with a discouraged and confused Moses. When minding his own business one day, his life had been turned upside down by an encounter with a burning bush which was not being consumed and a voice which came from the flames calling his name! All of Exodus 3 is the remarkable description of that encounter. The voice, which emanated from that burning bush, claimed to be the voice of God! And Moses was given a mandate, a commission by God’s voice, to return to Egypt and confront Pharaoh, the most powerful man in the world, and explain that God wanted Pharaoh to release a huge portion of his workforce, the Hebrew slaves! It was preposterous, but God’s voice had promised Moses that God would accompany him on this mission, so Moses went and did everything God had instructed him to do.
Unfortunately the result was exactly the opposite from what Moses had hoped, but not entirely different from what Moses had expected. Moses knew the Pharaoh to be a hard hearted, prideful man, and Moses had objected when God had told him to go confront that Pharaoh. Now things had gotten much worse for the slaves, as Pharaoh had reacted to Moses’ ridiculous demand by stopping all straw deliveries to the mud pits! The brick making slaves were now required to find and fetch their own straw for mixing with the mud to make bricks, AND the daily quota of bricks was not diminished, not even by one brick! It was impossible! Slave foremen were being beaten and slaves accused by Pharaoh of being lazy, and tempers were rising rapidly with the anger of the slaves now aimed at Moses for having intruded into their misery.
Yesterday we concluded our time with Moses bringing this question to God: “O Lord, why have You brought trouble upon this people? Is this why You sent me? Ever since I went to Pharaoh to speak in Your name, he has brought trouble upon this people and You have not rescued Your people at all.” (Ex. 5:22,23) Wow! Now either talking with God like that is bold and courageous or stupid and inviting God’s judgement, which is it? Moses is just like you and me, my friends. He had been overwhelmed with the miraculous burning bush experience and God’s assurance that God was deeply concerned about the suffering of the slaves. The burning bush voice had said that God heard the cries of the slaves and saw their misery and was coming down to rescue them. That promise was front and center in Moses’ memory of that burning bush conversation as he had approached the Pharaoh.
But God had also said one other very important thing and I’m afraid Moses had done exactly what you and I would have done… he set it aside, he disregarded this one part of all that God had said to him. I wonder if you remember this statement from the voice at the burning bush: “But I know that the Pharaoh of Egypt will not let you go unless a mighty hand compels him. So I will stretch out My hand and strike the Egyptians with all the wonders I will perform among them. After that Pharaoh will let you go…” (Ex. 3:19,20) This sounds like talk of war doesn’t it? Politicians would call it ‘provoking jargon’. Athletes would call it ‘trash talk’. Military leaders would call it ‘saber rattling’. God calls it ‘truth’! The raw truth is this: a small group of Hebrew refugees had moved to Egypt during a famine 400 years before. They settled temporarily in the best part of the land of Egypt and allowed themselves to be so much enamored by life in Egypt, that they never returned to their homeland.
Decades turned to centuries and now there are nearly 1 million of them and they are the slave workforce of the Pharaoh building huge construction projects in Egypt. They were vital to the economy and society of Egypt. Nothing could convince the Pharaoh to allow them to go free and leave his land...nothing except a force, a power, much stronger than Egypt. But the Pharaoh knew there was no power on earth stronger than Egypt, and he was the supreme leader of Egypt, so no threatening words from Moses or anyone else could do anything other than irritate Pharaoh. Thus the new law… bricks to be made without provided straw, and no lessening of the quota! Get back to work and forget any ideas of liberty and deliverance.
Moses was frustrated, disappointed, confused and probably frightened. He really thought he was helping by coming to the slaves with this great news of his burning bush encounter with God. But things had ‘backfired’ and Moses had NO answers for their questions, and no suggestions to help them in their ever worsening bondage. Moses desperately wanted God to explain WHY things had ‘backfired’ and what God was going to do to fix this mess. So in my mind, I see Moses out there in the desert, alone with God, having dumped his frustration out, and now waiting for God’s answer… I wonder if God was silent for a while, just letting Moses’ blood pressure rise a bit?
Finally God spoke: “Now you will see what I will do to Pharaoh. Because of My mighty hand, he will let them go; because of My mighty hand Pharaoh will drive them out of his country.” (Ex. 6:1) I wonder if Moses thought, “Great, that’s what I wanted to hear. Now I assume this means right away, like tomorrow; You, O God, are going to do something so great, these poor slaves will be out of here before the end of this week, right?” Perhaps God was silent, so I can see Moses getting up to his feet and saying, “OK God, I’m going back to tell the leaders all is well, that you, O God, are going to unleash your mighty power and they’ll be free within a few short days. They should start packing their few belongings. Did I get this right?” No, the Scripture record doesn’t tell us that, but I sure can see it happening if I was Moses, what about you?
The Exodus record does say: “God also said to Moses, “I AM the LORD. I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob as God Almighty (El Shaddai), but by My name “The LORD” (YHWH) I did not make Myself known to them…” (Ex. 6:2,3) Now that’s quite a statement, isn’t it friends? What is God making clear to Moses here? I think God is saying… ‘I’m the same, eternal, Almighty God as I’ve always been but it’s a new day, with new earthly circumstances and it’s time for Me to make Myself known to you, to the enslaved Hebrews, and all humanity, in a new way. What I’m going to do now is beyond anything I’ve done before.’
God then said this to Moses, and watch the very clear “I WILL” statements here: “…say to the Israelites: ‘I am the LORD and I WILL bring you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians. I WILL free you from being slaves to them, and I WILL redeem you with an outstretched arm and with mighty acts of judgment. I WILL take you as My own people, and I WILL be your God. Then YOU WILL know that I am the LORD your God who brought you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians. And I WILL bring you to the land I swore with uplifted hand to give to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. I WILL give you this land as a possession, I am the LORD.” (Ex. 6:6-8) Now, let me ask you friends… Do you see all the “I WILL” promises from God to these discouraged people? If you put yourselves in those mud pits, with that hot sun baking down on you and the hopelessness that you are living, how would you respond if you heard this reported to you as God’s new message for you?
Here’s how those slaves responded: “Moses reported this to the Israelites, but they did not listen to him because of their discouragement and cruel bondage.” (Ex. 6:9) This my friends is the harsh, ugly reality of a huge number of people in our world today, in October 2021. Discouragement can so cloud our hearts that we find no reason for hope even if someone quotes some wonderful Scripture to us! Daily life for many people feels like living in bondage… for people living in war torn countries, or people living in hopeless poverty, or people living under the unpredictable rule of corrupt governments, or people living ensnared in addictions etc.
This is not new, my friends, it has been the harsh reality of our world since the days of Adam and Eve. God is all powerful, holy, loving, and sovereign, but you and I live life in a world under the control of sin, Satan and death, according to 1 John 5:19, and it feels like living in bondage to evil and pain sometimes, doesn’t it? This is why the story of Moses is so relevant to our day. Tomorrow, we’ll see how God responds to the discouragement of a people who feel trapped in despair. For today, I leave you with this question… do you trust God and where are you turning for hope in times of despair? What have you experienced in your life journey which gives you confidence to trust God’s promises even in difficult times?
No song today my friends, just time to reflect and talk with Jesus about this. I urge you to consider Psalm 40 and maybe write a short Psalm of your own describing your life experience with God’s help in times of despair.
Today’s Scripture is Exodus 6:1-9.
Choose below to read or listen.
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Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.
Have a comment or question about today’s chapter? I’m ready to hear from you, contact me here.
Pastor Doug Anderson 262.441.8785
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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