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- What attributes of God’s character does this passage reveal?
- How does the passage point to Jesus?
- How should the truth of this passage change me?
- How do the events of today’s reading help you better understand the grand narrative of Scripture?
Ex. 4
I’m trying to put myself in Moses’ shoes here. A strange sight roused his curiosity. When he went to investigate, he found himself talking with God. I’m thinking curiosity just turned to something far deeper. What I see from there is a struggle between fear and faith. When God first spoke, “Moses hid his face because he was afraid to look at God.” (Ex. 3:6b). But then God gave him a mission, and it seems Moses’ fear of the mission exceeded his fear of God because he argued. Even in his resistance, however, Moses was trying to trust. When his staff became a snake, he ran from it – fear. Yet when God told him to grab the snake by the tail, Moses obeyed – faith. It took God’s angrily calling in his brother for Moses to finally put his fears back in proper order.
It’s easy to sit on the sidelines and wonder why Moses argued with God. Why didn’t he let his fear of God feed his faith enough to overcome fear of his mission? In all honesty, though, I doubt I would have fared any better. Maybe even worse. So instead of judging I would do well to try to learn from Moses’ experience. I need to learn that fear of God, and hence obedience to Him, trumps all else. There is nothing to fear but God Himself. I also need to learn that sometimes all it takes for someone to overcome their fear is for someone else to come alongside them. So maybe when I see others grappling with their misplaced fears I can drop my judgment of them as well and be the one to come alongside them for support.
Ex. 5-6
When Moses and Aaron first went to Pharaoh, He said to them, “Who is the LORD, that I should obey Him and let Israel go? I do not know the LORD and I will not let Israel go.” (Ex. 5:1b). That tells the story right there. As God explained to Moses after this, He made Himself partially known to a small subset of people. He then used those people to make Himself a little more known to the rest of the world. He introduced Himself to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob by giving them a promise and laying out a plan for their future. So again, He used the promise of that plan to reveal a greater promise of a greater plan – a plan for the redemption of all creation.
By the time God finally freed Israel from Egypt’s clutches, I guarantee that Pharaoh and all the surrounding nations could no longer say, “Who is the LORD?”. That’s important because God’s plan has always been to save not just Israel, but the entire world. And how can He save a world that doesn’t know Him? Thus, much of what God does throughout time is to make Himself known. At the start, He did this by doing impossible things in impossible situations through that small subset of people. Then He revealed Himself to us in the person of Jesus Christ. And now He makes Himself known to the world through a new subset of people – those whose hearts have been impossibly filled with His very presence.
One thing to remember in all of this is that light shines brightest in the darkest dark. God cannot make Himself truly known on the easy road. Thus, He reveals Himself through the barren womb, the fiery furnace, the lion’s den, the lame and impoverished; through injustice, hard hearts, and burdensome situations. He reveals Himself best when things are at their worst. So when we seek to obey God and get what the Israelites got – more work – we need to remember. Then maybe the excitement of knowing that God is getting ready to work will carry us through the hard parts.