Exodus 6-You will be My people and I will be your God

Moses, deeply troubled, sought solace in consultation with God. The children of Israel refused to believe  the message that God had seen their distress and planned to deliver them from the tyranny of Pharaoh.  At first excited by the news, they had expected instant deliverance, which when it did not materialise, resulted in utter despair. They began to rationalise and blamed Moses and Aaron for  making their situation worse. They were content to be Pharaoh’s “servants”, yet God declared that they were  His “people” (Ex 5:1, Ex 5:15-16).

Neither Moses, nor the children of Israel knew the time-frame of the plan that God had set in motion. He planned not only to deliver Israel from Egypt, but also to answer Pharaoh’s defiance and   arrogance, showcasing His glory to all Egypt. Moses and Aaron had approached Pharaoh in Ex 5:1with a “Thus saith the LORD.”   Pharaoh regarded himself as the supreme authority, for he        responded in Ex 5:10 with a “Thus saith Pharaoh” when denying the Israelites straw to make bricks. His arrogant cry in Exodus 5:2 was as follows: “Who is the LORD, that I should obey his voice and let Israel go? I do not know the LORD and, moreover, I will not let Israel go.”

God was about to answer Pharaoh’s arrogance. In Ex 6, He declares  “I am the LORD.” Neither the Israelites, nor the Egyptians knew the significance of His Name. The Patriarchs knew it at face value, but it’s significance they did not appreciate. God had revealed Himself to them as a God of Promise, a God of Covenant. Now, God planned to make it personal. His personal Name, Yahweh (translated LORD) was mentioned in Gen 2:4 for the first time, after the creation was completed; before then He was referred to just as “God”. God was about to reveal Himself to His people as the God of completion, the God of momentum, the God of deliverance, the God who doesn’t just make promises but keeps them! As for Pharaoh,  he would know the supremacy of God when he would personally be forced to let Israel go because of God’s great acts of judgment on Egypt (Ex 6:1-2).

God had a reason for extending his timeline of deliverance. It was in grace to the Egyptians that He did so, so that they would truly also get the opportunity to know Him. God desires that all people would know Him and experience the joy of being His people. He does not turn away anyone who chooses to come to Him. God wants to be your God, and you to be His people. Israel was to be a showcase to the nations, that they would leave behind their idols and follow the true God (Is 49:6).

Today, God through Jesus Christ His Son, is still calling in Matt 11:28: “Come to Me, all you who are heavy laden and I will give you rest.” God wants to show you personally what His Name means. He wants you to be free from the things that enslave you.  He desires to grant you eternal life and a new name. People may have labeled you and written you off, but God wants to claim you as His own. Satan wants to keep you his slave; God wants to make you His son/daughter. It’s your decision.

Will you answer God’s call today? (Rev 21:7, Rev 2:17).

Exodus-The Reluctant Leader

Exodus 2 ended with Moses  in exile in the Midianite desert. By his show of sympathy to his enslaved nation, he had traded his lofty place in the palace of Pharoah with  its attendant pomp and privileges to become a lowly shepherd in the deserts of Midian. He could have chosen to live a sheltered life of ease in the palace of Pharoah, but he chose instead to remain loyal to his people. God honoured Moses’ loyalty by choosing to use him as an important agent in His plan of deliverance for the embattled nation of Israel.

With his detailed knowledge of the harsh desert terrain, Moses would be the ideal candidate for God to use to lead His people out of the land of Egypt. God sought to attract his attention by appearing in a flame of fire in the midst of a bush. The bush burned, but was not consumed and Moses, with great curiosity, turned aside to examine it. (Ex 3:1-3)

The Lord conversed with Moses from the burning bush, ordering him to remove his shoes for he was standing on holy ground. It was God’s Presence that made the ground holy for only God has the ability to sanctify and make anything holy.  God introduced Himself as the “God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob”, divulging to Moses His great plan of deliverance for the Israelites which He had aforetime shown in vision to Abraham in Gen 15. He then commanded Moses to go to Pharoah to speak on behalf of His beloved people.

Moses was a shepherd in the desert. He had no desire to be a leader. The responsibility seemed too great and he counted himself  unworthy to be chosen by God for such a task. Little did he realize that it was God, the omniscient and all-powerful One, who was choosing him and God does not make mistakes. God comforted Moses with a promise that both he and the people he would lead would know that he was sent by God once they were out of Egypt worshiping God on Mt Horeb. Moses was not content to believe, despite God disclosing to him the entire plan of deliverance, including its victorious culmination. “What will the people say?”, he asked God. “They will not believe me.” God demonstrated to Moses the signs that He would use to cause the Israelites to believe his words. At the Lord’s command, Moses threw down his rod and it became a serpent and when he picked it up, it became a rod again. At God ‘s command, Moses’  hand became white with leprosy and then whole again. Moses was still afraid.

He complained to God, citing his speech impediment as a problem which would render this a “mission impossible”. Little did he realize that he was talking with the Supreme Creator of the Universe, the one who knew him intimately before he had even been born. God knew Moses’ limitations and still called him into His service despite them. Is God calling you into His service today? Remember, he does not call the equipped but he always equips those He calls!

Scripture refs: Exodus 3:1-22, Exodus 4:1-13