Exodus-Is this really deliverance?

The Israelites were standing on the brink of  deliverance, or so Moses thought. God had promised to deliver them from Egyptian slavery. The message of impending deliverance had been favourably received by the Israelites and an air of expectancy  enveloped the Israelite camp.

In the excitement of it all, Moses and Aaron had forgotten that God had already predicted Pharaoh's reaction in Ex 4:21. Pharaoh would not let the people leave, not until a great display of God’s power would force him to drive them from his land.

Exodus 5:1 calls God the “God of Israel”. He was the God of Israel (formerly Jacob), but now He identifies Himself as the God of Israel, a nation of slaves. Pharaoh's response to Moses and Aaron’s entreaty is one of sheer arrogance. “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.” As far as Pharaoh was concerned, he was the  ruling monarch in Egypt and his peopled revered and worshipped him as the son of god. Why should he submit to a god of a slave nation? After all, if  their God was so powerful, why did He let them become slaves in the first place? Pharaoh made the mistake of identifying Israel with their God. Israel may have been weak, broken down by slavery, but their God remained strong. Pharaoh had forgotten that the reason for their slavery was precisely because their God had blessed and multiplied them exceedingly!

Pharaoh's response to the request for release of the people of Israel was to increase their workload and refuse them assistance to gather supplies to meet their daily quotas.  They were no longer given straw to make bricks, but were dispersed across Egypt to look for their own straw with no commensurate reduction in their work quotas. The leaders of Israel were put to a test; their faith in God was tried and they were found wanting.  The magnificent cities in Egypt were silent testimonies that the Israelites were not lazy; they were being falsely accused by Pharaoh as an excuse for him to increase the intensity of their persecution.  Even Moses and Aaron were told harshly to “go back to work”.

The faith of the Israelite leaders took strain under  Egyptian abuse and they accused Moses and Aaron of “making them stink in the sight of Pharaoh.” Little did they realize that they had always been so in the sight of Pharaoh. It was easy to look with nostalgia at the past, calling it the “good old days” but they were ever really that good?

Deeply troubled, Moses went to God and questioned the reason for His sending him to Pharaoh. The disappointments in his commission did not drive him away from God, but rather made him run to Him for answers and solace.  In our day, there is precious little time to worship God. If we don’t make time, we  often find ourselves overwhelmed by work and the cares of this world, having neglected our daily devotions. As knowledge is increasing, people are scurrying to and fro, just as the prophet Daniel predicted.  Do not let satan use work, cares and the burdens of this life to distract you from worshipping God. It was his method of choice in Exodus, and it is now too. Let the Word of God sink into your heart and don’t let distractions choke it out of you. Deliverance may not be easy, but it is sure because God has promised it.

Scripture refs: Exodus 5, Luke 8:14

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