Exodus Chapters 4-6 - August 19, 2009

4:1 & 10 - Excuses, excuses, excuses. (Whining) "They won't believe me." "I not good enough at speaking." Self-doubt is a destroyer of ministry opportunities. There are always excuses for why we aren't good enough for God to use...fortunately there is always a God of love and power that can overcome even my flawed self. It is not about trusting yourself, it is about trusting God.

4:24-26 - Anybody else confused? Out of nowhere, we are knocked upside the head with a really weird and confusion couple of verses. What is this talking about? Well, don't feel bad - this is one of the most confusing an difficult passages even for biblical scholars and Hebrew experts. There has been tons of research and guess work done and still no definitive answers. Here is what I would call a pretty safe guess. God is angry with Moses for failing to circumcise his sons and fulfill the Abrahamic covenant. So angry in fact that Moses believes he is going to die. When Zipporah circumcises her son, all is made right. So why the overreaction from God? Well, remember God is patient...when Moses was crying and whining earlier, God simply overcomes his excuses and encourages him to move forward. What is it about the circumcision? Well, it is a sign of the covenant between God and His people - it is a really big deal! And because Zipporah knows what to do, that means Moses has explained to her what circumcision is and why the Hebrew people do it (I don't think her first random inclination would be, "Hey why don't I cut off my son's foreskin with a flint knife," - she had to know about it). So if Moses is telling his wife about it...he knows how important the covenant practice is and yet he still has not circumcised his son. That's a pretty big deal. Hope that helps.

5:7 - Sometimes before things get better, they get a lot harder. Standing up against evil and standing up for what is right is rarely, if ever, easy.

5:21 - Thus starts the long history of whining for the Israelite people. Wait til' you see their long list of whiny behavior in the book of Exodus - it is incredible. They beg God for help and then the scoff at His methods. We would never do anything like that would we? They don't understand that if Pharaoh just let them go at first...he would change his mind and have them all hunted down. God had to set up events by hardening Pharaoh's heart and crushing their economy, so that they would never again threaten God's people.

6:2 - Moses is a perfect fit for leading these people. God tells Moses that he is the first person He has ever shared His name with. Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were never told that God is the great I AM. Moses has been privileged to lead God's people...to know God's name...to carry on the covenant, and how does he respond? But the people won't listen to me...why would Pharaoh listen to me. More whining and lack of trust - like I said, perfect fit. In Moses' defense...he always does what God asks in the end.