A rod that could turn into a serpent, and the ability to turn his hand leprous, and then make it whole again, by simply placing it inside his cloak. He gave him two miraculous tools to give him the confidence he needed. God didn’t let Moses hide behind this natural human fear. This excuse is a natural human instinct. Being vulnerable is scary-especially to a potentially hostile group. “Then Moses answered and said, “But suppose they will not believe me or listen to my voice suppose they say, ‘The LORD has not appeared to you.’ ” -Exodus 4:1 Moses didn’t need to know it all because it was never about him in the first place. To fulfill His promise to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. To be His voice to save the Israelites from the tyranny of Egyptian leadership. This call wasn’t about him-it was about God. He had every advantage to learn and cultivate his intellect. He must have been a well read, well educated man, and yet he questioned his abilities. “Then Moses said to God, “Indeed, when I come to the children of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they say to me, ‘What is His name?’ what shall I say to them?” -Exodus 3:13Īs a boy Moses was raised in Pharaoh’s household. God didn’t accept Moses’ first excuse, because it is the same excuse anyone could use. He sees our potential for good and how our broken vessels can fulfill His ultimate purpose for our own and/or someone else’s life. He sees past the man or woman standing before Him and sees eternity. God so often chooses the most unlikely candidates to fulfill His work and mission. When God called him to go back to the Egypt how could he forget? I imagine that in the intimacy of that encounter at the burning bush every sin felt fresh as it flushed through his mind. So content that perhaps most days he did not remember the sin that drove him to this wilderness (Exodus 2:12). Moses was content with his shepherd life in Midian. “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh, and that I should bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?” -Exodus 3:11 That encounter changed his life-and the lives of generations to follow-forever. Moses answered God’s call from the bush with the words “Here I am” but whether out of apprehension or humility, he quickly added five excuses for not immediately doing as God asked. But his was a long journey that began even before his pivotal encounter with God at a burning bush when he was 80 years old. I can almost feel the fresh water-droplet laden air and hear the sound of furious hoofs on the ground in the distance. I see the great patriarch holding up his hands as the Red Sea is subdued into two quivering walls of water flanking a dry path to freedom. When I think of Moses the first image that comes to mind is magnificent.
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