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there should have been no question con cerning his doing—or his ability to do— what the Lord commanded. We give the lie to our claim of union with Christ when we refuse to follow His directions. III. I mpertinence O vercome (4:13-16) The last objection which Moses raised stirred the Lord’s wrath (vs. 13, 14). The literal rendering gives light concerning the length to which fear had driven Moses. He did not say exactly, “ Send . . . by the hand . . . thou wilt send,” but, in effect, “ Send by the hand of him whom thou shouldest send.” It was as much as to say that the Lord did not know what He was doing in sending Moses, and hence He had better take the advice which Moses was offering. God, in grace, would bear with Moses’ hesitancy or timidity, but He could not allow a reflection to be cast upon the divine wisdom of His choice. Actually, all the objections of Moses revealed but one thing—unbelief in God. Still God was patient and He dealt graciously with Moses, albeit with a sort of judgment upon him (vs. 15, 16). Mind ful of Moses’ plea, God would engage Aaron, Moses’ brother, to assist him. Fol lowing this plan, the Lord would speak to Moses, and Moses would speak to Aaron, and Aaron would speak to the people. Moses, therefore, gained nothing by this arrangement except the possession of a hu man prop to lean upon, whereas he might have leaned directly upon the I AM . Na ture always desires to tee something to lean on, to trust in, to appeal to. History re veals that Aaron was not much of a prop after all, and was frequently a source of added difficulty to Moses. IV. F ear O vercome (5:1) Moses and Aaron told the children of Israel what God had said. They went also to Pharaoh and gave him God’s message. The record' indicates that, at that time, all hesitancy and fearfulness and dread of the king had been removed from Moses. From a human viewpoint, it was the height of boldness for this man to approach Pharaoh. But Moses and Aaron did ap proach him and made a demand which must have seemed both foolish and im pudent in the sight of the king. Egypt reverenced many gods. But here were two brothers of a despised race, Moses and Aaron, demanding in the name o f “the Lord God of Israel,” that the peo ple of Israel be allowed to depart out of the land. It was a demand which was in sulting both to the king and to his gods. It was like a challenge flung out to all the gods of Egypt by the God of Israel. The fact that Moses could thus stand be fore Pharaoh and fulfill God’s commission reveals that the patience of God had won, and that Moses, delivered from all his fears, had been made ready to do all the bidding of God. From that day forward, Moses never faltered, but grew in spiritual stature continually. Thus, in patience and with encouragement, God deals with all His servants. May we yield quickly to the will of the great I AM.
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Points and Problems God’s dealings with Moses set forth a 'Wonderful exhibition of the divine patience in the face of man’s obstinate unbelief. The man Moses is simply full of objections to God’s call. No less than five times he man ages to bring forth a reason for not im mediately doing what God has commanded. 1. Moses asks the question, “ Who am I f ” (Ex. 3:11), saying, in effect, “The task is beyond the power of such a man as I.” To this admission of insufficiency, God replies: “I will be with thee” (v. 12). The en abling presence of God is always the an swer to human insufficiency. This promise of God should end the matter, but Moses has more to say. 2. He asks: “ What shall I sayf” (v. 13). In answer to this, God very patiently re hearses in advance the very words Moses is to speak, and the very Name of God in which he is to deliver his message. So this problem is solved. But Moses has still fur ther objections. 3. The next one is: “Behold, they will not believe me" (4:1). God having solved the problem of his sufficiency, and of his message, Moses now begins to worry about the results. T o this objection, God replies with two great miracles, the rod turned into a serpent, and the leprous hand. Further more, He promises that if these are not suf ficient, others will be forthcoming (4:9). The point is, I think, that a God who can turn rods into serpents can also turn un belief into faith. And we today should not forget that the conversion of unbelievers is a small task for a God who can raise His Son from the dead. 4.. Up to this point, it seems to me, Moses has been dealing with real objections, but now he descends to trivialities. “O my Lord,” he argues, “ I am not eloquent. . . but I am slow of speech" (4:10). The an swer is a reminder that the God who made man’s mouth can also make it speak. And thus God patiently promises: “ I will be with thy mouth." Of course all this was included in the original promise, “ I will be with thee,” but God is long-suffering with us, willing to repeat His promises in detail. 5. The fifth and last word from Moses is: “Send, I pray thee, by the hand of him whom thou wilt send" (4:13). On the face of it, this does not look like an objection, but something evidently was wrong with it, for the next verse declares that “the anger of the Lord was kindled against Moses.” After all that God had said in His patience, Moses should have been say ing, “Here am I ; send me." Instead, the Hebrew text seems to indicate something like this: “Well, if you insist, send anybody you like!” Even this rather irreverent speech did not result in the total rejection of Moses, as we might have expected, although it did lose for him a part of the high privilege to which God had called. How infinitely patient God is with His unbelieving serv ants! Golden Text Illustration P salm 29:11 A certain man was very fond of the
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