Category: Exodus

Exodus 4:14 Then the Lord’s anger burned against Moses and he said, “What about your brother, Aaron the Levite? I know he can speak well. He is already on his way to meet you, and he will be glad to see you.

I cannot read today’s verses without thinking about Exodus 32 and Aaron readily agreeing to make a golden calf for the Israelites because Moses has been on the mountain for so long and they are afraid he isn’t coming back. If Moses had just agreed to do what God was calling him to do in these verses, Aaron wouldn’t have been with him in verse 32 and the golden calf and broken commandments wouldn’t have happened.

Exodus 4:15 You shall speak to him and put words in his mouth; I will help both of you speak and will teach you what to do.

Imagine my surprise when I read today’s verses and realized that it was God who suggested Aaron go with Moses to speak for him. I thought Moses suggested it. So what does that mean for Exodus 32? God knows all. It’s not like He didn’t realize what would happen. But would Moses have budged now if not for the suggestion of Aaron accompanying him?

Exodus 4:16 He will speak to the people for you, and it will be as if he were your mouth and as if you were God to him.

Lord, I love digging into Your word, seeing and pondering the mysteries. I don’t think my curiosity is for naught. Help me to look and see, to listen and hear, to understand where You need my curiosity to take me. I’m earnestly seeking You, Lord. Help me to understand. Amen.

Exodus 4:17 But take this staff in your hand so you can perform the signs with it.”

Have a blessed day.

Exodus 4:10 Moses said to the Lord, “Pardon your servant, Lord. I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since you have spoken to your servant. I am slow of speech and tongue.”

Props to Moses for a well thought out argument, but at what point does he go too far? And am I not guilty of the same thing when I grouch and grumble where God has planted me instead of buckling down and doing the work sans griping?

Exodus 4:11 The Lord said to him, “Who gave human beings their mouths? Who makes them deaf or mute? Who gives them sight or makes them blind? Is it not I, the Lord?

BibleHub.com says of verse 13, “Moses means that he will undertake the task if God insists; but that God would do far better to send another.” I would say that Moses has a lot of nerve, but don’t I do the same thing when I grumble? When I lay my problems at His feet and then pick them right back up to worry and fret over them again?

Exodus 4:12 Now go; I will help you speak and will teach you what to say.”

Lord, You are the God of all creation, Creator of heaven and earth. Forgive me when I grumble and complain, when I argue and fret. I don’t want to grumble. I don’t want to worry. You don’t want that for me either. Help me, Jesus. Amen.

Exodus 4:13 But Moses said, “Pardon your servant, Lord. Please send someone else.”

Have a blessed day.

Exodus 4:1 Moses answered, “What if they do not believe me or listen to me and say, ‘The Lord did not appear to you’?”

I read today’s exchange from the perspective of a parent and think, God wins the “patient parent” award for this one, but the irony of my thinking that is the fact that *I* was the “why” kid. “But why? But what if? But how?” Interestingly, I’ve always assumed it was Moses’s fear that led him here, to these questions, but what if it’s his curiosity? The same curiosity that led him to investigate the burning bush? How does that change things?

Exodus 4:2 Then the Lord said to him, “What is that in your hand?” “A staff,” he replied.

God planted that curiosity in Moses. Without it, Moses would have simply seen the burning bush in the distance and gone on about his business. Could Moses asking these questions, which seems like Moses being afraid and trying to weasel out of God’s plan, be serving some other purpose? If so, what? To what end? How does that change things?

Exodus 4:3 The Lord said, “Throw it on the ground.” Moses threw it on the ground and it became a snake, and he ran from it.

Lord, I have always struggled with my curiosity, its source, its purpose, its use. I truly believe that You made me a curious soul. I truly believe that You can use my curiosity for my good and Your glory. Help my curiosity to be eternally good and useful for You and not an obstacle for what You are calling me to do for You. Help my curiosity to change things for you. Amen.

Exodus 4:4 Then the Lord said to him, “Reach out your hand and take it by the tail.” So Moses reached out and took hold of the snake and it turned back into a staff in his hand.

Have a blessed day.

God is talking to Moses, telling him exactly what he needs to say to the Israelites so that they will understand and believe that He is who He says and does what He promises. The unspoken subtext is: “You, Moses, are my hands, feet, and voice to the Israelites. Here is exactly what you need to say.”

Exodus 3:15b “This is my name forever, the name you shall call me from generation to generation.

It seems pretty cut and dried with little room for doubt….However, Moses, like me, is fleshly and human. He does doubt. He does fear. He does question. He allows God to use him anyway… eventually, but he puts obstacles in his own path because of his doubts.

Exodus 3:16 “Go, assemble the elders of Israel and say to them, ‘The Lord, the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob—appeared to me and said: I have watched over you and have seen what has been done to you in Egypt.

Lord, You are the God of all creation. I am Your hands and feet and voice to the world. Help me not to doubt and fear. Help me not to put obstacles in my own path. Help me to say, “Here I am, Lord” and to listen and obey Your word, Your will. Amen.

Exodus 3:17 And I have promised to bring you up out of your misery in Egypt into the land of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites—a land flowing with milk and honey.’

Have a blessed day.

Exodus 3:11 But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?”

At the beginning of this chapter, Moses was doing all the right things—he indulged his curiosity about the burning bush, when God called his name, he answered, “Here I am.” But now he seems to be faltering a bit—“But what about this? Or this? Or this?”

Exodus 3:12 And God said, “I will be with you. And this will be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you will worship God on this mountain.”

Yet even these actions I understand. The need to understand and plan for potential scenarios is real. I do that, too. It makes me wonder how many times I have done this exact same thing with God, how many times has He called me that I’ve spent an inordinate amount of time planning for contingencies that God has already accounted for?

Exodus 3:13 Moses said to God, “Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ Then what shall I tell them?”

Lord, When I see Moses questioning You, I think, “What in the world is up with him?!?” But I know that I am guilty of the exact same behavior—hearing your call, but needing to talk through a thousand different scenarios because of my fear. Thank You for understanding my needs.  Forgive me for my fear. Help me to answer Your call in a way that is pleasing to You. Amen.

Exodus 3:14 God said to Moses, “I am who I am. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I am has sent me to you.’ ”

Have a blessed day.