Exodus 5:22-23 - 6:1-12

God Promises Moses the Deliverance

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5:22 Then Moses returned to the LORD and said, “O Lord, why have You brought harm to this people? Why did You ever send me?

 

23 Ever since I came to Pharaoh to speak in Your name, he has done harm to this people, and You have not delivered Your people at all.”

 

Exodus Chapter 6

1 Then the LORD said to Moses, “Now you shall see what I will do to Pharaoh; for under compulsion he will let them go, and under compulsion he will drive them out of his land.”

2 God spoke further to Moses and said to him, “I am the LORD;

3 and I appeared to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, as God Almighty, but by My name, LORD, I did not make Myself known to them.

4 I also established My covenant with them, to give them the land of Canaan, the land in which they sojourned.

5 Furthermore I have heard the groaning of the sons of Israel, because the Egyptians are holding them in bondage, and I have remembered My covenant.

6 Say, therefore, to the sons of Israel, ‘I am the LORD, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will deliver you from their bondage. I will also redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great judgments.

7 Then I will take you for My people, and I will be your God; and you shall know that I am the LORD your God, who brought you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians.

8 I will bring you to the land which I swore to give to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and I will give it to you for a possession; I am the LORD.’”

9 So Moses spoke thus to the sons of Israel, but they did not listen to Moses on account of their despondency and cruel bondage.

10 Now the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,

11 “Go, tell Pharaoh king of Egypt to let the sons of Israel go out of his land.”

12 But Moses spoke before the LORD, saying, “Behold, the sons of Israel have not listened to me; how then will Pharaoh listen to me, for I am unskilled in speech?”

Moses and Patience

Hurry God!

The people of Israel were not freed when Moses went to Pharaoh the first time - nor the second or third. In fact, more work was inflicted on the people when Pharaoh declared that they were to make bricks without straw so the sons of Israel were not impressed with Moses' performance. They were ready to go back to the old routine of slavery because it was "comfortable".

God promised Moses that he would lead the people from bondage and the understanding was now according to Moses. God was working this entire time but the suffering still continued. Moses was in fact urging God to hurry because his first effort failed in his eyes.

Patience

Are we similar to Moses? Do we expect God to answer every prayer today, or even this very moment? Yes, I have done this many times before - said a prayer for a situation and then expected immediate results.

God's Plan

I'm sure God knew that Pharaoh would not tremble with fear and dismiss a complete tribe on a threat from a God he did not know or understand. You and I cannot possibly know what is in the heart of God when he intervenes in a major situation. Maybe he wanted the Israelites and Moses to have more patience. Maybe he wanted Pharaoh to recognize that he was God - the only God. There are hundreds of other scenarios we could uncover but the fact remains that God knew exactly what he was doing - and the outcome.

What We Should Do

When faced with major challenges in our lives there are some examples used in the study Bible which might be useful.

- Don't dwell on the hardship - If we take it as being in God's plan we can strengthen our patience when problems occur

- Honoring God - We can try to find a way to give God honor while he is working

- God with us - Although, as Moses thought, we might feel that God has left us, he is right there beside us

- God's plan - It's impossible for our human minds to comprehend the plan God has in store for us. We don' t see the overall picture the way he does so our best response is to trust him.

In Exodus, we can look ahead and see that God will deliver Israel from Egypt so it's easy for us to say "hold on" to the people of little hope. Now, let's do what the song says in our situation - "Hold on, our God will show up; and take us through the fire again."

Love in Christ

- Bob

Exodus 3:1-22 - Moses and the Burning Bush