God told Moses His plan to save His people from their Assyrian captors. He has asked Moses to be His spokesperson. But Moses was afraid!
Exodus 4:1-9- And Moses answered and said, But, behold, they will not believe me, nor hearken unto my voice: for they will say, The LORD hath not appeared unto thee. And the LORD said unto him, What is that in thine hand? And he said, A rod. And he said, Cast it on the ground. And he cast it on the ground, and it became a serpent; and Moses fled from before it. And the LORD said unto Moses, Put forth thine hand, and take it by the tail. And he put forth his hand, and caught it, and it became a rod in his hand: That they may believe that the LORD God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath appeared unto thee. And the LORD said furthermore unto him, Put now thine hand into thy bosom. And he put his hand into his bosom: and when he took it out, behold, his hand was leprous as snow. And he said, Put thine hand into thy bosom again. And he put his hand into his bosom again; and plucked it out of his bosom, and, behold, it was turned again as his other flesh. And it shall come to pass, if they will not believe thee, neither hearken to the voice of the first sign, that they will believe the voice of the latter sign. And it shall come to pass, if they will not believe also these two signs, neither hearken unto thy voice, that thou shalt take of the water of the river, and pour it upon the dry land: and the water which thou takest out of the river shall become blood upon the dry land.
God showed Moses His power. He told Moses that these displays of His power would be signs that would let the Hebrews know that God had sent him.
But Moses was still afraid. Remember, Moses had killed and Egyptian and Pharaoh wanted to kill him for this crime.
Exodus 4:10-12- And Moses said unto the LORD, O my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither heretofore, nor since thou hast spoken unto thy servant: but I am slow of speech, and of a slow tongue. And the LORD said unto him, Who hath made man's mouth? or who maketh the dumb, or deaf, or the seeing, or the blind? have not I the LORD? Now therefore go, and I will be with thy mouth, and teach thee what thou shalt say.
Moses did what a lot of people do when they're afraid to obey God- he made up excuses! He told God, "I can't talk properly".
Do you think your excuses are good reasons not to obey God? Nope, they're not.
Exodus 4:14-15- And the anger of the LORD was kindled against Moses, and he said, Is not Aaron the Levite thy brother? I know that he can speak well. And also, behold, he cometh forth to meet thee: and when he seeth thee, he will be glad in his heart. And thou shalt speak unto him, and put words in his mouth: and I will be with thy mouth, and with his mouth, and will teach you what ye shall do.
God knew this was an excuse. He told Moses that He would send his brother, Aaron, to be with him and help him accomplish the Lord's plan.
Exodus 4:18-23- And Moses went and returned to Jethro his father in law, and said unto him, Let me go, I pray thee, and return unto my brethren which are in Egypt, and see whether they be yet alive. And Jethro said to Moses, Go in peace. And the LORD said unto Moses in Midian, Go, return into Egypt: for all the men are dead which sought thy life. And Moses took his wife and his sons, and set them upon an ass, and he returned to the land of Egypt: and Moses took the rod of God in his hand. And the LORD said unto Moses, When thou goest to return into Egypt, see that thou do all those wonders before Pharaoh, which I have put in thine hand: but I will harden his heart, that he shall not let the people go. And thou shalt say unto Pharaoh, Thus saith the LORD, Israel is my son, even my firstborn: And I say unto thee, Let my son go, that he may serve me: and if thou refuse to let him go, behold, I will slay thy son, even thy firstborn.
Moses decided that he had better obey God. He told his father-in-law that he needed to go. And, he packed up his family and headed for Egypt.
Moses had been down in Midian for 40 years! He knew what the Hebrew covenant with God was- all the male children had to be circumcised the 8th day after they were born.
Moses obeyed God with his firstborn, but he didn't think he'd be going back to the Hebrews. His wife didn't like the Hebrew custom, so Moses didn't circumcise his second son.
Do you think God accepts it when we only obey what we want to? Is it okay to do what God says only if you or your family agrees with it? Nope!
Exodus 4:24-26- And it came to pass by the way in the inn, that the LORD met him, and sought to kill him. Then Zipporah took a sharp stone, and cut off the foreskin of her son, and cast it at his feet, and said, Surely a bloody husband art thou to me. So he let him go: then she said, A bloody husband thou art, because of the circumcision.
God was making a point to Moses. If Moses couldn't obey in something simple, if Moses couldn't stand up to his wife and say "This is God's will and that's what we're going to do!", how could Moses stand up to Pharaoh?
Moses' wife knew why the Lord was doing this. She circumcised her son to save her husband's life. But, she had the wrong attitude about it.
Colossians 3:23- And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men;
When you do something that God asks you, you should do it happily. You should obey because you are obeying God. But Moses wife wasn't looking at it like she was obeying God. She was angry with her husband.
Did that mean that Moses didn't have to obey God? No. Just because his wife wasn't doing what God wanted didn't mean that Moses shouldn't do what God wanted.
Exodus 4:27- And the LORD said to Aaron, Go into the wilderness to meet Moses. And he went, and met him in the mount of God, and kissed him.
God told Moses that He still wanted Moses to carry out His plan. So, Moses and Aaron went to the elders of Israel.
Exodus 4:28-31- And Moses told Aaron all the words of the LORD who had sent him, and all the signs which he had commanded him. And Moses and Aaron went and gathered together all the elders of the children of Israel: And Aaron spake all the words which the LORD had spoken unto Moses, and did the signs in the sight of the people. And the people believed: and when they heard that the LORD had visited the children of Israel, and that he had looked upon their affliction, then they bowed their heads and worshipped.
