Lately I’ve been reading through the Old Testament, something I can honestly say I’ve never done before. And naturally, when you’ve never done something you start with the beginning. So I started where everything began, in Genesis. Genesis was good and I enjoyed it, it was cool to read about Abraham and Joseph, but it was Exodus that really spoke to me. It was Exodus that I couldn’t put down, more specifically the story of Moses.
I know the story of Moses, I’ve grown up in church learning about the plagues and the crossing of the Red Sea. I knew that God spoke through a burning bush and that God used Moses in incredible ways. But through this story that I have grown up hearing, God reminded me of some things.
1. Be patient. God’s timing is perfect.
Moses had to go back 10 different times to Pharaoh before he agreed to let the Israelites go because God had hardened his heart. But even then God wasn’t done because Pharaoh’s heart was hardened yet again and he sent his army to chase them down and bring them back to Egypt. It looked as if God had left them. He delivered them from the hands of Pharaoh only to have him catch up to them as they’re trapped on the banks of the Red Sea with nowhere to go. But in reality, that was what God had planned. He hardened Pharaoh’s heart so that he would chase them down so that His glory could be shown throughout the land when the Israelites crossed through the sea on dry ground and the Egyptians were swept away when the walls of water came crashing down. He knew what he was doing.
So often when things go wrong or we don’t get an answer to our prayers, we freak out and question whether or not God is really there and whether or not he really knows what he is doing. But he does, he always does. He has a plan, we just need to be patient and wait because God never deserts us and, in His timing, we will get that answer or the help that we need.
2. God always has a reason for what he does. His plans are perfect.
It seems crazy to think that God would harden someone’s heart, but that is exactly what he did. And why did Moses have to go back so many different times? Why did God allow Pharaoh to work the Israelites harder after Moses went the first time to tell him to let his people go? The Israelites were content in slavery. They were okay with being pushed around and living under the rule of Pharaoh as his slaves, but that is not what God desired for his people. So to change that, he had to harden the heart of Pharaoh so that their work would become increasingly worse and their state of contentment would change. The Israelites were comfortable in slavery, and it’s when we become comfortable with our surroundings that the devil has a foothold on us because it can become hard to trust that God has something better for us. And as for the continuous hardening of Pharaoh’s heart that caused Moses to have to go back 10 times, God wanted his glory to be known through the nations.
The first things that God did, Pharaoh’s magicians could imitate. They were able to turn their staffs into snakes (even though Aaron’s staff ate the magician’s staffs showing that the power of God is greater than any power here on earth), they turned water into blood, and they were able to bring frogs from the land of Egypt. But after the frogs, they lacked the ability to imitate God. Pharaoh’s magicians said in Exodus 8:19 after God sent the plague of gnats that “this is the finger of God.” God’s glory was being spread throughout the nation just as God had planned.
3. God uses your weaknesses. When you are weak, God’s glory shines through making you strong: 2 Corinthians 12:9-10
Moses had a stuttering problem. He was afraid of public speaking and thought that he was unfit to go to Pharaoh as God’s representative to tell him to let the Israelites go.
“O Lord, I’m not very good with words. I never have been, and I’m not now, even though you have spoken to me. I get tongue-tied, and my words get tangled.”
But God still chose him. God knew that he wasn’t a great speaker. God knew that he was afraid and unable to speak well on him own, but God told him that with his help anything is possible.
“Who makes a person’s mouth? Who decides whether people speak or do not speak, hear or do not hear, see or do not see? Is it not I, the Lord? Now go! I will be with you as you speak, and I will instruct you in what to say.”
4. We all have different gifts to use together to glorify God.
Moses was unable to speak in front of people, and despite all that God had to say he was still afraid. He was not gifted with speech, but he was in tune with what God was saying. He was gifted with the ability to skillfully communicate with the Lord. Aaron, his brother, on the other hand was a gifted speaker. So God paired the two together to accomplish this task of releasing the Israelites from the Egyptians. Moses would communicate with God on behalf of the Israelites and Aaron would communicate whatever it is that God said to Moses.
We are all part of the Body of Christ and God has gifted us each with different gifts to be used together to accomplish the will of God. No gift is viewed as less in the eyes of God, they are all equally important and are not meant to be kept for ourselves.
God has been doing some cool things here in Lesotho. It’s hard to believe that our time here is half over, but God has been moving and I can’t wait to see the ways he continues to move in our last month here and as we transition into Cambodia.
