FOLLOW GOD'S TIMING |
| It is impossible for anyone to know how Moses must have felt as he approached the land from which he had fled as a youth. Would they remember him and have him put to death? Would the people of Israel even accept him as their spokesman? How would it go when he and Aaron finally walked into the presence of Pharaoh with the Lord's command: Let my people go. Moses had to be fully persuaded that it was God, Himself, who commanded him to go to Egypt to set His people free. He would never have dared take that first step on his God given mission if he did not know this was true; he had been given an impossible mission that could only be completed by the presence and blessing of the Almighty One. It may be safe to say that Moses expected everything to go smoothly once he arrived on the scene because he was chosen by the Lord. After all, he was merely carrying out what the Almighty wanted to take place. There is a lesson we all have to learn as human beings: the lord knows that if everything went too easily for us, we would soon forget it was the Lord doing great things through us instead out our own abilities. It is only when we face the threat of failure, the feeling of our own impotence, that we are willing to learn what it means to surrender our will to the plans the All-Knowing One has for us. Things did not go too well for Moses when he first approached Pharaoh. He performed the tricks the Almighty told him to do in Pharaoh's presence only to discover Pharaoh's magicians could imitate him. What a let down that must have been! This was a moment when Moses saw even more clearly that this mission would not be accomplished by his own power or cleverness. Not only did his first attempt fail, but Pharaoh made things even worse for the people Moses came to help. His fear of rejection and feelings of impotence were realized when he heard the leaders of Israel say: Let the Lord look on you and judge, because you have made us abhorrent in the sight of Pharaoh and in the sight of his servants, to put a sword in their hand to kill us. Moses felt helpless and angry at God because his pride was wounded; we human beings are quick to think that the Lord of Lords is suppose to do things the way we would do them instead of realizing the Omniscient One has far greater plans. Moses sounded a lot like us when he spoke to God in Ex. 5:22-23: Lord, why have You brought trouble on this people? Why is it You have sent me? For since I came to Pharaoh to speak in Your name, he has done evil to this people; neither have You delivered Your people at all. He probably felt like saying, "See, I told you this would happen." Have you ever felt this way after you had prayed to God for something, and things did not go the way you planned? The truth is that Moses had to recognize how limited and weak he was before he would learn what it means to turn to God for guidance and power. Once this happened, the Almighty was ready to show Pharaoh, magicians, Moses, Aaron, and Israel what He could do. There were ten plagues that God used to make Pharaoh compliant, but we are not going to go into each plague in detail--it would take too long. Moses was told by God to turn the rivers into blood; that sounded pretty amazing. The magicians of Pharaoh brought some of their own water and turned it into blood. (They could not turn the rivers into blood since this had already happened.} This could be seen as a reason for Moses to finally give up trying to change Pharaoh's mind, but it only made Moses more dependant upon God as he sought further orders. Eventually, Moses was told to throw dust into the air, and the whole land of Egypt would be covered with lice except for Goshen where the Israelites lived. Now, the magicians finally faced the reality that they were mere human beings whose tricks could not match the power of the Omnipotent One, the God of Israel. They informed Pharaoh that this was the finger of God: they begged Pharaoh to send the people of Israel out of the land lets greater suffering occurred. You may want to read the Second Book of Moses, Exodus, chapters four through 12 to review all that took place before the Almighty brought Pharaoh to his knees. There can be no denial that it was God's word, God's power that finally demonstrated that Moses had been called to free Israel by faithfully doing and saying what the Almighty commanded. It is important to notice that the God of Israel was carrying out his promise to Abraham hundreds of years earlier to make Abraham the father of all nations. He would work through His First-born son, Israel, to fulfill this promise. We capture a glimpse of the Almighty's plan when He told Moses: "Pharaoh will not heed you, so that My wonders may be multiplied in the land of Egypt.” So Moses and Aaron did all these wonders before Pharaoh; and the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he did not let the children of Israel go out of his land. (Exodus 11:9-10) All those nations next to Egypt saw what the Omnipotent One was doing: they in turn told other nations about this wonder. No wonder the nations in the Promised Land trembled when Israel finally arrived to claim the land that the Lord promised to give them. If their God could crush Egypt, He would easily defeat them. The final plague was too much! God sent the Avenger, the angel of death, to take the life of the first-born of the Egyptians while sparing the Israelites who followed His word. Now, the Almighty was ready to begin His lessons for His Chosen people. Prayer: Lord, help me to remember I am merely your child, loved and cherished by You. May I learn what it means to acknowledge You as King, submit to Your Word, and by your grace learn the meaning of obedience to the King of Kings. Amen. |
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