No "Buts"

“So now, go.  I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people out of Egypt.”  Exodus 3:8

The instructions were barely out of God’s mouth before Moses starting stammering excuses. “But who am I?”  “But suppose they say…”  “But what if they won’t…?”   “But I’m not good at…”

In light of what he had heard—“Go to the most powerful man in the world and lead his free labor force out the country,”—Moses’ words might seem to hold weight, but they don’t.  Why?  Because Moses was focused on what was said and not on Who said it.

Yes, the order was overwhelming and the instruction impossible for a mere mortal, and that’s exactly where Moses was looking—in and out instead of up.  “But who am I?”  “But suppose they…” “But I’m not good at…”  “But what if they…?” Moses couldn’t see past his own weakness to God’s strength, and he didn’t count God’s will more compelling than man’s words.  He was acting as though success depended on himself, but such was not so.

What Moses considered legitimate reasons God deemed lame excuses and diffused all the paltry protests with divine declarations.  “But Moses said to God, ‘Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?’  And God said, ‘I will be with you’”(Ex 3:11-12).  In other words, “Who you are and what others say is irrelevant as long as I am, and ‘I AM,’ the self-existent one, who will be present, who will put Pharaoh in his place, plunder his country, and show my power in mighty ways.”

It’s not wrong to feel weak and it’s not bad to be honest about our own abilities, but when God says so we can know He will provide the strength, stamina, and skill it takes to carry out His command.  “For it is God who works in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him”(Phil 2:13).  God’s purpose is way bigger than our protests.  We will never tell Him anything He doesn’t know, but He wants teach us much we need to learn.  

When God give instructions, obey.

With no “Buts…”

Full of Glory

“When the Lord saw that he had gone over to look, God called to him from within the bush, ‘Moses, Moses!’”  Exodus 3:5

For four decades, life for Moses seemed much the same—sheep, sheep, and more sheep, but then one day he went to the far side and found the Lord.  “Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the far side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God”(Ex 3:1) . Moses wasn’t looking for the divine, but when the sight of a burning bush caught his eye, God caught his ear.  “When the Lord saw that he had gone over to look, God called to him from within the bush, ‘Moses, Moses!’”(Ex 3:5). 

“I’m right here,” Moses replied, but God didn’t need to know where Moses was (He was well aware of such already); He wanted Moses to know who He was and what He was about to do.  “I am the God of your fathers.  I have seen the misery of my people. I have heard their cries.  I am concerned, and I have come to down to rescue them”(Ex 3:6-9).  

Those few short statements pretty much sum up the astounding theology and glorious truth of the gospel.  God is “I AM” – the One who WAS, who IS, and who WILL BE everything and anything He desires to be.  Because He is, we are, and because He is faithful, we can have faith. He is the God who made a covenant with Abraham, with Moses, and with us, and He is the God who always keeps His promises.  

This never-failing, all-powerful God also cares.  He sees our misery though we often try to mask our pain.  He hears our cries even when others never notice our tears.  And He is concerned—not just with a fleeting feeling of compassion but with the compelling commitment of incarnation.

For He has come down to our rescue!!    The infant’s cry from Bethlehem’s stable announced His arrival in our midst to make us His own.  “He has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves”(Col 1:13). 

We’ve all been to the far side of the wilderness, but we’ve never been out of reach of the God who calls us close, reveals who He is, and comes to our rescue.  

Never hesitate to look closer at a burning bush. 

You might just find it’s full of glory.

Down or Up

“Moses got up and came to their rescue and watered their flock.”  Exodus 2:17

Moses may have been sitting down, but injustice made him stand back up.  

Tired from his trip, he was resting by a well in Midian when seven sisters showed up to water their sheep.  About the time they arrived, some bullies “came along and drove them away, but Moses got up and came to their rescue and watered their flock”(Ex 2:17).

Their early return home prompted questions from dad, who was appalled they had left the hero behind and sent them back with an invite for supper.  The meal turned into a marriage and a means of employment.  “Moses agreed to stay with the man, who gave his daughter Zipporah to Moses in marriage”(Ex 2:22).   

What gifts of grace!  Moses was on the run because of his wrong, but God was right there with him—protecting, providing, and preparing.  He had made it safely to Midian, a land somewhere east of Egypt.  We don’t know how many mean men harassed the seven sisters at the well, but Moses was only one and he won!  

Moses needed supper, a spouse, and a job, and in that one encounter, God gave him all three.  He now had something to do and someone to love.  

And God was getting Moses ready for the future.  Though he knew and embraced his Jewish heritage, Moses had lived a silver-spooned Egyptian life and needed to feel the angst and ache of hardship and heartache.  Since he would be leading a million people through the desert for decades, he needed time to learn the workings of the wilderness and the ways of the Lord.

Moses faced a choice as he rested by the well—he could sit and sulk or he could stand and save.  As Moses found his feet in faith, God poured out His favor.  Good thing he helped those girls!

When you feel like staying down, stand up.

God often takes care of us as we take care of others.