(God has called Moses to do the work appointed to him. Moses is questioning God.)
1
And Moses answered (God) 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.
2 And the Lord said unto him, What is that in thine hand? And he said, A rod.
3 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.
4 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:5
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.
6 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.
7 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.
(When God calls us, HE also gives us signs of God working in us.
Often those who do not believe us cannot forget the words spoken
through us though they try. This is one sign of the Holy Spirit. We
can't forget HIS words. Sometimes there is a wisdom spoken by God though us and they cannot forget that wisdom.
As the queen of Sheba could not deny the wisdom spoken through Solomon
and by that wisdom she knew God was with Solomon for he had the wisdom
of God. This is another sign of God speaking through us. It is the
same as the wisdom of Joseph when he revealed the years of famine that
were to come on Egypt and gave Pharaoh a plan whereby they could endure
those difficult years. Pharaoh recognized God had given Joseph wisdom
and God was in Joseph.)
Exodus 4 (God speaking to Moses)
8
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. 9 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.
(I Cor. 1 ... 22 For the Jews
require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom:23 But we preach Christ
crucified, unto the Jews a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks
foolishness; 24 But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God.)
10
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.
11 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? 12 Now therefore go, and I will be with thy mouth, and teach thee what thou shalt say.
13 And he said, O my Lord, send, I pray thee, by the hand of him whom thou wilt send.
14
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. 15 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. 16 And he shall be thy spokesman
unto the people:and he shall be, even he shall be to thee instead of a
mouth, and thou shalt be to him instead of God. 17 And thou shalt take
this rod in thine hand, wherewith thou shalt do signs.
(When
God calls us, our natural gifts are not important. If we are not a
speaker and are told to go on radio and exhort the church, God will be
our mouth. God will do it. God makes us sufficient, says the apostle
Paul ... II Corinthians 3 ... 5 Not that we are sufficient of
ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of
God; 6 Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of
the letter, but of the spirit:for the letter killeth, but the spirit
giveth life.
I was acquainted with a man who
had been asked by his church group to do the reading of scripture when
the church met. This man practiced reading the scripture before he read
it. He considered voice quality and inflection of words as an actor on
the stage might do. He didn't seem to realize the power is in the
scripture itself, not in how it is read.)
==========
Exodus 4
18 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.
19 And the Lord said unto Moses in Midian, Go, return into Egypt:for all the men are dead which sought thy life.
20
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.
21 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.
(When
we have a dream and tell that dream we must do it faithfully, telling
the whole dream, changing nothing to protect the feelings of another
person. We are dealing with the Word of God which is sacred and we must
report all that word without omission and without addition to that
word. And so it is when we tell a testimony or read scripture. In
verse 21 we see God warning Moses to be sure that he does all those
wonders that he is shown by God before Pharaoh. To change anything
deletes the full power of God. Therefore we who serve God must do so
faithfully to that instruction or Word from God.)
22
And thou shalt say unto Pharaoh, Thus saith the Lord, Israel is my son,
even my firstborn:23 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.
24 And it came to pass by
the way in the inn, that the Lord met him, and sought to kill him. 25
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. 26 So he let him go:then she said, A bloody husband thou art,
because of the circumcision.
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. 28 And Moses told Aaron all the words of
the Lord who had sent him, and all the signs which he had commanded him.
29
And Moses and Aaron went and gathered together all the elders of the
children of Israel:30 And Aaron spake all the words which the Lord had
spoken unto Moses, and did the signs in the sight of the people. 31 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.
(Later God will destroy them
who first believed, because in the wilderness they believed not, and
through unbelief turned in their hearts from God ... Jude v. 5 ... I
will therefore put you in remembrance, though ye once knew this, how
that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt,
afterward destroyed them that believed not. These are examples and warning to us, to the NT church, today.)