Moses’ Fifth and Last Objection To His Calling -- Exodus 4:13-17

But he said, “Please, Lord, now send the message by whomever Thou wilt.”  Then the anger of the Lord burned against Moses, and He said, “Is there not your brother Aaron the Levite?  I know that he speaks fluently.  And moreover, behold, he is coming out to meet you; when he sees you, he will be glad in his heart.  And you are to speak to him and put the words in his mouth; and I, even I, will be with your mouth and his mouth, and I will teach you what you are to do.  Moreover, he shall speak for you to the people; and it is shall come about that he shall be as a mouth for you, and you shall be as God to him.  And you shall take in your hand this staff, with which you shall perform the signs.”

Sometimes I think the word ‘but’ should be banned from our lexicon of words to be used when speaking to the Almighty God.  Then upon further reflection, I realize that God can well handle the ‘buts’ we so often cry out to Him, thank you very much.  He wants us to share our concerns and objections with what He may be asking or doing or not doing because He is indeed able to answer them.  He is also able to give us what we need as we move forward in faith, to carry out His will.

So, it is with Moses, as he tries for the fifth time now to change God’s mind with respect to the assignment He is giving him.   And he even pleads saying, “Please, Lord”.  And what is it Moses is begging God to do?  Well, it’s to send someone else, anybody else, anybody but Moses.  Most of you reading this know the end of the story, so you can imagine what Moses would have missed had God listened to his plea.

Can you imagine knowing the almighty God and turning down His invitation to be part of a great step in His plan for mankind?  [I recently saw the movie Lincoln and I realized that Lincoln was so in tune with not missing the opportunity God was giving him to end slavery in America.  Can you imagine where we would all be today if he didn’t take that risk to do God’s bidding?]  Can you imagine what excitement you could miss if God agreed with your objections to His assignment and gave you a day (or a life for that matter) off?  I would not to miss what He had in store for me.  God picks the very best for us when He hands out His assignments.  He does not want us to miss these opportunities to be further molded and developed in His service.

So it was with Moses and thus the Scripture says, “the anger of the Lord burned against Moses”.   Not a good place to be in, Moses.  Not a good place for any of us to be in – having the anger of the Lord raging against us.  But even at that, God continues to provide a way for Moses to understand that he could do this and that God will be with him.  God knew about Moses’ brother Aaron who did speak fluently (unlike Moses with his stuttering problem).  God knew Aaron was also eager to do what God wanted done.   God would give Moses the words He wanted him to share.  Moses would speak those privately to Aaron.  Aaron would eloquently speak them to the people of Israel and later to the ruler of Egypt.  “And by the way, Moses, don’t forget to take along this staff with which I showed you that you can perform the necessary signs.”

What is the significance of God’s mentioning that Aaron was “coming out to meet” Moses and that he would be “glad in his heart when he sees you”?  Let me suggest this. God knows about the fact that we cannot do everything He asks us to do alone.  So He gives us Brothers and Sisters who are seriously interested, not in their agenda, but in helping as achieve what God would have us do.  I see this in the missions that I am involved in and I see it in my own personal life.  These are people that rejoice in being partners with us.  But in these few verses we also find an awesome responsibility for those that are being helped – perhaps for you and I.

God says to Moses, “I will be with your mouth” and “I will teach you what you are to do”.  And later on, Aaron “will speak for you” and “you shall be as God to him.”  Consider the implication of that for us who lead.   Yes, God will give us helpers.  But we are to get our instructions from God and pass them on to them.  These are not to be the instructions we make up, but the instructions that God gives us.  The responsibility on us as leaders to be in good communion and relationship with God is great.  And the way we are to treat and deal with the partners He has given us (be it our spouse, our family, our team, our friends) is to be like God to them.  In this case, this means we are to treat them with love, kindness, godly direction, and so on.

And let us not forget that besides those that are to help us, we hold in our hands the tools God has given us to do the tasks He has assigned us.  The Word of God, His Promises, and the Holy Spirit are our “staff” which we hold and as He directs, we can do wonders and perform the signs He would have us perform.

It would be great if you would share your thoughts or questions on this blog in the comments section below or on social media.

Looking for God's Will for you? Let me humbly introduce you to it.

So many Christians are sitting around waiting for God's Will to be revealed to them.  Let me humbly introduce you to it through Martina McBride.   If you miss this, you don't have a leg to stand on when you explain why you did or are doing nothing for God.

Martina McBride - Gods Will: lyrics and video



[Are you looking for a speaker at your church, your club, school, or organization? Ken is available to preach, teach, challenge, and/or motivate. Please contact us.]

Thanks for dropping by. Sign up to receive free updates. We bring you relevant information from all sorts of sources. Subscribe for free to this blog or follow us by clicking on the appropriate link in the right side bar. And please share this blog with your friends. Ken Godevenos, Church and Management Consultant, Accord Consulting. 

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Joseph Instructs His Brothers To Take Action - Genesis 45:9-15

“Hurry and go up to my father, and say to him, ‘Thus says your son Joseph, “God has made me lord of all Egypt; come down to me, do not delay.  You shall live in the land of Goshen, and you shall be near me, you and your children and your children’s children and your flocks and your herds and all that you have.  There I will also provide for you, for there are still five years of famine to come, and you and your household and all that you have would be impoverished.”’  Behold, your eyes see, and the eyes of my brother Benjamin see, that it is my mouth which is speaking to you.  Now you must tell my father of all my splendor in Egypt, and all that you have seen; and you must hurry and bring my father down here.”  Then he fell on his brother Benjamin’s neck and wept, and Benjamin wept on his neck.  He kissed all his brothers and wept on them, and afterward his brothers talked with him.

After declaring himself to his brothers and telling them that they are not to blame themselves for the situation they are now in, but rather that it was God who orchestrated all of this for their own survival so that His promises to their great-grandfather Abraham, their grandfather Isaac, and their father Jacob would be fulfilled, Joseph now turns his attention to the action they must take.

His first concern was that they return to their father and give him the good news that his long-lost son, Joseph, is alive and well and has a message for him.  Note that he wanted them to “hurry”.  Joseph realized the importance of time given Jacob’s age.  He also wants Jacob to know that indeed God has made him successful and “lord of all Egypt”.  In essence, Joseph wanted his dad to know that God did indeed make his dreams a reality.  Joseph instructs his brothers to tell Jacob he wants him to come to him in Egypt and live there in a place called Goshen, and be blessed.  He was saying, “This is all of God’s general blessing that He promised you”.  Not only will Jacob be near Joseph, but his whole family and all their children will move there and be together with their flocks and herds.

And there’s more.  Joseph wants his father to know he will provide for Jacob and the family because there was still five more years of famine left to survive through.  He also wanted Jacob to know the consequences of his not coming to join him in Egypt.  He tells the brothers to tell Jacob they would die if they remained where they were.  We need to realize the significance of that in Jacob’s mind.  Not only would he want to live as long as he could as we all do, but I believe Joseph knew that Jacob would readily understand the impact of death on the God’s promise for Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob – the promise that God would build a nation out of the Israelites and that all the nations of the earth would be blessed through them.

As I write this, a question comes to my mind.  Imagine if Jacob had said, “No way!  We’re not going to Egypt.  We’ll stay right here and die off.”  What if God’s enemy had gotten to Jacob as only the Devil could do and have him reject Joseph’s offer?  What would that have meant for Israel and for us?  Of course, this line of thinking and questioning would lead us to a number of other topics including free will, God’s foreknowledge, etc.  I raise it only because some others reading this might.  Personally, I am satisfied God would have seen His plan worked out one way or another, for no matter how hard man -- with or without the help of the Enemy tries -- he cannot thwart God’s intentions.

Then Joseph addresses the brothers directly telling them that they are ‘eye witnesses’ to his existence and success.  He wants them, and Benjamin, to be his witnesses to their father Jacob.  Why he mentions Benjamin separately we do not know, except that perhaps he considers Benjamin very special and his only full-brother.  But what I noted here in Joseph’s reference to his brothers being witnesses is the parallelism between this and what Christ asked of his disciples as His ministry on earth was ending.  In fact, He continues to ask each of us to be His witness to others; to share with others what He has done for us.  We were not asked to be his “super salesmen”, only his witnesses.

When Joseph stopped speaking, he broke down again emotionally and hugged and kissed his brothers, crying on each of them, beginning with Benjamin.  Joseph not only provided for his brothers physically; he not only told them of his desire to take care of them and Jacob the rest of their lives; but he actually showed his love and affection to them.  He was willing to demonstrate his own weakness, lowering his guard and setting aside his position, to weep with them.  This is a watershed moment in the life of Joseph but one that brings about healing.  Verse 3 of this 45^th chapter of Genesis ends with the words, “But his brothers could not answer him…”.  This current passage ends with the phrase “…and afterward his brothers talked with him.”  The relationship had been reconciled.

How are our relationships?  Is there a watershed moment we need to initiate and experience?  Are we ready to serve and to love and to show it unequivocally?  If there is such a moment that is required and we are not ready to bring it about, we may very well be hindering God’s plan for others and us.  That is an awesome responsibility but it is also an awesome opportunity He gives us.  I pray God will help us recognize its importance

Thanks for dropping by.  Sign up to receive free updates.  We bring you relevant information from all sorts of sources.  Subscribe for free to this blog or follow us by clicking on the appropriate link in the right side bar.  And please share this blog with your friends.   Ken Godevenos, Church and Management Consultant, Accord Consulting.

It would be great if you would share your thoughts or questions on this blog in the comments section below or on social media.

Late Night Musings -- January 15, 2010

A friend just sent me these thoughts (original author not known by me anyway):  "'To get something you never had, you have to do something you never did.  When God takes something from your grasp,  He's  NOT punishing you, but merely opening your hands to receive something better.  Concentrate on the fact that 'The will of God will never take you where the Grace of God will not protect you.'"

And here's another most interesting thought involving Great Advice About Friends: "There comes a point in your life when you realize Who matters, who never did, who won't anymore...And Who always will.  So, don't worry about people from your past; there's a reason why they didn't make it to your future."  Great advice indeed.

Finally, I'm ticked. Royally ticked, again,  This time, again, at Office Depot.  First they tell me that if I buy two toners I should get the 10% off both, or whatever.   You know, like going into a shoe store and they tell you buy a pair pay 100%, buy two pairs, get 10% off each.  So you buy a black pair of the shoes you like and you buy a blue pair.  Good and fair deal.  No problems.  But not at Office Depot.  I bought one particular HP toner package -- yellow.  Saw the deal, and went to buy another one -- blue this time.  In fact, I also bought black, and red.  Total costs over $500.   Thought I should get something off -- after all they were for the same printer -- an HP Laserjet 2840.   "Oh no, " said the manager -- they all have to be the same COLOR.  What?  How many small businesses that walk in off the street buy four BLUE toner cartridges or MAGENTA or four YELLOW or four BLACKS.  What an insane policy.  There must be a better store.

 

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