Certainly I Will Be With Thee…

Certainly I Will Be With Thee…

The meeting between God and Moses seems to be clear that Moses will lead the people out of Egypt into the promised land, the land of milk and honey, where they will overcome a great many tribes that have taken up residence in the land that God speaks of.

Now therefore, behold, the cry of the children of Israel is come unto me: and I have also seen the oppression wherewith the Egyptians oppress them. Come now therefore, and I will send thee unto Pharaoh, that thou mayest bring forth my people the children of Israel out of Egypt. And Moses said unto God, Who am I, that I should go unto Pharaoh, and that I should bring forth the children of Israel out of Egypt? And he said, Certainly I will be with thee; and this shall be a token unto thee, that I have sent thee: When thou hast brought forth the people out of Egypt, ye shall serve God upon this mountain. ~ Exodus 3:9-12 KJB

God uses us for His purpose. We may not be the sharpest tool in the shed, but God uses this as a strength, not a handicap. God uses His children, His servants, in the way that is best for the Kingdom of God, not what we think is best for our lives or for God’s children.

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. ~ Exodus 4:10 KJB

God is right there with Moses and reminds Moses who’s making the plans and who’s making the decisions; all-the-while reminding Moses that He is in charge, not Moses.

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? ~ Exodus 4:11 KJB

Should we challenge our God? Moses is pushing back on God in ways that are unusual. Moses, like other characters, seems to think he needs to remind God of what is happening, who he is and how he is not the right person for the task at hand. Should we do this?

God works in the mystery. God does things in our life that we are not suppose to understand and then He does things in our life that we see as having the opposite effect in which we believe it should happen. If the Lord says, specifically, to us “speak to the Pharaoh” or “throw your rod on the ground” or “reach your hand into your bosom” is the Lord telling us to speak to the Elders of a community, wave our rod in the air or reach our right hand into our left arm? No, that’s what was said at all. Should we expect things to go well when the Lord speaks directly to us and we do what we think/believe we hear instead of doing what was said? Of course not. We are not following directions.

And afterward Moses and Aaron went in, and told Pharaoh, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Let my people go, that they may hold a feast unto me in the wilderness. And Pharaoh said, Who is the LORD, that I should obey his voice to let Israel go? I know not the LORD, neither will I let Israel go. And they said, The God of the Hebrews hath met with us: let us go, we pray thee, three days’ journey into the desert, and sacrifice unto the LORD our God; lest he fall upon us with pestilence, or with the sword. ~ Exodus 5:1-3 KJB

The Lord, our God, didn’t give Moses any of these instructions – not a single one. Aaron, the agreed upon spokesperson for Moses, is speaking words of his own making. The result of this encounter is such a disaster the people of Israel, the slaves of Egypt, are now made to work with half the materials, while being expected to produce the same amount of product.

Either the Scripture is the divine Word of God teaching us how to live and how to be a reflection of God, or it’s nothing more than a historical account of events.