Slices
Prepare
‘Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness’ (Lamentations 3:22,23). Spend some time in praise to God today before you read.
Bible passage
God promises deliverance
22 Moses returned to the Lord and said, ‘Why, Lord, why have you brought trouble on this people? Is this why you sent me? 23 Ever since I went to Pharaoh to speak in your name, he has brought trouble on this people, and you have not rescued your people at all.’
6 Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘Now you will see what I will do to Pharaoh: because of my mighty hand he will let them go; because of my mighty hand he will drive them out of his country.’
2 God also said to Moses, ‘I am the Lord. 3 I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob as God Almighty, but by my name the Lord I did not make myself known to them. 4 I also established my covenant with them to give them the land of Canaan, where they resided as foreigners. 5 Moreover, I have heard the groaning of the Israelites, whom the Egyptians are enslaving, and I have remembered my covenant.
6 ‘Therefore, say to the Israelites: “I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians. I will free you from being slaves to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with mighty acts of judgment. 7 I will take you as my own people, and I will be your God. Then you will know that I am the Lord your God, who brought you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians. 8 And I will bring you to the land I swore with uplifted hand to give to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob. I will give it to you as a possession. I am the Lord.”’
9 Moses reported this to the Israelites, but they did not listen to him because of their discouragement and harsh labour.
10 Then the Lord said to Moses, 11 ‘Go, tell Pharaoh king of Egypt to let the Israelites go out of his country.’
12 But Moses said to the Lord, ‘If the Israelites will not listen to me, why would Pharaoh listen to me, since I speak with faltering lips?’
Explore
What a journey we have come on with Moses and the Israelites! We have seen them toing and froing in faith and obedience. This passage is no different (5:22; 6:9–12). And are we much different ourselves? Perhaps like Jesus’ disciples after he had risen from the dead, we need his continuing reassurance in all we face (see, for example, John 20–21).
God is the hero of this story. He unrelentingly loves and cares for his people. See how he sticks to his plan: ‘I will redeem you…’ (vs 1–8). He doesn’t waver or change his mind. He does not question his commitment to his people, or refrain from showing compassion.
We know that all that God says will happen does come to pass later on in the book of Exodus and then throughout the Bible. We can be confident that, even though today’s reading ends with Moses’ uncertainty (v 12), God will fulfil all his promises.
Respond
‘I say to myself, “The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for him.” The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him’ (Lamentations 3:24,25). Bring your day ahead before God and set your hope in him alone.
Deeper Bible study
‘In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.’1 What ‘troubles’ are you presently experiencing? How does Jesus’ assurance encourage you?
When bad things happen, good people wonder ‘Why?’ Moses was no exception but, unlike the Israelite overseers who lashed out at Moses and Aaron in fear and frustration (v 21), Moses takes his indignant, impatient questions to the Lord. Four times in a couple of verses (vs 22,23) he says ‘you’ (or ‘your’) and is blunt to the point of being accusatory in asking why God has allowed a bad situation to get worse.
When the Lord ‘spoke to Job out of the storm’,2 his response didn’t really address Job’s questions at all: nevertheless, Job was satisfied. Similarly, God doesn’t tell Moses what he wants to know (v 22) but he reminds him of two truths that he needs to know: that the Lord is God and that the Lord is good. Four times, God affirms, ‘I am the Lord’ (6:2,6–8). God also reaffirms his commitment to the covenant promises of land, nationhood and blessing, for bookended by the affirmation of who he is (vs 2,8) are seven powerful ‘I will …’ statements (vs 6–8), spelling out God’s good plans for his covenant people.
Just as tears blur our vision, hardships may make us hard of hearing. God’s reassurances are not well received by the disheartened, overworked Israelites (v 9); and their negativity even infects Moses (v 12). Discouragement is both dangerous and contagious. It is one of the devil’s most potent tools, because it mutes truth and muffles hope. Do you tend to be a prophet of doom? How might you be a herald of hope instead?
‘Be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves … Live the questions now … live along some distant day into the answer.’3
1 John 16:33 2 Job 38:1 3 Rainer Maria Rilke, Rilke on Love and Other Difficulties, John Mood, ed, Norton, 1994, p31
Bible in a year
Read the Bible in a year: Exodus 11,12; Matthew 22
Pray for Scripture Union
SU Ministries Trust, Local Mission Partner on the Isle of Man, has a residential course planned at the end of February for emerging leaders. Pray for the most appropriate way of running this and for the next generation of leaders on the Isle of Man.
