Weekly Devotion

Finally Moses and Aaron were on their way to meet Pharaoh. Now according to ancient writings and the movie of 'The Prince of Egypt' Pharaoh on the throne during this time was Ramses. It could have been someone else, but as far as we know it was Ramses. Now Ramses undoubtedly knew Moses. They most probably grew up together, maybe they were even cousins, but they both grew up in the palace. Maybe they attended school together, learned martial arts together and even played together. We won't know, but they certainly knew one another.

In any event it must have been very difficult for Moses. Either the Pharaoh loved Moses as a child growing up together as portrayed in the film the 'Prince of Egypt'. If that was the case it must have been difficult for Moses to take a stand against him and announce God's judgment on the Egyptians. A very heart-rendering thing to do. Or maybe Pharaoh hated Moses growing up, maybe he didn't like it that this Hebrew boy was taken into the palace as one of their own. If that was the case, it must have been difficult for Moses too, as he would have gone there fearing for his life, afraid that Pharaoh would kill him instantly. Either case, it was very difficult for Moses to approach Pharaoh.

And not only that, he had to appear in front of the ruler of the mightiest empire back then in his shepherd clothes. In those days the Egyptians despised shepherds and viewed their occupation as the lowliest of low. He stood in front of the mightiest man on earth in those days, in the clothes of the lowest occupation of those days. He must have felt totally inferior!

Poor Moses didn't have it easy, but he persisted and continued as God instructed and he was honored beyond measure. Today he is still regarded as one of the greatest men ever. And what made him so great? He listened to God, he obeyed Him even by confronting his friends/enemies, he didn't look at himself here as a lowly shepherd, but he knew who he was in God. He feared God more than men, and that has made all the difference.

Next time you feel inferior, don't look at yourself, but look to God. Next time you need to reprimand someone close to you who don't regard God as Holy, take courage. Next time you need to confront an 'enemy' with the Word of God, do it. But remember don't do it out of revenge, but because you know that God has asked it of you!! Then He will be with you and provide you with the words to say.

Father God, You are in charge and this gives us so much peace. It is wonderful to know that You are always there to help us and that You are the One preparing the way. Thank you Jesus. Amen

Moses and Aaron returned to Egypt, possibly with their hearts pumping and with their palms sweating, but they returned there and immediately started with the task at hand. They first called a meeting of the leaders of Israel. Now I can imagine that the leaders of Israel were a bit skeptical. They didn't know Moses, or if they did, they only knew that he was brought up as an Egyptian, as part of the enemy. But what is lovely to me is that they were prepared to listen.

Exodus 4:30,31 "Aaron told them everything the Lord had told Moses, and Moses performed the miraculous signs as they watched. The leaders were soon convinced that the Lord had sent Moses and Aaron."

They listened and they were convinced that God sent them. Now their reaction could have been any of the following:

"Why didn't God choose us to deliver the Israelites? After all we are their leaders already! We know exactly how the Israelites think and how they operate. Who does Moses think he is? He doesn't even know all our customs and how we do things around here!"

Or "What is wrong with us? Did we do something wrong that God didn't choose us? Did we offend God? Why did He choose Moses over us? Are we so pathetic?"

No, their reaction was lovely to me.

Exodus 4:31 "And when they realized that the Lord had seen their misery and was deeply concerned for them, they all bowed their heads and worshipped."

Lovely. They accepted it and worshipped God. They didn't ask questions. God knew best. And He did. Moses was the perfect choice, he knew how the Egyptians thought, he knew the wilderness like the back of his hand, he was actually educated and could write, he wasn't brought up with a slavery mentality etc. The list can go on, but the point is this, God knows what He is doing. One is not more important than the other, but one is better to do one task than the other.

And that is valid for us too. I notice Christians (and unfortunately I do it sometimes too) judge God's leaders very easily and think they can do it better. Or sometimes they get jealous of a position of authority God has put others in and try everything to undermine that position of that person. Or they delight when the leaders make mistakes and secretly try to obtain the leader's position.

We should not be like that. God gave each of us a role to play and all is important, all of them. From the greatest to the smallest and we will be rewarded one day by what you did with your part you had to play. God will judge your works according to that. Don't be jealous of others, we will all be rewarded equally if we have played our part well! Rather assist your leaders, help them where you can. We are all working towards one goal: to establish God's Kingdom on earth!

Lord You are so gracious and so wonderful, we praise Your Name! All of us are important to You and help us to exalt Your leaders Lord and assist them to be the best they can be for You. In Jesus Name. Amen

Moses was on his way back to Egypt! I sometimes wonder how nervous he must have been. All he had was God's Word and his staff to perform miracles. That was it! That must have been nerve recking! Fortunately for him God made sure that Aaron met him at the mountain of God, the same mountain where Moses would receive the ten commandments and give it to 2 million Hebrew slaves later on!

The fact that Aaron met him there as God had promised must have been very comforting. The first part of God's promises was coming to pass. Now he could most undoubtedly believe that the rest will come to pass as well. I think it was a huge relief to him. Plus two is always better than one, isn't it? I think Moses got more confidence because Aaron was there.

And I would like to commend Aaron here as well. I always wonder how did God let Aaron know that he should meet Moses at the mountain of the Lord? Through a dream, a vision, or did an angel appear to him? As far as Aaron knew Moses could have been dead by now. He had been gone for 40 years! I think Aaron was quite surprised to learn from God that Moses was still alive! Plus, Aaron has never been outside of Egypt. How did he know how to get to the mountain of the Lord? Today with GPS and Smartphones it is very easy, but for Aaron it must have been a challenge. And not only that, how on earth did he get out of Egypt? Have you ever wondered about that? They were slaves to Pharaoh, basically like prisoners, how did he manage to get out without being seen? I would love to ask the Lord one day. God definitely helped him. God must have shown him a secret way out, He must have led him either by angels, or by a light, we simply don't know. But what was important was that Aaron followed. He listened to God and he went. And God later rewarded him for it by making him the first High Priest of the Levitical priesthood. He was honored above all, and I believe it was due to his obedience.

We need to be obedient too, even if everything looks to the contrary all around us. We should be obedient to take the first step. Aaron took the first step and God led him right to Moses, and Moses took the first step and God led him to Aaron and together they were a formidable team.

Ask God to send people along the way to help you in what He has told you to do. In my own life I can testify to this. The Lord wanted me to organize a ladies morning in honor of His Name early next year. He wanted a morning to glorify Him and proclaim His Mighty Name. I was ready to do it, but questions kept gnawing at the back of my head, like where will I get enough ladies to come, how will I organize everything on my own, where will it be, will it cost too much etc etc. I was becoming nervous and didn't know whether I should push through and still do it. But I decided, by God's grace I might add, to push through and take the first step and start to organize it, with all the questions still swimming in my mind. And the Lord led me to a wonderful charity organization, Caring Daisies, and they agreed to help with the function. In one swoosh all my questions were answered. We got a wonderful venue for free, I now have a committee of 12 amazing ladies to help me and amongst us we have more than enough contacts to sell all the tickets with plenty to spare! The Lord is good, He led me to the right people. And he can do it for you too. Ask Him for guidance and ask Him to lead you to the right people in your life, but remember, you must take the first step!

Amazing wonderful God. Thank you that You have plenty of help planned along the way if we would only trust in You and take the first step. Please give us the courage to stand up and do it. In Jesus Name. Amen

Finally Moses agreed to what God was asking of him and he set out to do the task. But before he could go he had to tell his family. His father in law seemed pleased, and the next thing we know Moses, his wife Zipporah and his two sons were on their way back to Egypt. But then something very strange happens. In Exodus 4:24-26 we read that the Lord confronted Moses and was about to kill him. Now what a staggering thing! Here Moses was on his way to Egypt, honoring God by being obedient to Him and now God wants to kill him. That doesn't make sense at all, does it?

But the next part gives us a clue as to why God was confronting Moses:

"But Zipporah, his wife, took a flint knife and circumcised her son. She threw the foreskin at Moses' feet and said "What a blood-smeared bridegroom you are to me!" Exodus 4:25

From her quick reaction we can glean that she knew exactly why God was confronting Moses. She knew what it was all about. And the moment she did it, God left Moses alone.

And if you look at her unflattering reaction, we can assume that the circumcision was possibly something that she and Moses had argued about. She was a Midianite and they didn't believe in circumcision, while the Hebrews did. They circumcised their children since God commanded Abraham to do it and this was a sign of His blessing on them. In those days if you didn't circumcise your son you in fact publicly removed yourself from God's blessings. Moses must have known it by observing the Hebrews in Egypt, plus the Egyptians also had a form of circumcision. Plus I believe that the Lord also placed it on his heart to do it. I really believe that, because the God I know wouldn't just come and kill Moses without warning him first to listen to Him and circumcise his children.

But the sad part is Moses gave way to his wife. In order to have peace, he relented and gave in. Instead of listening to God, he listened to her. And Moses couldn't go and lead the people of Israel out, if he listened to other people. He should listen exclusively to God and to Him alone. Imagine God didn't intervene, now today Zipporah says no circumcision, tomorrow she says she wants a wooden idol, would Moses give in to that too? Moses had to learn that there are grave effects if he didn't follow God's instructions. He had to be steadfast in leading 2 million Hebrew slaves out of Egypt; he couldn't allow anyone to influence him.

Today we are the same. We cannot allow anyone to steer us away from what God wants for us. If we are married to unbelievers, we cannot allow them to turn our hearts away from God; if we work with unbelievers we cannot let them influence us either. Everywhere we turn, there are unbelievers, and we need to make sure that we influence them and not that they influence us!

Father, we are part of this world and surrounded by unbelievers. Please give us the strength to stand strong in faith and not to give in to any ideas that are not from You. Help us to influence them for Your Kingdom and not the other way around. In Jesus Name. Amen

Before I continue with Moses' life, I would just like to pause for today. Have you ever wished that God would appear to you like He did to Moses? I mean it must have been quite a sight! God speaking through a fire to you, wow! I sometimes find myself wishing that God would appear to me like that. Then it would be so easy to know His Will and what He wants me to do, wouldn't it? Then things will be straight forward and I can proceed along the path He directs me to.

Or wouldn't it be great if God can appear to you like He did to Abraham? I mean God literally came down to Abraham's tent and spoke to him. Or what if He can call you with an audible Voice like He did Samuel? Or what if He can appear to you like an Angel as He did to Gideon? Wouldn't that be wonderful? We can all then move out in faith, because we are convinced of what God told us. God then reminded me of two things:

1. The people in the Old Testament didn't have the inspired Word of God. They didn't have a Bible to read to know what they should do. They had no way of knowing which way to turn. Today we have this precious gift, but unfortunately we tend to take the Bible for granted, so much so that we sometimes don't even glance at it. Friends, the Bible is the breath and the very words of God. When you read it, it is as if God is personally speaking to you. There is power in the Word of God. No wonder Paul calls it our Sword in Ephesians. It is as sharp as any two edged sword, it cuts deep and in all ways possible. And we need to use it. I have experienced it myself now. I must be honest, I never used to read a lot of the Bible. A verse here and there yes, but I didn't know the Bible. And since I started with my study of it, it didn't only widen my perspective on Biblical events, I felt it drawing me closer and closer to God. I now feel a connection with Him I never did before. I battle to breathe if I didn't spend time in it every day.
2. The people of the Old Testament didn't have the Holy Spirit dwelling in them. The Holy Spirit did take hold of certain people, but it was only for a specific task and then He left them. It was never permanent. It was only after Jesus had ascended up into Heaven that the Holy Spirit came to indwell us on a permanent basis. We now have the privilege of the Lord living with us on a daily basis! He doesn't need to appear to us in a burning bush, He is already here with us! Always! He is inside of us giving us guidance every step of the way. All we need to do is to be open to His leading and open to His teaching. Our spiritual ears need to be open, then we will hear Him loud and clear.

God is with us. He is speaking in His Word and through His Spirit. We are in a much better position than the Old Testament Saints were! They had a Word now and again from God, but we have it all the time! Don't take this gift for granted. Don't become blasé over the Bible and the Holy Spirit. Beware of treating them with familiarity and degrading the amazing Power that is available to you! Treat both with the respect and awe they deserve, and you will find yourself breathing spiritually for the first time. You will find your spiritual ears opening and you will clearly know which way to turn. Give them your time and energy and feel the difference it will make!

Thank you for Your precious Word and Your Holy Spirit living within us. We can't function without either of them. Thank you for this precious gift, we love You. Amen

In the life of Moses there are also interesting parts of God's character that shine through and I would like to briefly discuss it today.

The first thing that caught my eye was:

"The Israelites cried out for help and their pleas for deliverance rose up to God. God heard their cries and remembered His covenant promise to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. He looked down on the Israelites and felt deep concern for their welfare." Exodus 2:23 - 25

Now the word 'remembered' in English would suggest that God had forgotten all about them and suddenly remembers now that they are struggling. But it is not the meaning of the word. It means that God called His covenant to remembrance. He had never forgotten about it, but He is thinking about it now. God was just waiting for the perfect time to rescue His people. He had predicted it to Abraham in Genesis 15:13-16 already. He knew they would be there for 400 years; it didn't come as a surprise to Him.

But why did He wait so long? He waited because He is a God of grace. He waited until the evil and the sin of the people occupying the land had run its course (Genesis 15:16). He waited until they had become so evil that they didn't deserve to stay in the Promised Land anymore. As you all probably know, when the Israelites finally entered the land, they were told to kill all the people in the land. God wasn't being cruel when He ordered this, it was justice being done. Also as I mentioned in my devotion on Noah's prophecy, these Canaanites were truly cruel, heartless people. Archeologists are shocked at what they dig up about this nation. They were really evil and deserved the punishment from the Lord.

God gave the Canaanites 400 years to repent and they didn't. He knew they wouldn't. How did He know? Well, God is omniscient, all knowing. He knows everything. From start to finish.

He also knew that Moses would protest. He knew Moses would use the excuse of his speech and therefore He already had Aaron lined up to help Moses.

"All right," God said. "What about your brother Aaron the Levite? He is a good speaker. And look! He is on his way to meet you now." Exodus 4: 14

God had sent Aaron to come even before He spoke to Moses. Amazing. He knew what Moses was like and He already lined up Aaron to come and help. God knows everything, every little detail. And He knows everything about you too. Give your life over to Him, He knows best.

What a wonderful God we serve! Wow. You are amazing. You are infinitely above all we can ever imagine. You are our wonderful God. Amen

The Lord appeared to Moses and offered him the chance to lead His people out of Egypt. The time had come for the Lord to present Moses with his breakthrough. His training had been completed and the Lord was pleased with him. He had continued to be faithful in the small things and the time had come for the Lord to exalt him to bigger things.

But as we saw last week Moses was scared and he tried to squirm his way out of this task the best he could. He made every excuse he could. And the one that is quite funny to me really is when Moses said:

"But Moses pleaded with the Lord, 'O Lord, I'm just not a good speaker. I never have been, and I am not now, even after You have spoken to me. I am clumsy with words." Exodus 4:10

Now God didn't answer him here; "O you are right Moses. Sorry I forgot all about your speaking impairment. You will never be able to do it, you are right. Sorry about bothering you, I will be on My way. Bye." No! God knew about his speaking impairment, but He also knew that with His power, there will be no speaking impairment anymore. He answered him as follows:

"Who makes mouths?" the Lord asked him. "Who makes people so they can speak or not speak, hear or not hear, see or not see? Is it not I, the Lord? Now go, and do as I have told you. I will help you speak well, and I will tell you what to say." Exodus 4:11, 12

God uses our weaknesses to prove that He is God. He is the mighty One who can overcome anything and make a success out of it! Paul confirmed this when he said that he will boast only in his weaknesses, because then God's power can be revealed through it.

When God has called you, don't look at your weaknesses. Don't look at all the things you are not, but look up to Him and His infinite power! You can do all things through Christ who strengthens you. All things! When God has called you, you are the perfect person for the job, just as you are. Trust Him to use you just as you are! God doesn't make mistakes.

But I need to warn you of one thing, if you are going to keep on resisting God's calling on your life and keep on resisting it, He might just decide to use someone else. I have seen that happen in my own life. To cut a long story short the Lord wanted me to perform a dance at church on a specific song and I kept on making excuses why I wasn't the right person to do it. It went on for months on end and at the end of the day I attended church one morning and there was a lovely girl performing a dance on exactly the same song!! The same version, everything. I resisted too long and the Lord decided to use someone else.

Moses might have protested and groaned, but then he started to move and God blessed him for doing that. Friends, God doesn't make mistakes. He made you exactly as you are for the task He has before you. Step out in faith and move when the time has come.

Lord thank you for making us perfect. Thank you that we are just right for the task You have before us. Give us the energy to move when You say the time has come. Amen

Moses was attending his father-in-law's sheep, an occupation that as I said was not the highest on any social agenda. He was at the bottom of his career. But he was faithful in what he did and he might have even accepted his lot in life. Then one day God appeared to him and told him to go back to Egypt and free His people from the Egyptian slave drivers.

I think Moses had the fright of his life! The Bible even says that Moses hid his face in his hands, too afraid to even look at God once he had realized that it was Him. It is clear from his reaction that he never expected God to personally appear unto him. He didn't know that he actually had a higher calling than being a shepherd in Midian.

The day had finally come when Moses was to step out into his destiny and he was scared out of his wits. He immediately thought of every excuse he could find! And when God had an answer to every excuse, he pleaded in utter desperation that God should send someone else:

"But Moses again pleaded, 'Lord, please! Send someone else." Exodus 4:13

It might seem mindboggling to us when we read this. Here Moses is presented with a once in a lifetime opportunity. He will be the hero who saves his people out of Egypt and he would become the one people will still talk about more than 4 000 years later. He would become famous beyond comprehension and will have the honor of working side by side with the God of the Universe. And here he turns Him down! He thinks of every excuse in the book to get out of his mission. He was in a comfort zone. It wasn't much, but he had become used to it and comfortable in his ways. He didn't want anything to disturb it. It is staggering when you think about it.

But we do the same, don't we? We wait years for our breakthrough to come and when it finally does, we are scared to bits! Or worse yet, we are so comfortable in the place that we are in that we don't want to move out.

I remember Joyce Meyer (the world famous bible teacher) once said that she started out with a small bible study group at her house. Later she moved to her church and had a big following there. And then one day the Lord told her that it was time to move out. She was very reluctant to go. She was in a comfort zone, everyone knew her and she was happy there. She made all sorts of excuses. And then one day the Holy Spirit spoke to her and said that she can stay there, but He was moving out. She had such a fright that she moved out in faith with Him. And she never looked back; the Lord has blessed her beyond measure, because she moved when He told her to.

When the Lord says it is time to come out of the wilderness unto bigger things you better move. You won't be sorry. You will definitely be sorry if you don't!

Thank you Lord that You are so patient with us. Please help us to move when You tell us to. Give us the courage to step out in faith. We love You and want to honor You. Amen

Moses was faithfully attending his father-in-law's flock of sheep when God decided it was time for Moses to move into his destiny. What is very interesting to me is the way that God appeared to him. He could have appeared to Moses in any way He pleased. He could have spoken to him from the sky like He did with Paul, or He could have given him a dream like He did with Joseph and Solomon, but He didn't. Why? I don't know. The Bible teacher Roger Price thinks it is because God wanted to show Moses that from now on he has got to burn with His energy, not with his own. Moses tried to help the Israelites on his own by killing the Egyptian, but it didn't help. He had to learn that he will only be able to help if it is by God's power, not his own.

This is a plausible reason. Or maybe God simply knew how to attract Moses' attention as Exodus 3:4 seems to suggest:

"When the Lord saw that He had caught Moses' attention, God called to him from the bush, 'Moses! Moses!"

And today God knows how to attract your attention too. God knows you through and through and knows your likes and dislikes. So keep your eyes open to God calling you. It might be in interesting ways you never thought possible.

Another interesting thing I would like to share with you is that the One appearing to Moses here is Jesus. Whenever the Old Testament refers to the 'Angel of the Lord' as it does here in Exodus3:2, you can know it is either a real angel, or it is Jesus if it is clear that the angel is God Himself. It is actually quite interesting to note how many times Jesus actually appeared in the Old Testament. He is the revealed God Head of the Three. I saw a whole book about this topic the other day, so I am not going to expand much more on this, just note this the next time you read the Old Testament.

Also just to add further proof to this statement read John 1:18:

"No one has ever seen God the Father. But His only Son, who is God Himself, is near to the Father's heart; He has told us about Him."

So God the Father has never been seen. So all the time God appeared to someone in the Old Testament it couldn't have been the Father like I believed most of my life, no, it was Jesus Himself. He has always been present and today He is more present than ever with His precious Blood pleading our innocence before God the Father.

Thank you Jesus, thank you for Your presence every single day. Thank you for Your promise that You will be with us every day until the end of the earth. We praise Your mighty Name. Amen

Moses fled Egypt and went to live in Midian. The Lord looked after him and introduced him to the family of Jethro, the priest of Midian. Jethro was a good man and he and Moses got along very well. Moses later married his daughter, Zipporah and they had two sons. He named his second son Eliezer, which means 'The God of my fathers was my helper; He delivered me from the sword of Pharaoh'. This indicates that Moses was still a believer in God and thankful that he was saved out of Egypt. Now Moses worked for his father-in-law and tended to his sheep. Not for one year or two years, but for 40 years. A lifetime in our eyes! But God was not finished with Moses, He was simply training him for the momentous task He had for him.

Now to an Egyptian being a shepherd was the lowest of the lowest of occupations. And this was what Moses was now, a shepherd. It must have been a very humbling experience to Moses. I mean he was a famous prince in Egypt, whose every whim was catered for and now he had to do everything himself, doing something he was taught to despise. He must have been at the lowest point in his life.

For us knowing the whole story, it makes sense that God trained him here in the wilderness. He taught him everything about the wilderness where he would spend the next 40 years with the Israelites. God used the perfect training ground. And I personally think that God also tested Moses to see if he could be trusted with the small things, before God entrusted him with bigger things.

Of course Moses didn't know what lay ahead, he only knew what he could see. He was in the wilderness as a shepherd and that was the way his life will be until he died. There is no proof that he had any other revelation than that, in fact when God finally called him he made a lot of excuses trying to get out of it. But despite not knowing that his life was intended for greatness, he was faithful in what he did, we can know that he was, because God was pleased with him.

There are a number of other examples of great men in the Bible who God first humbled, before He exalted them to high positions of authority. For example God allowed Joseph to be thrown into jail for a couple of years before he was exalted to be second in charge in Egypt, God allowed David to be hunted down by King Saul and allowed him to hide away in a cave for a number of years before exalting him to the position of King of Israel, God sent Paul into Arabia for 3 years alone and then for several years to his hometown Tarsus before God exalted him as one of the greatest apostles that ever lived. There are many examples. The point is God sometimes allows a 'wilderness' period in our lives before He exalts us. It is a period where He prepares us for our task ahead and a period where He tests us to see if we will be faithful in the small things too.

Maybe you are frustrated that you are not receiving the promotion at work, while you know that God wants you at that firm. Maybe you are tired of being looked down upon whilst you feel God has called you to be a fulltime mother. Maybe you are being ridiculed by others because you stand firm in the promises God made to you. Maybe you want to give up on your studies because it is too hard, but you actually know that God wants you to study that. Maybe the business God told you to start is not kicking off as you would have hoped. Whatever the case may be, if you feel you are in a wilderness period, just hang on and be faithful to God. The time will come when God will exalt you into the position He dreamed for you since you were created. Just continue to trust and believe. Better days are in store, you just need to hang on. God is faithful and true, if He promised something/placed a dream in your heart, you can be sure that it will come to pass.

Lord, please help us through these wilderness periods in our lives. Our flesh are weak and want to give up, but thank you that we know our spirits are strong, because Your Holy Spirit is inside of us giving us the strength to move on. We love You and praise You. Amen