The Moses Principles:
B) Why God Condemns Ignorance
"There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it is the way of death."
~ Proverbs 14:12
So far Moses has come up with three reasons why he is the wrong man to lead God's people to freedom from slavery in Egypt.
- What if Pharaoh won't listen to me?
- What if the people reject me?
- I can't talk.
Far from being angry with Moses, God has been very carefully explaining to Moses what to do when dealing with Pharaoh and the Israelite slaves. God also handles Moses' inability to speak. Do you ever wonder why Moses has these three particular objections to obeying God's call?
We get a vastly different view of Moses from another section of Scripture. Moses, standing before the burning bush, is a very old version of Moses. In Acts 7 we're drawn a completely different view of Moses; a view of Moses as a man of 40.
20 “At that time Moses was born, and he was no ordinary child. For three months he was cared for in his father’s house. 21 When he was placed outside, Pharaoh’s daughter took him and brought him up as her own son. 22 Moses was educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and was powerful in speech and action.
23 “When Moses was forty years old, he decided to visit his fellow Israelites. 24 He saw one of them being mistreated by an Egyptian, so he went to his defense and avenged him by killing the Egyptian. 25 Moses thought that his own people would realize that God was using him to rescue them, but they did not. 26 The next day Moses came upon two Israelites who were fighting. He tried to reconcile them by saying, ‘Men, you are brothers; why do you want to hurt each other?’
27 “But the man who was mistreating the other pushed Moses aside and said, ‘Who made you ruler and judge over us? 28 Do you want to kill me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday?’ 29 When Moses heard this, he fled to Midian, where he settled as a foreigner and had two sons.
{All bold text and underlining are my additions}
I've underlined and made bold all of the parts which have to do with Moses' three objections. Simply put, Moses' objections are based in what life experience has taught him. If you look in verse 22 you'll see that young Moses, "was powerful in speech and action." "Powerful in speech and action," is vastly different from old Moses in Exodus 4:10
10 Moses said to the LORD, “O Lord, I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since you have spoken to your servant. I am slow of speech and tongue."
How should we explain the discrepancy between younger Moses, "...powerful in speech and action," and old Moses, "I am slow of speech and tongue?" We're told, "Moses was educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians..." Ever here the old saying, "What you don't use you lose?" After 40 years in the wilderness, tending sheep, Moses has lost the use of, "...all the wisdom of the Egyptians." How fascinating that Moses, at the peak of his powers and abilities isn't useful to God. It is only when Moses is old and out of practice that Moses is, finally called by God.
I want you to notice something else, and this is incredibly important. Take a look at a couple pieces of Scripture, from both Exodus, and Acts.
23 “When Moses was forty years old, he decided to visit his fellow Israelites...
25 Moses thought that his own people would realize that God was using him to rescue them, but they did not.
~ Acts 7:23 & 25
10 So now, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt.”
~ Exodus 3:10
What is different about the two sections of Scripture? The difference is the key to everything. When Moses is 40 what does he do? "...he decided to visit his fellow Israelites." Why does Moses decide to visit Israel? Moses thought his own people would realize God was using him to rescue them. The people didn't recognize Moses as anything but a murderer. Why doesn't Moses succeed even though Moses clearly understands God has called him to save the Hebrew slaves??? Who does Moses go to??? The Hebrew slaves, right?! 40 years later who does God send Moses to visit?! God tells Moses to go to Pharaoh! Moses goes to the slaves, but when God sends Moses he sends him to Pharaoh.
When Moses calls himself, to the role of savior, he goes to the slaves. But when God calls Moses he sends him to the slave master, Pharaoh. When men call themselves they deal with the result of a problem. When God calls a person to service it is to deal with the root, or cause of the problem. Moses with all of the wisdom of Egypt can't achieve the salvation God desires. God doesn't merely break the chains of bondage, he wants to destroy the very source of bondage. Egypt is a model, held up for the Jews, as an explanation of human bondage to sin. Pharaoh, is the model for Satan as slave master. God demolishes Pharaoh and Egypt. If Moses had lead the slaves in rebellion he might have succeeded, but what one man took from Pharaoh and Egypt could be retaken by a new Pharaoh. What humans do for themselves can be undone by other humans. If God does the work then the work stays done! Of course humans are so used to bondage we tend not to stray far from it. This is why God tells us,
1 "It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery."
~ Galatians 5:1
When God destroys something he kills it at the root. Humans have no choice but to compromise, with sin, for we can never truly free ourselves. God does the work completely, or he doesn't do it at all. God had to come down, and perform his call in and through Moses. Moses could never have even comprehended all that God could and would do. The only person who can accomplish God's work is God. God has always worked through human beings to achieve his ends, but there is no doubt, whatsoever, that it is God who is doing the work, from beginning to end.
God doesn't become angry with Moses, because Moses is telling the truth. Moses is absolutely incapable of doing what God has called him to do. But when Moses speaks a fourth time God becomes angry. Ignorance doesn't make God angry. Disobedience makes God angry.
13 But Moses said, “O Lord, please send someone else to do it.” 14 Then the LORD’s anger burned against Moses..."
Exodus 4:13-14a
"I don't want to do it," is what makes God angry with Moses. God has no need for Moses to know what to do. All God needs from Moses is obedience.
SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT...
God is, "the same yesterday, today, and forever..." If God became angry at Moses for being disobedient will he be any less angry with us when we are disobedient? Do you think God is at all impressed with Christians who don't obey? Will God excuse those who claim ignorance, saying, "I don't know what to do?" Moses wasn't filled with the Holy Spirit, but since Christ, every believer is filled with the Spirit of God. Those who claim belief in Christ have less excuse than Moses!
Lonnie
NEXT POST:
THEORETICAL CHRISTIANITY ISN'T CHRISTIAN! Part 2 C
The Moses Principles:
C) Obedience Gives Us Eyes To See God,
And Fills Us With An Indefatigable
Desire For More Of God
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