Knowing When to Leave

Moses Given Powers

1 Then Moses said, "What if they will not believe me or listen to what I say? For they may say, 'The LORD has not appeared to you.'" 2 The LORD said to him, "What is that in your hand?" And he said, "A staff." 3 Then He said, "Throw it on the ground." So he threw it on the ground, and it became a serpent; and Moses fled from it. 4 But the LORD said to Moses, "Stretch out your hand and grasp it by its tail"—so he stretched out his hand and caught it, and it became a staff in his hand— 5 "that they may believe that the LORD, the God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has appeared to you."
6 The LORD furthermore said to him, "Now put your hand into your bosom." So he put his hand into his bosom, and when he took it out, behold, his hand was leprous like snow. 7 Then He said, "Put your hand into your bosom again." So he put his hand into his bosom again, and when he took it out of his bosom, behold, it was restored like the rest of his flesh. 8 "If they will not believe you or heed the witness of the first sign, they may believe the witness of the last sign. 9 "But if they will not believe even these two signs or heed what you say, then you shall take some water from the Nile and pour it on the dry ground; and the water which you take from the Nile will become blood on the dry ground."
10 Then Moses said to the LORD, "Please, Lord, I have never been eloquent, neither recently nor in time past, nor since You have spoken to Your servant; for I am slow of speech and slow of tongue." 11 The LORD said to him, "Who has made man's mouth? Or who makes him mute or deaf, or seeing or blind? Is it not I, the LORD? 12 "Now then go, and I, even I, will be with your mouth, and teach you what you are to say." 13 But he said, "Please, Lord, now send the message by whomever You will."

Aaron to Be Moses' Mouthpiece

14 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. 15 "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. 16 "Moreover, he shall speak for you to the people; and he will be as a mouth for you and you will be as God to him. 17 "You shall take in your hand this staff, with which you shall perform the signs."
18 Then Moses departed and returned to Jethro his father-in-law and said to him, "Please, let me go, that I may return to my brethren who are in Egypt, and see if they are still alive." And Jethro said to Moses, "Go in peace." 19 Now the LORD said to Moses in Midian, "Go back to Egypt, for all the men who were seeking your life are dead." 20 So Moses took his wife and his sons and mounted them on a donkey, and returned to the land of Egypt. Moses also took the staff of God in his hand.

We should talk a little bit about Moses' "triumphant" departure from Midian..

walking through the desert...with a donkey...and a big stick....

If you will recall, Moses left the idealism of his youth and moved to Midian to start a family. Moses had become comfortable; he had married a woman he loved and she had given birth to two sons. Moses was part of a respectable household and was not in any danger. Life was good...even if it wasn't particularly engaging.

For a third of his life, Moses stayed in Midian...there is no reason to think that Moses believed anything different than that he would die in Midian. That was his home...why not stay there?

Then, of course, comes the burning bush...and from within it, the voice which tells Moses to leave his cushy spot in the burbs and lead a nation of people, who had previously tried to kill him, against the most powerful empire in the world.

Frankly, Moses had other plans.......

As we enter the passage from Exodus 4, we see that Moses is trying to weasel out of this assignment (can we blame him?).

"What if I tell them that I have seen God and they don't believe me?"

Pretty good question.....they probably wouldn't (actually we know they won't believe him)...

God comes back to Moses with a staff that can perform amazing signs...they will know by the miracles that God is with Moses....

Moses, however, still isn't budging.....

"But, you know I am really bad at speaking...no one is going to listen to me..."

It is at this point, that God gets a little perturbed...reminding Moses that He created speech itself, and probably has such minor problems worked out...don't you think?

So, Moses is left with a choice....a very clear choice: obey the will of God, or continue to hide out in Midian. It's a choice that many people face in the Bible, and one that different people face in different ways. Jonah, for instance, chooses to run away from the will of God...unsuccessfully. Others immediately follow God's command (Amos); most end up doing what Moses does: try to get out of it, and then go forward in faith.

Can you imagine the conversation Moses had with his wife...or his father-in-law? Moses takes his small family out from the bosom of safety and leads them (on a donkey) into the heart of danger. Moses, the man who was rejected by both Egyptian and Jew, is now going to be the most important man in history? Fat chance......

Ultimately, though, the lesson of Moses is not one of instant faith and success...it is a lesson in obeying God, and knowing the right time to make a change in his life.

When Moses had first arrived in Midian, he had to bring enormous scars from his childhood experiences. There must have been enormous temptations to try and make things better back home...even with the danger that he faced. In Egypt, Moses was a prince...a leader of men; in Midian, he was Joe Schmoe....the foreign guy down the block. That can't have been an easy transition to make.

Just as important as keeping the temptation to return in check was, it was also important to not let a comfortable lifestyle interfere with his responsibility to obey God.

And that, of course, is the challenge for a lot of us in the suburbs of Midian...not replacing the God of Abraham with the god of middle class (or upper class) comforts. Church is hard to get to when the bed is so comfortable; I want to join the bible study, but it's on at the same time as Lost; sure I could do something more meaningful, but, this pays a lot more money.

Most of us don't have a burning bush experience; but, neither are most of us called to lead an entire people out of the oppression of the most powerful empire in the world. That said, the example of Moses shouldn't be lost on us. At the proper time, God gives us the tools and the support we need to do something positive and important. Doing these tasks means interrupting the normal, and may mean the strong possibility of failing. As Moses learned, though, our limitations do not hamper God's power...and running away from our duties is not a solution (just ask Jonah...).

Our time in Midian is a blessed time, when real ministry and growth can happen; but, that does not mean that we are not faithful when it is time to leave once more.