Listening to God

Exodus 6:1-9

“1 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Now you shall see what I will do to Pharaoh: indeed, by a mighty hand he will let them go; by a mighty hand he will drive them out of his land.” 2 God also spoke to Moses and said to him, “I am the Lord. 3 I appeared to Abraham, Isaac, and 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, the land in which they resided as aliens. 5 I have also heard the groaning of the Israelites whom the Egyptians have enslaved, and I have remembered my covenant. 6 Say therefore to the Israelites: I am the Lord, and I will free you from the burdens of the Egyptians and deliver you from slavery to them. I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great acts of judgment. 7 I will take you as my people, and I will be your God. You shall know that I am the Lord your God, who has freed you from the burdens of the Egyptians. 8 I will bring you into the land that I swore to give to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; I will give it to you for a possession. I am the Lord.” 9 Moses told this to the Israelites, but they would not listen to Moses, because of their broken spirit and their cruel slavery.”

Moses delivered God’s message of deliverance to The Pharaoh, but he would not listen because he was too lofty and entitled; he was (in the mind of the Egyptians) a god.

Moses delivered God’s message of deliverance to the Israelite slaves, but they did not listen, or could not listen, or did not believe the message due to the nature of their circumstances: their broken spirits and their cruel enslavement.

As Christians, God speaks to us every day through the Holy Spirit.  In order to hear His voice we must intentionally listen.  Sometimes our circumstances prevent us from doing this.  Sometimes we have broken spirits.  Sometimes we have confusing or cruel circumstances in our lives that cause us to suffer.

But, even if we refuse to hear or are unable to hear, God is still present and acting, and moving in this world…

Always.

May the love of Christ be with you,

Rev. Eric Lanier (Retired)

God Allows Us to Choose

Exodus 5: 19-23

“19 The Israelite supervisors saw that they were in trouble when they were told, “You shall not lessen your daily number of bricks.” 20 As they left Pharaoh, they came upon Moses and Aaron, who were waiting to meet them. 21 They said to them, “The Lord look upon you and judge! You have brought us into bad odor with Pharaoh and his officials and have put a sword in their hand to kill us.” 22 Then Moses turned to the Lord and said, “O my Lord, why have you mistreated this people? Why did you ever send me? 23 Since I first came to Pharaoh to speak in your name, he has mistreated this people, and you have done nothing at all to deliver your people.”

The leaders (supervisors) of the Israelites were in trouble with the Pharaoh because of Moses.  They blamed Moses, not the Pharaoh, for the mistreatment of the Israelite people, and especially the treatment that they, themselves, were receiving.

Moses began to question his presence and his mission in Egypt.  Moses saw the harsh treatment of the Israelites and wondered why God did not intervene.  

God often receives the blame for things that have been brought about through human will and human hands.  When God does not swoop out of the heavens and save us from ourselves we begin to have doubts about God, but not about ourselves.

Moses blamed God for the mistreatment of the Israelites.  God allowed the mistreatment, but God did not mistreat them. It was the Egyptians that chose to mistreat the Israelites.

God allows us to choose, to make decisions about our behavior, our words, our actions.  When our plans fail or when we act badly, we blame others, not ourselves.  We may even blame God.

Moses accused God of doing nothing at all to deliver the Israelites.  Perhaps Moses had forgotten his purpose for being in Egypt.

Moses was about to see God’s plan unfold.

May the love of Christ be with you,

Rev. Eric Lanier (Retired)

Our Need for a Savior

Exodus 5:4-9

“4 But the king of Egypt said to them, “Moses and Aaron, why are you taking the people away from their work? Get to your labors!” 5 Pharaoh continued, “Now they are more numerous than the people of the land and yet you want them to stop laboring!” 6 That same day Pharaoh commanded the taskmasters of the people, as well as their supervisors, 7 “You shall no longer give the people straw to make bricks, as before; let them go and gather straw for themselves. 8 But you shall require of them the same quantity of bricks as they have made previously; do not diminish it, for they are lazy; that is why they cry, ‘Let us go and sacrifice to our God.’ 9 Let heavier work be laid on them; then they will pay attention to it and not to deceptive words.”

The Pharaoh thought that by adding more tasks, demanding more, and generally making their lives harder, the Israelites would blame Moses, not listen to him and reject him.  

Also, by making their lives harder, the Pharaoh hoped to convince the Israelites that the God that Moses said sent him was not real and they would pay no attention to the words of Moses.  

One of the arguments people use to persuade people that there is no God is to point to the hardships and the evil that exist and say, “See, if there was a God, these things would not exist.”

But, the Pharaoh was responsible for the evil and the hardships of the Israelites, and much of the evil and suffering of today is created by human hands.  

The evil and suffering that we create does not disprove God…

but does prove our bent to sin and our dire need for a savior.

“For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” (Romans 3:23)

May the love of Christ be with you,

Rev. Eric Lanier (Retired)

He Calls Us By Our Names

Exodus 5: 1-2

“1 Afterward, Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and said, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Let my people go, so that they may celebrate a festival to me in the wilderness.” 2 But Pharaoh said, “Who is the Lord, that I should listen to him and let Israel go? I do not know the Lord, and I will not let Israel go.”

Pharaoh did not know the one true God, but knew the names of many false gods and even regarded himself as a god.  

The divine Pharaoh was considered the intermediary between all other gods and Egyptian people.  The Egyptian people could not speak directly to any god, except through the Pharaoh.  And the Egyptian gods spoke to no one except through the Pharaoh.

Because Moses, who was not divine, brought the Pharaoh a message from the God of Israel, the Pharaoh refused to hear Moses, or  to believe what this God said.  All gods spoke only to and through the Pharaoh.

Christians, at times, have trouble believing that the God of the universe speaks directly to them.  The same God that spoke to Moses, to Abraham, to Noah,to the prophets, and to Paul speaks to us.

The Holy Spirit of that same God dwells in us.

We do not need an intermediary.  We know the Lord.  

He is involved in our personal lives.  We can pray to Him directly.

And He calls us by our names.

“To him the gatekeeper opens. The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.”  (John 10:3)

May the love of Christ be with you,

Rev. Eric Lanier (Retired)

The Assurance of God’s Presence

Exodus 4: 10-12

10 Moses said to the Lord, “Pardon your servant, 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.” 11 The Lord said to him, “Who gave human beings their mouths? Who makes them deaf or mute? Who gives them sight or makes them blind? Is it not I, the Lord? 12 Now go; I will help you speak and will teach you what to say.”

One of the biggest fears people have is speaking in public.  It is estimated that this fear affects 75% of the total adult population.  We do not like to speak at meetings or in church, etc because we are afraid we do not know enough, or people will not believe us, or they will think we are stupid.

Now, suppose you were Moses and God was asking you to go to Egypt and speak to the Pharaoh, the most powerful ruler in the world, and your message to him was essentially a demand from God, “Let my people go.”

You and I would be reluctant to do this, just as Moses was.  We read this passage and we are quick to point out how reluctant Moses was, yet I think 75% of us would react in the same way.

Moses has a very human reaction to God’s request.  Yet, God persisted and assured Moses that He would be with him every step of the way, helping him speak and teaching him what to say.

Christians have the same assurance of God’s presence and God’s power in their lives.  

All we have to do is believe.

I Am Who I Am

Exodus 3: 13-15

13 But Moses said to God, “If I come to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your ancestors has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what shall I say to them?” 14 God said to Moses, “I am who I am.” He said further, “Thus you shall say to the Israelites, ‘I am has sent me to you.’ ” 15 God also said to Moses, “Thus you shall say to the Israelites, ‘The Lord,the God of your ancestors, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you’: This is my name forever, and this my title for all generations.”

Moses was raised by the Egyptian royal family.  The Egyptians worshiped thousands of gods, but only about 1500 are known by name.  Some of the most commonly known of their gods were Amun-Ra: The Hidden One, Mut: The Mother Goddess,

Osirus: The King of the Living, Anubis: The Divine Embalmer, Ra: God of the Sun and Radiance, Horus: God of Vengeance,and Thoth: God of Knowledge and Wisdom.

After Moses fled to the wilderness he married a Midianite woman whose father was a Midianite priest.  Midianite gods included Baal and Ashtaroth.

Moses had been exposed to hundreds of pagan gods throughout his lifetime. No doubt he knew the names of many and may have even participated in the worship of some of them, since he had been separated from his native culture since birth.

Moses was curious to know the name of the God that was speaking to him, since no pagan god had ever spoken to him.  The answer Moses received was mysterious.  

By saying “I am who I am”, God was telling Moses that He was the one true God, who had always existed and always would exist.  He was the God that the Egyptians and Midianites searched for but had not found.  He was the essence of life and all of human experience.

And He was the God of Moses’ ancestors.

At last, Moses had found his true compass, his one true God.

I Will Be With You

 Exodus 3:7-12

“7 Then the Lord said, “I have observed the misery of my people who are in Egypt; I have heard their cry on account of their taskmasters. Indeed, I know their sufferings, 8 and I have come down to deliver them from the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land to a good and spacious land, to a land flowing with milk and honey, to the country of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. 9 The cry of the Israelites has now come to me; I have also seen how the Egyptians oppress them. 10 Now go, I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people, the Israelites, out of Egypt.” 11 But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?” 12 He said, “I will be with you, and this shall be the sign for you that it is I who sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain.”

God had heard the cry of the Israelites, and he revealed to Moses His plan to deliver them from Egypt.   I can imagine Moses listening and nodding his head, saying “Yes Lord!” until God got to the part about how Moses would be the deliverer; Moses would be sent to the Pharaoh to tell the most powerful ruler in the world to “Let my people go.”

And Moses replied to God, “Who am I?”  In other words, Moses was telling God to choose someone else; he was not the right person.  God had made a mistake.

But God knew Moses’ heart.  He knew Moses better than Moses knew himself.  God knew that Moses was the right person for the right job at the right time.

A shepherd in the wilderness would become the deliverer of thousands who were in bondage.

“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.” 

(John 10:11)

May the love of Christ be with you,

Rev. Eric Lanier (Retired)