Moses and doing the Will of God

Moses and the Will of God  Exodus 5

   Today's Old Testament reading continues with Moses proceeding to do the will of God after the encounter with Him at the burning bush where he learns God's name," I am that I am" .  Moses is spoken of in the Epistle to the Hebrews in the same vein as Christ and so we see how important Moses was to the economy of God's salvation and purpose. " Wherefore holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus, who was faithful to Him that appointed Him, AS ALSO MOSES was faithful in all his house. " Hebrews 3:1  That is a remarkable credit to Moses.  He is called the one who " builded the house" where Christ is the house. Hebrews 3:3

    Moses returns to Egypt for that was God wanted. He gathered the elders together Ex 3:16 at God's direction and told them what was coming.  Say unto them ," The LORD God of your fathers ..has seen that which was done to you in Egypt...and I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt..."

    We learn in chapter 5 that after telling the ruler of Egypt, Pharaoh, " Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, ' Let my people go , that they may hold a feast in the wilderness.." , Pharaoh replies, " Who is the LORD, that I should obey His voice to let Israel go?  I know not the LORD, neither will I let Israel go."

     Point 1 is we too experience this as Christians in our lives as well.  We serve God , listen to Him and try and do His will.  The world says, " Who is the LORD?"...with no intention of following what we have told them, and or what the LORD says.  The government at that time, Pharaoh , had no intention of listening to Moses.  Even though Moses was God's spokesman , despite some reluctance on his part. " But behold they will not believe me....for they will say, ' the LORD  hath not  appeared unto thee.." 4:2  God gave Moses the rod that turned into a serpent  after he cast it unto the ground as a crediting witness .  He also had him put his hand into his bosom turned it leprous and healing it. Moses says he is not eloquent.  4:10 He cannot be the spokesman, and God is not happy with him.  Instead Aaron is appointed the spokesman. 

      Despite our reluctance as well,  we speak God's Word to others,  because we are called to do that.  We speak God's Word to the  Church and to the government as well.  That is often no attention even in the Church to the Word and we certainly know the government is listening to someone else most of the time, not God.  We must continue to speak the Word because that is the only thing that will make our nation strong and our community here as well. 

      Point 2 is that Pharaoh not only ignores Moses' request to go into the wilderness with the people to " sacrifice unto the LORD our God ...." for three days, but Pharaoh makes the burdens of the people harder.  " Ye shall no more give the people straw to make brick, as heretofore: let them go and gather straw for themselves." 5:7  Doing the will of God is not always easy .  Moses had no idea at the burning bush that this would happen.  The people complain to Moses and Aaron, " and they met Moses and Aaron, who stood in the way, as they came forth from Pharoah, and they said unto them, ' The LORD look upon you, and judge...because ye have made our savour to be abhored in the eyes of Pharaoh.." 5:21

     I Corinthians 10: 13 tells us about testings .  " God is faithful who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able, but will with the temptation also make a way of escape, that ye may be able to bear it."   When the going gets tough , the tough get going.  Our choices too show our character.  Will we follow Christ and His Word?  Will we make decisions on the Word or will we figure ways to circumvent the clear instruction God gives?  There will always be big and little Pharaohs who will try and tell us to do such and such, but we must tell them as did the Apostle Peter when told not to teach in the name of Jesus, " We ought to obey God rather than men." Acts 5:29

      Lastly in our reading today from Exodus, point 3, 6:1 " Then the LORD said unto Moses, ' Now thou shalt see what I will do unto Pharoah: for with a strong hand shall he let them go....I am the LORD"  Which side are we on?  Whose people are we?  Whose Word do we listen to and obey?  In the end  the rulers of this world will not triumph with their ungodly laws and false accusations.  There is only one ruler in the universe and it is not men or the government. God alone is LORD.  There is no other, and He will not bless us if we ignore Him. 

       Our allegiance is always going to be tried and tested to see if it is real, or are we serving God to get what He gives?  We must serve Him because He is God and for no other reason.  He will always give us what we need. " But my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus." Philippians 4:19

         What made us great as a nation is not our wealth or our influence.  What made us great and can make us great again is our faithfulness to listening to God first and His Word.  That was sustained the leaders of our nation through trials and that is what will sustain us. 

            " One of the most tragic events in Reagan's presidency was the bombing of the Marine barracks in Beirut, where hundreds of Americans were killed or wounded as they slept...Marine Commandant Paul Kelly visited some of the wounded in a Frankfurt hospital.  Among them was Cpl Jeffrey Nashton.  He had so many tubes running in and out of his body that a witness said he looked more like a machine than a man.  Yet he survived.  As Kelly neared him, Nashton struggling to move and racked with pain motioned for a piece of paper and a pen. He wrote a brief note and passed it back to the Commandant.  On the slip of paper were two words----" Semper Fi" the Latin motto of the Marines meaning ' forever faithful'.  With those two simple words Nashton spoke for all Americans who have sacrificed limb and body and their lives for their country---those who have remained faithful."  from " Sermon Illustrations"

                 And all God's people said, " Amen."