Submitted by Tommy Galik
And now the cry of the Israelites has reached me and I have seen
the way the Egyptians are oppressing them. So now, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh
to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt. Exodus 3:9-10
Joseph, a Hebrew, was sold into slavery by his brothers. He
rose quickly to power in Egypt. After his death, the new Pharaoh became afraid
that the Hebrews would turn against Egypt if a war broke out. They made the
Hebrews slaves and treated them in an inhumane way. The people cried out to God
for deliverance and God answered their prayers. God needed a man who would
accept this challenge to get Pharaoh to release the Israelites so that they
could head to the Promised Land that God promised them.
God chose Moses to be the general in charge of confronting
Pharaoh to release the people. Moses was reluctant to accept God’s call. He
doubted his ability to speak before the king or that the people would accept a
man who was brought up in the court of Pharaoh. He was afraid that he could not
communicate God’s message. He lacked confidence in himself and was afraid to
represent God before Pharaoh. He didn’t believe he possessed the leadership
skills necessary to lead a large group of people who didn’t trust or even know
him. He didn’t see or couldn’t see the hand of God working to prepare him to be
an ambassador to one of the most powerful men at the time.
After Moses presented a few feeble excuses to God on why he
couldn’t serve God, God gave Aaron, Moses brother, to be his spoken before
Pharaoh. God wanted Moses to be the leader and He found a way to accommodate
Moses and have his leader. Moses saw himself as a speck of dust that was
insignificant before the god like Pharaoh. Moses was only concerned about his
personal life rather than the lives of his people.
Moses gives us a glimpse of his humanness. Moses was flesh
and blood like us. He was afraid of Pharaoh and the possible punishments that
Pharaoh could inflict on him. He didn’t want to suffer physical or emotional
pain. He wanted to enjoy life and his family without unnecessary stress to
complicate his life.
We are like Moses many times. Our humanness seeks to
overthrow our spirituality. It seeks to reduce us to a helpless, unconfident
servant of God. Our humanness will try to defeat us as we serve God… and the
good news is that God has the power and is willing to help us to overcome it.
The key is get in the game, try, and trust God to help you find a way to
overcome it. God gave Aaron to Moses to fulfilled his responsibility. God will
find a way to help you serve him. One of the most important thing you can do is
to accept your humanness – that you are going to make mistakes, fall on your
face, and disappoint yourself. Most people will forgive our failures but can we
forgives ourselves for not trying to serve God or walking with God in a faith
relationship. It is better to try and fail than to play it safe. Spiritual
growth will not occur unless we try and fail. We learn from our failures but if
we fail to try to serve, we don’t learn anything about the power of God to help
us in our services.
So now, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the
Israelites out of Egypt. Exodus 3:10
