Can God Make a Way Where There Seems to Be No Way?

Posted on November 11, 2020 by russellmckinney

(“Questions From Israel’s Exodus” series: post #11)

In the previous post, I explained that God’s route for Israel’s exodus from Egypt was not the commonsensical route that anybody would have expected them to take. Rather than have the Israelites head northeast along the shores of the Mediterranean Sea, He had them head southeast toward Mount Sinai. Why did God do this?

His reasons were three-fold. First, He didn’t want the just-released Israelites to have to quickly go from slaves to soldiers when they would inevitably encounter the Philistines who lived along the Mediterranean coast. Second, Mount Sinai was where He had spoken to Moses at the burning bush and promised him, “When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain” (Exodus 3:12, N.K.J.V.). Third, even though the Israelites didn’t know it yet, God planned for them to remain encamped at Mount Sinai for well over a year as they received His law and built the Tabernacle, that movable site of worship that would serve them so well in the centuries before Solomon would build the Jerusalem Temple.

On their way toward Mount Sinai, God told Moses to have the Israelites camp at a specific site along the shoreline of the Red Sea (Exodus 14:1-2). Camping at that site would make the Israelites totally vulnerable to attack because it would pin them up against the waters of the sea where they would have no path of escape. Was God crazy for leading His chosen people to such a bottleneck? To the contrary, it was all part of His plan. He told Moses, “For Pharaoh will say of the children of Israel, ‘They are bewildered by the land; the wilderness has closed them in.’ Then I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, so that he will pursue them; and I will gain honor over Pharaoh and over all his army, that the Egyptians may know that I am the Lord” (Exodus 14:3-4, N.K.J.V.).

Once the location of Israel’s encampment got back to Pharaoh, he became emboldened to act. Some time had now passed since the night of the tenth plague, things had settled down in Egypt, and he and his fellow Egyptians had come to regret letting the Israelites leave. So, he climbed into his personal chariot and led 600 other chariots, as well as untold numbers of horsemen, in a hot campaign to reclaim the Israelites (Exodus 14:5-9). When they came upon the Israelites, who were still encamped at the Red Sea, the specter of Pharaoh and his mighty army struck great fear into the Israelites (Exodus 14:10).

As would be their consistent pattern in years to come, the Israelites immediately turned upon Moses and blamed him for what they felt was going to be their certain doom. They said to him, “Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in this wilderness” (Exodus 14:11-12). Moses, to his eternal credit, remained calm and didn’t respond in anger to the rebuke. He simply said, “Do not be afraid. Stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord, which He will accomplish for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall see again no more forever. The Lord will fight for you and you shall hold your peace.” (Exodus 14:13-14). That’s faith. That’s leadership.

The rest of the story played out to the tune of the following sequence:

  • God promised Moses that the waters of the sea would be divided and the Israelites would cross through the midst of the sea on dry ground. (Exodus 14:16)
  • The Angel of God (Jesus in preincarnate form), who was inside the pillar of cloud, moved from standing ahead of the Israelites to standing behind them. (Exodus 14:19)
  • The presence of the Angel/cloud served to keep the Israelites and the Egyptians separated for the rest of that day and all of that night. The Israelites didn’t even know when the night began because their side of the Angel/cloud remained in light the entire time while the Egyptians’ side sank into darkness. (Exodus 14:20)
  • Moses stretched out his rod over the sea, as God had previously told him to do (Exodus 14:16), and the Lord caused a strong easterly wind to start blowing. The strong wind blew all night long, and the end result was that the waters of the Red Sea were walled up on both sides thus creating a path of dry land right through the middle. (Exodus 14:21)
  • The Israelites marched into the path and walked it completely through the Red Sea until they reached the opposite shore. (Exodus 14:22)
  • The Angel/cloud allowed the Egyptians, chariots and horsemen alike, to head into the dry path themselves. Once all the Egyptians were inside the Sea, the Angel of the Lord slowed down the Egyptian chariots by causing them to have difficulty with their wheels. (Exodus 14:24-25)
  • When Egypt’s soldiers saw the trouble the chariots were having, they panicked and said, “Let us flee from the face of Israel, for the Lord fights for them against the Egyptians.” But it was too late as God told Moses, who was standing on the opposite shore, to stretch out his hand (rod) over the sea again and bring the waters back together so that the sea could reclaim its full depth. (Exodus 14:25-28)
  • The Egyptian army — men, chariots, and horses — was drowned by the crushing waters as those waters fell upon them like awesome waterfalls. As the Israelites stood on the opposite shore, they watched as some of the drowned corpses of the Egyptians started washing up on that shore. (Exodus 14:30-31)

One of the questions that commentators and Bible scholars debate is whether or not Pharaoh himself was part of the drowning in the Red Sea. If you’ve ever seen the famous Cecil B. DeMille movie “The Ten Commandments,” you know that the Pharaoh of that movie survives by remaining on the shore while his troops move into the Red Sea. Some students of the Bible have disputed that part of the movie, but others say that DeMille probably got that part right.

In Exodus 14:28, the Bible says: “Then the waters returned and covered the chariots, the horsemen, and all the army of Pharaoh that came into the sea after them. Not so much as one of them remained” (N.K.J.V.). Notice that the wording there doesn’t specifically name Pharaoh. Furthermore, it also leaves open the possibility that some of Egypt’s army didn’t actually enter into the Red Sea in pursuit of the Israelites.

Also, the debate about the actual identity of the Pharaoh comes into play here. For example, if the Pharaoh was Amenhotep II, historical records indicate that he did not die by being drowned in the Red Sea. Unfortunately, however, even solid, reputable, conservative scholars aren’t all in agreement on which Pharaoh was the Pharaoh of the Exodus. That’s actually a big part of the whole debate.

Those who believe that Pharaoh did drown in the Red Sea point to Psalm 136:15, which says that God “…overthrew Pharaoh and his army in the Red Sea” (N.K.J.V.). That verse is basically just a repeating of Exodus 14:27, which says “…So the Lord overthrew the Egyptians in the midst of the sea.” At first blush, Psalm 136:15 might seem to make a slam-dunk case that Pharaoh did drown, but the interpretation isn’t so simple. I say that because the Hebrew word translated as “overthrew” in both Psalm 136:15 and Exodus 14:27 is naar, and that word literally means “shook off.” You see, saying that God “shook off” Pharaoh and his army might equate to Him killing Pharaoh by way of drowning him, but it doesn’t absolutely have to equate to that.

Another passage that gets kicked around in an attempt to answer the question is Exodus 15:19. That verse says in the classic King James version: “For the horse of Pharaoh went in with his chariots and his horsemen into the sea, and the Lord brought again the waters of the sea upon them…” Many point to the use of that singular word “horse” and say, “That proves that Pharaoh went into the sea and drown there.” Here again, though, the interpretation isn’t so simple. This time the problem is that all the modern translations, including the New King James, use the plural word “horses” rather than the singular word “horse.” The plural, of course, opens the door for a completely different conclusion.

But that’s enough of all that. Regardless of whether or not Pharaoh himself drowned in the Red Sea, the question before us right now is: “Can God make a way where there seems to be no way?” And the answer to that is an emphatic, “YES!!!” Any God who can create a dry path for the Israelites to use to walk through the heart of the Red Sea can certainly create a path of deliverance for you, too. Keep this in mind the next time you find yourself trapped in a situation that seems to hold no way of escape. Just look to God and say, “Lord, right now I feel like the Israelites standing on the shore of the Red Sea with Pharaoh’s army bearing down upon them. You helped them, so I’m asking you right now to help me.” Pray that prayer in faith, and then don’t be surprised when you start feeling God’s wind upon your face and seeing His path.

Posted in Adversity, Comfort, Courage, Depression, Disappointment, Doubt, Encouragement, God's Omnipotence, God's Omniscience, God's Provision, God's Sovereignty, Needs, Perseverance, Prayer, Prayer Requests, Problems, Restoration, Series: "Questions From Israel's Exodus", Trials, Trusting In God | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Does God Lead Us Along Routes That Don’t Make Sense?

Posted on November 9, 2020 by russellmckinney

(“Questions From Israel’s Exodus” series: post #10)

God had to use unprecedented plagues, ten of them, to get Pharaoh to release the Israelites from their Egyptian bondage. At last, however, Pharaoh did relent. The Israelites’ departure from Egypt was sudden and swift, a monumental undertaking that required over two million people to be put on the move literally overnight.

As Pharaoh grieved for his dead firstborn son in the middle of the night, he had Moses and Aaron brought to him. He told them, “Rise, go out from among my people, both you and the children of Israel. And go, serve the Lord as you have said. Also take your flocks and your herds, as you have said, and be gone; and bless me also” (Exodus 12:31-32, N.K.J.V.). His request for Moses and Aaron to bless him evidenced just how broken he now was. His fellow Egyptians, for their part, felt the same way. They begged the Israelites to leave in haste for fear that Israel’s God would kill every last Egyptian before He was finished (Exodus 12:33).

The Israelites left but not before they asked the Egyptians to give them clothing, articles of silver, and articles of gold (Exodus 12:35). We might think the Egyptians would have resented such a request, but by that point they were willing to give the Israelites anything to get them to leave (Exodus 12:36). As a matter of fact, this plundering had been a part of God’s plan all along. Even before Moses had returned to Egypt, God had told him not only to have the Israelites make the request but also that the Egyptians would comply with it (Exodus 3:21-22). Just prior to the tenth plague, God had even reaffirmed His word regarding the plundering (Exodus 11:1-2). Going back even further, centuries earlier He had told Abraham that his descendants would be afflicted in a foreign land for 400 years and afterward come out with great possessions (Genesis 15:12-14).

And so, the Israelites marched out of Egypt. There were approximately 600,000 adult men, which commentators reckon as over two million people when wives and children are added to the total (Exodus 12:37; Numbers 1:44-46)). A “mixed multitude” left with the Israelites as well (Exodus 12:38). These were people from other races, perhaps even some Egyptians, who chose to align themselves with Israel rather Egypt.

And how did God lead the Israelites as they made their way each day and night? The Bible says He went before them in a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night (Exodus 13:21-22). Wherever the pillar went, they followed. Whenever it stopped, they stopped. The strange thing, though, about that whole process is that God did not lead the Israelites along the most logical route, the route any ancient g.p.s. system would have told them to take to get from Egypt to Canaan. That logical route would have taken them northeastward out of Egypt and up along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea.

Okay, so why didn’t God lead them via that route? It was because from His perspective there was a serious problem with the route. You see, since the Philistines controlled the territory beyond Egypt’s northern boundary and along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea, the Israelites would have eventually encountered them had they attempted to enter Canaan that way. As the story tells us, God didn’t want those Israelites, who had been slaves their entire lives and knew nothing about warfare, to encounter the Philistines, get scared, and decide to go back to Egypt (Exodus 13:17).

So, rather than lead them along that route, God led them by way of the wilderness that surrounded the Red Sea. That meant that they traveled a long distance south, in the opposite direction of Canaan, before they ever started traveling north again. As we will learn in the next post, God had another reason for having the Israelites travel this route. For now, though, let’s just employ this part of the story to learn the lesson that God doesn’t always lead us in ways that make sense.

Actually, what I should say is that He doesn’t always lead us in ways that make sense to us. From His perspective, of course, He always has His reasons for what He does. We might not know why He is having us take some path, but He knows why He is doing it. We might not see the logic of His will, but He does. The fact was that God was doing the Israelites a favor. You see, He knew their weaknesses better than they did, and He led them along a route that kept those weaknesses from being exposed.

Please think back upon this story, Christian, the next time God leads you along a route that makes no sense to you. You are free to ask Him why He is doing what He is doing, but I can tell you from personal experience that He might not give you an answer that suits you. During such times the best you can do is boil everything down to the simple obedience of following the pillar. No, you won’t see a literal pillar in the sky like the Israelites did, but because you are a Christian, you have one major blessing they didn’t have. You have God the Holy Spirit dwelling inside you, and He is that still, small voice that tells you, “This is the way, walk in it” even when that way really doesn’t make much sense to you.

Posted in Adversity, Choices, Commitment, Courage, Decisions, Doubt, Dying To Self, Faith, God's Will, Leadership, Obedience, Series: "Questions From Israel's Exodus", Service, Trusting In God | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Will God Make You Do His Will?

Posted on November 6, 2020 by russellmckinney

(“Questions From Israel’s Exodus” series: post #9)

God reigns as sovereign over all His creation. However, He does not exercise His sovereignty in a way that forces people to do what He wants them to do. Instead, He wants people to voluntarily do as He wishes. Unfortunately, this emphasis on volunteers as opposed to draftees or robots keeps the door flung wide open for rebellion on the part of individuals. The examples of such rebellion started with Eve and Adam in the Garden of Eden and have continued to pile up over the eons of history.

One famous rebel was the Pharaoh of the Exodus story. When Moses and Aaron first approached him and requested that he allow the Israelites to journey three days into the desert in order to have a time of offering sacrifices to God, he balked (Exodus 5:1-5). More than balk, he got downright ugly and severely punished the entire Israelite nation by adding the gathering of straw to their brick-making work (Exodus 5:6-19). What he didn’t know was that his boxing match with God was just beginning and he was infinitely overmatched.

For round two, God sent Moses and Aaron back to Pharaoh, and this time He instructed them to do a miracle in His name. He said to Moses, “When Pharaoh asks you to perform a miracle to authenticate yourselves, you tell Aaron to throw down his rod in front of Pharaoh. When He does, it will become a serpent (Exodus 7:8-9).”

Everything went as scheduled and Aaron’s rod did become a serpent (Exodus 7:10), but the miracle didn’t have the desired effect upon Pharaoh. Rather than be impressed, he called in Egypt’s wise men/sorcerers/magicians and to a man they all threw down their rods and somehow matched the miracle (Exodus 7:11-12). Since the Bible offers no indication that these men did this through some kind of deception or chicanery, evidently they did it through the occultic power of Satan. Even when Aaron’s serpent swallowed up all the other serpents Pharaoh didn’t waver in his defiance against God (Exodus 7:12). To the contrary, his heart grew even more hardened (Exodus 7:13).

It was at this point in the story that God began working through Moses and Aaron to inflict Egypt with a series of plagues, ten in all. We might classify each plague as another round between Pharaoh and God. Here is the list of those plagues:

  • Plague #1: God turned all the waters of Egypt into blood, and this caused all the fish to die. Interestingly, Pharaoh’s wise men/sorcerers/magicians were able to match this miracle to some degree. (Exodus 7:14-25)
  • Plague #2: God drove frogs up from the Nile river and the frogs covered the entire land of Egypt. Again Pharaoh’s wise men/sorcerers/magicians were able to match this miracle to some degree. Also, in the midst of this plague, Pharaoh agreed to let the Israelites go and have their time of sacrificing if Moses would pray to God and get Him to take away the frogs. Moses did so, but once the frogs were dead and disposed of Pharaoh reneged on the deal. (Exodus 8:1-15)
  • Plague #3: God caused the dust of the land to become lice that afflicted not only the Egyptians but also their livestock. Pharaoh’s wise men/sorcerers/magicians attempted to duplicate this miracle but were unable to do it. (Exodus 8:16-19)
  • Plague #4: God sent thick swarms of flies to inundate the entire land of Egypt except for the region of Goshen where the Israelites lived. In the midst of this plague, Pharaoh offered to let the Israelites have their time of sacrificing if they would agree to remain in Egypt to do it. Moses refused the offer, and so Pharaoh agreed to let the Israelites go three days into the desert to do the sacrificing if Moses would get God to take away the flies. Again, though, once Moses had done so Pharaoh reneged on the deal. (Exodus 8:20-32)
  • Plague #5: God struck Egypt’s livestock with a severe pestilence that caused each animal to die. The only animals that weren’t struck with the pestilence were the Israelites’ animals. (Exodus 9:1-7)
  • Plague #6: God caused boils to break out on the bodies of Egypt’s people and non-livestock animals. Even Pharaoh’s wise men/sorcerers/magicians became utterly afflicted with the boils. (Exodus 9:8-12)
  • Plague #7: God rained intense hail (mingled with fire) upon Egypt. The hail fell upon everyone and everything and damaged Egypt’s trees and crops. The only place the hail didn’t fall was in Goshen, the region where the Israelites lived. Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron in the midst of the storm and begged them to ask God to make it stop. He said, “If you will do this I will let the Israelites go.” As was the pattern, though, Pharaoh reneged on the deal once Moses had prayed and God had made the hail stop. (Exodus 9:13-35)
  • Plague #8: God brought incredible swarms of locusts down upon Egypt. The locusts filled the houses of the Egyptians, got in the peoples’ eyes, and ate all the remaining crops and vegetation of the land. Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron and begged them to get God to take away the locusts. God did take away the locusts, but Pharaoh still didn’t release the Israelites. (Exodus 10:1-20)
  • Plague #9: God settled an eerie darkness upon Egypt. The darkness lasted for three days, and the Bible says it was so thick that it could actually be felt. The only light in the entire land could be found in the dwellings of the Israelites. Pharaoh’s offer to Moses this time was: “Your people and their families can go and serve the Lord, but you must leave behind your flocks and herds.” Moses’ answer was, “No, we must also take our flocks and herds in order to be able to offer up the sacrifices and have livestock when we get to the place where God is taking us.” Pharaoh responded to that by becoming furious and telling Moses that if he ever saw him again he would kill him. To that Moses said, “You have spoken well. I will never see your face again.” (Exodus 10:21-29)
  • Plague #10: During one fateful night God struck dead all the firstborns in Egypt. The deaths even extended to the firstborns of the remaining livestock. The only firstborns who didn’t die were those of the Israelites and even they had to be safely protected behind homes upon which the shed blood of slain lambs was smeared over the doorframes. Pharaoh’s firstborn son died that night, and in the aftermath Pharaoh agreed to completely release the Israelites from their Egyptian bondage. (Exodus 11:1-10; 12:1-30)

The takeaway for us from these ten plagues is that even though God won’t force you to do His will, He will certainly make your life miserable enough to make you agreeable to doing it. Even though Pharaoh never did see the light and get saved, the circumstances God created in his life did get him to finally relent and do what God wanted him to do. I guess that’s about as much obedience as God ever gets from a lost person. Of course, He should get a whole lot more from us Christians, right? And what happens when He doesn’t get it? Well, that’s when He has to send some bad things our way to get us to relent. It took no less than ten utter catastrophes to get Pharaoh to finally yield. I wonder, how many will it take for us?

Posted in Disobedience, God's Chastening, God's Wrath, God's Judgment, God's Will, Obedience, Rebellion, Submission | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Does God Harden Hearts?

Posted on November 4, 2020 by russellmckinney

(“Questions From Israel’s Exodus” series: post #8)

Scholars have long debated which of Egypt’s Pharaohs was the Pharaoh of the Exodus story. Some of the candidates are Amenhotep II, Raamses I, Sethi I, Rameses II, or Merenptah. What isn’t up for debate, though, is the fact that this Pharaoh had no desire whatsoever to release the Israelites from their Egyptian bondage.

Sometime shortly after Moses’ departure from Midian, God told him, “When you stand before Pharaoh, make sure that you perform the miracles (the signs, the wonders) that I have empowered you to do.” But then God foretold what was going to happen. He said, “But I will harden his heart, so that he will not let the people go” (Exodus 4:21, N.K.J.V.). This marks the beginning of a fascinating theme in the Exodus storyline as time and time again mention is made of Pharaoh’s heart being hardened concerning releasing the Israelites.

Three different Hebrew words get translated as “harden” or “hardened” in these passages. One word means “to be strong,” which relates to rank stubbornness.” Another word means “to be heavy,” which relates to willful unresponsiveness. Another word means “to be hard or severe,” which relates to determined obstinance. Working together these three Hebrew words describe Pharaoh’s response to the request to set the Israelites free.

As for how Pharaoh’s heart actually became hard, the relevant passages break down into three categories:

  • Nine times the text says that God hardened Pharaoh’s heart: 4:21; 7:3; 9:12; 10:1; 10:20; 10:27; 11:10; 14:4; 14:8.
  • Three times the text says that Pharaoh hardened his own heart: 8:15; 8:32; 9:34.
  • Six times the text simply reports that Pharaoh’s heart was hardened without specifically identifying which party did the hardening: 7:13; 7:14; 7:22; 8:19; 9:7; 9:35.

While some people recoil at the idea of God actually making a person’s heart harder (more committed) in regards to rebelliousness and sin, the book of Exodus isn’t the only place where the Bible teaches that God doesn’t always beg sinners to repent. For example, Romans 1:18-32 says of certain people, “God gave them up” and “God gave them over.” This giving up/over means that God basically said to these determined sinners, “All right, if you don’t want to worship Me and submit yourselves to Me, HAVE AT IT. Go indulge in your sins as much as you desire. Dive down to the deepest depths of what you want to do.”

Another example is 2 Thessalonians 2:6-12, where we learn that there is coming a day when God will send a certain group of people “strong delusion, that they should believe the lie” N.K.J.V.). In the context of that passage, the term “the lie” is used in reference to the Antichrist. But why would God send people strong delusion to get them to believe the great lie that will be the Antichrist and his agenda? The answer is that these people will be ones who have refused to “receive the love of the truth, that they might saved” (N.K.J.V.). Here again the point is that God will give these people a push to take them further down the road their attitudes and actions have already shown they want to travel. As in the Romans 1:18-32 passage, it’s not God who begins the process of rebellion. The people do that all by themselves.

This brings us to the Pharaoh of the Exodus story. Did God harden that man’s heart toward releasing the Israelites? Yes, He did. But it’s not like the man’s heart was initially soft toward the Israelites and God forced a pole reversal. God didn’t say, “Wait a minute, if this guy releases the Israelites of his own volition, I won’t get the glory for the deliverance. So, I’d better harden his heart so that I can ride in and save the day.” No, the fact that this Pharaoh had already ascended to the throne and had done absolutely nothing about changing the plight of the Israelites proved that he had no intentions of ever granting them their freedom. All God did was say (in essence), “Okay, since that is your attitude, I’m going to put it on steroids and use it to accomplish my sovereign work.”

Another verse that can help us understand what happened is Exodus 9:16. There God speaks through Moses and says to Pharaoh, “But indeed for this purpose I have raised you up, that I may show My power in you, and that My name may be declared in all the earth” (N.K.J.V.). This verse is important enough to be quoted in the New Testament in Romans 9:17, and both verses match up perfectly with the Bible’s consistent teaching that God is the one who raises up rulers and places them in positions of authority (Daniel 2:21; 4:17; 4:25; 4:32; 5:21; Jeremiah 27:5-7; Romans 13:1).

What we must understand, though, is that God raising up each ruler does not mean that each ruler will be a godly person who will make godly decisions and do godly things. To the contrary, if a person is not submitted to God, and yet God still raises that person up to a position of ruling authority, that means that God has plans to use that ruler in a way other than the one we might expect. This was the case with the Pharaoh of the Exodus. God knew ahead of time that this wicked man saw no reason why the Israelites should be released, and yet God still raised him up to be Pharaoh. Why? It was because God planned all along to use the man’s inborn stubborn rebelliousness to create the backdrop for the ten plagues with which He would judge Egypt. Think of it this way: If God couldn’t receive glory from that Pharaoh’s life by way of submission and servitude, He would receive it by way of breaking that man before the audience of all Egypt.

Summing things up, the answer to the question, “Does God harden hearts?” is, “Yes, He sometimes does.” What He never does, though, is harden hearts that are soft. As for why He sometimes hardens hearts that are already trending hard, the only way that He can glean glory from such lives is to glean it by way of judgment. This makes the equation read as follows: the harder the heart = the greater the judgment = the greater the glory gleaned. You see, God has determined that He will receive glory from each person’s life. It’s just a matter of what brand of glory it will be and how He will go about receiving it.

Posted in Attitude, Disobedience, God's Wrath, God's Foreknowledge, God's Judgment, God's Work, Rebellion, Series: "Questions From Israel's Exodus" | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Does Doing God’s Will Sometimes Make Situations Harder?

Posted on November 2, 2020 by russellmckinney

(“Questions From Israel’s Exodus” series: post #7)

God got Moses to return to Egypt and lead the Israelites out of their Egyptian bondage, but getting Moses to step into that role took some doing. First, God had to answer all the excuses Moses offered as reasons why he wasn’t the man for the job (Exodus 3:11-22; 4:1-17). Second, since Moses’ two sons (Gershom and Eliezer) had never been circumcised and thus did not bear the mark of the covenant that God had made with Abraham’s descendants (Genesis 17:1-27), God had to convince Moses to circumcise them (Exodus 4:24-26). Those circumcisions, by the way, did not sit well with Moses’ wife, Zipporah, one bit! Third, God had to send Aaron, Moses’ brother, out to Mount Sinai to meet with him so that Moses could convey to Aaron everything that God had told him about Israel’s upcoming exodus (Exodus 4:27-28).

At long last, though, Moses arrived in Egypt, and he and Aaron met with the Israelite elders (Exodus 4:29). With Aaron doing the talking and Moses doing the miracle-working, the two brothers convinced the elders that God truly was coming to the rescue of the Israelites (Exodus 4:30-31). Once the support of the elders was in place, the next thing to do was pay Pharaoh a visit.

Moses and Aaron went to see Pharaoh and were allowed access to him. While that might seem a bit strange to us, it’s not like two unarmed men walking up to the front door of the royal residence would have been cause for alarm. Perhaps the Pharaoh had a policy of agreeing to talk with anyone who asked to talk with him, or perhaps he agreed to the visit simply out of curiosity. Whatever the exact details were it seems clear that this Pharaoh either didn’t recognize Moses from Moses’ previous time in Egypt or had never known him. The latter is more likely because God had told Moses back in Midian that all the Egyptians who had once sought to kill him were now dead (Exodus 4:19).

One thing that few people realize is that the opening request that Moses and Aaron put to Pharaoh did not call for the Israelites to permanently depart from Egypt. While the permanent departure was definitely God’s ultimate goal, the opening request was that the Israelites be allowed to journey three days into the desert, make sacrifices to God, and return to Egypt (Exodus 5:1-3). Presumably, the Israelites hadn’t been offering up any sacrifices to God for some 400 years. That explains why Moses and Aaron even mentioned to Pharaoh that by allowing the Israelites to do this it would prevent God from inflicting the Israelites with pestilence and death.

Despite the apparent validity of this request, however, Pharaoh was having none of it. He responded to Moses’ and Aaron’s “Thus says the Lord” talk by scornfully asking, “Who is the Lord, that I should obey His voice to let Israel go?” (Exodus 5:2). Obviously he was dismissing the notion of an Israelite God rather than looking for an actual answer to the question. Then he added in, “I do not know the Lord, nor will I let Israel go” and said to Moses and Aaron, “Why do you take the people from their work? Get back to your labor” (Exodus 5:2).

It was at this point that Pharaoh really showcased his evil character. Rather than just refuse the request that Moses and Aaron had made, he commanded his taskmasters to stop providing the Israelites with the necessary straw for brickmaking (Exodus 5:6-7). This meant that the Israelites would now have to gather their own straw in addition to keeping up the same quota of making bricks (Exodus 5:8-9). As could be expected, that assignment proved too difficult and the Israelites quickly started falling behind in production. The taskmasters responded to the drop off by beating the Israelites who were overseers of their fellow Israelite workers (Exodus 5:10-14). When those overseers questioned why the taskmasters were doing all this, the taskmasters sarcastically answered, “We’re doing it because you people have too much idle time on your hands. If you didn’t have so much free time, you wouldn’t be asking Pharaoh to let you go offer sacrifices” (Exodus 5:15-19).

Human nature being what it is, the entire sequence of events caused the Israelite overseers’ attitude toward Moses and Aaron to take a hard turn for the worse. As we read the words they spoke to the brothers, we can hear the anger: “Let the Lord look on you and judge, because you have made us abhorrent in the sight of Pharaoh and in the sight of his servants, to put a sword in their hand to kill us” (Exodus 5:20-21, N.K.J.V.). And how did Moses react to that? He did exactly what I would have done if I had been in his position: he vented at God. Exodus 5:22-23 says:

So Moses returned to the Lord and said, “Lord, why have You brought trouble on this people? Why is it that You have sent me? For since I came to Pharaoh to speak in your name, he has done evil to this people; neither have You delivered Your people at all. (N.K.J.V.)

Doing God’s will is hard enough, especially when it cuts against what you want to do anyway. But doing it and then being forced to watch as your actions make the situation even harder than it already was? That’s brutal, just brutal. I, for one, have experienced this more than once, and you can believe me when I say that it is one of the hardest things you will ever have to endure in walking with the Lord. It simply contradicts everything that our human logic tells us should happen when we obey God and carry out His will.

Please understand, though, that I’m not saying this to get you to shun God’s will. I’m saying it to warn you that doing God’s will might make things tougher on you (and those with you) rather than easier. Moses didn’t see this type of thing coming, and I don’t want you to get blindsided by it like he did. The hard, cold truth is that sometimes doing God’s will must be followed by ducking Satan’s response. And sometimes even ducking doesn’t help! Always keep in mind, though, that the harsh response is itself confirmatory proof that you have successfully done God’s will. Think of it this way: You’ve poked the bee’s nest, and so you shouldn’t be surprised that you got stung. Satan doesn’t give up his ground without a fight, and he doesn’t care one bit to fight dirty.

Posted in Adversity, Criticism, Disappointment, Doing Good, Doubt, God's Will, Leadership, Ministry, Obedience, Persecution, Perseverance, Personal, Problems, Series: "Questions From Israel's Exodus", Service, Spiritual Warfare, Suffering, Trials, Trusting In God | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Does God Accept Excuses?

Posted on October 30, 2020 by russellmckinney

(“Questions From Israel’s Exodus” series: post #6)

Forty years had passed since Moses had killed an Egyptian taskmaster, fled from Egypt, and settled down in Midian. His Pharaoh grandfather, the one who had sought his death for killing that taskmaster, was now dead (Exodus 2:23). As for the Israelites, they were still crying out to God because of their bondage to the Egyptians (Exodus 2:23). God heard their cries, as He had heard all the ones that had risen up before those, and He set Himself to the task of getting Moses back to Egypt.

God accomplished that task by appearing to Moses in a burning bush at Mount Sinai, which was also known as Mount Horeb (Exodus 3:1-2). As Moses was shepherding his father’s flock in that area one day, he noticed that a certain bush wasn’t being consumed by the flames even though it was ablaze. This unnatural occurrence piqued his curiosity, and he went to investigate. As he stood there before the bush, suddenly a voice came from the midst of the bush. The voice said, “Moses, Moses!” Moses, in total astonishment, said, “Here I am.” Then the voice said, “Do not draw near this place. Take your sandals off your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground” (Exodus 3:5, N.K.J.V.). How’s that for an attention getter?

The Bible says it was the Angel of the Lord who spoke from the bush (Exodus 3:2). Don’t miss the capital “A” on that word “Angel.” This Angel of the Lord was a character who showed up from time to time in the Old Testament era, and each time He did it was clear that He was none other God Himself. For example, the Angel of the Lord in the story of the burning bush went on to say to Moses, “I am the God of your father — the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob” (Exodus 3:6, N.K.J.V.).

Since the Bible always places God the Father in heaven, commentators interpret the Old Testament’s Angel of the Lord to be Jesus, God the Son, appearing in a preincarnate form. This interpretation makes logical sense, and it also explains why the Angel of the Lord never appears in the New Testament. Commentators call each appearance of the Angel of the Lord a “Christophany,” which simply means “an appearance of Christ.”

Moses’ reaction to hearing that he was having a conversation with the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob was to hide his face in fear (Exodus 3:6). Jesus, however, kept on talking:

And the Lord said, “I have surely seen the oppression of My people who are in Egypt, and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters, for I know their sorrows. So I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up from that land to a good and large land, to a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanites and the Hittites and the Amorites and the Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites. Now therefore, behold, the cry of the children of Israel has come to Me, and I have also seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them. Come now, therefore, and I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring My people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.” (Exodus 3:7-8, N.K.J.V.)

It is here that we would expect Moses to say: “Yes, Lord! I’ve been waiting on this opportunity for forty years. I was trying to lead your people all those years ago when I killed that Egyptian taskmaster, but things didn’t work out like I thought they would. But if You are ready for me to make another run at it, I’m all in. When do I leave for Egypt?” But that is decidedly not what Moses said. Rather than be quick to take the Lord up on His offer, Moses started dragging his feet and making excuses for why he wasn’t the man for the job. Here is a list of those excuses and God’s response to them:

  • (Exodus 3:11-12): Moses said, “Who am I that I should do this job? I’m nobody.” God responded by saying, “I’ll be with you. I’ll even give you a sign that I truly have chosen you for this assignment. That sign will be: When the whole exodus is said and done, you and the people of Israel will serve Me right here at this same mountain.”
  • (Exodus 3:13-14): Moses said, “I don’t even know Your name. When I go to the people of Israel and they ask me the name of the God who has sent me, what shall I say to them?” God’s answer was, “My name is I AM WHO I AM. Tell them, ‘I AM has sent you.'”
  • (Exodus 4:1-9): Moses said, “But what if they won’t believe that You have sent me or that You have appeared to me?” In response to that, God first told him to throw his rod down on the ground. As the rod was lying there, it became a serpent. When Moses picked it back up, it became a rod again. Second, God told him to stick his hand in his bosom. Moses did, and when he pulled the hand back out it was white with leprosy. Third, God told him to stick his hand in his bosom a second time. Moses did, and when he pulled the hand back out the leprosy was healed. Fourth, God said to him, “And if the people won’t believe these signs, you will take water from the river and that water will become blood on dry land.” All of these miracles would be God’s way of verifying that Moses truly was His handpicked leader.
  • (Exodus 4:10-12): Moses said, “Lord, I have never been an eloquent speaker.” (By the way, that’s an interesting claim considering that Acts 7:22 indicates that Moses was mighty in words and deeds during his first forty years in Egypt. Was Moses lying to God about not being a good speaker?) But God’s response was, “I am the one who makes everyone’s mouth, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you should say.”
  • (Exodus 4:13-6): Moses said, “Lord, please send somebody else!” God responded to that by getting angry and agreeing to let Aaron, Moses’ older brother, serve as Moses’ spokesman. God would tell Moses what to say, and Moses would in turn pass those words along to Aaron.

Excuses, excuses. But before we come down too hard on Moses, let’s admit that we oftentimes don’t respond much better than he did to God’s commands. God, of course, doesn’t buy our excuses anymore than He bought those Moses tried to use That’s why I encourage you to stop making yours and just go ahead and bite the bullet by obeying God. I won’t tell you that obedience is always easy, but I will tell you that it is always right. Thankfully for Israel (and the world at large) Moses finally did what God was calling Him to do. Here’s hoping that you do the same in accepting your calling.

Posted in Choices, Courage, Decisions, Discipleship, Dying To Self, Faithfulness, God's Will, God's Work, Leadership, Ministry, Obedience, Series: "Questions From Israel's Exodus", Service, Submission | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Does God Call the Qualified or Qualify the Called?

Posted on October 28, 2020 by russellmckinney

(“Questions From Israel’s Exodus” series: post #5)

In a very real sense, Moses was uniquely qualified to be the man through whom God would deliver the Israelites from their Egyptian bondage. For one thing, he was an Egyptian by upbringing but an Israelite by birth. For another, even though he knew all the worldly wisdom of the Egyptians (Acts 7:22), he also knew Israel’s God intimately enough to choose to suffer affliction with the Israelites rather than continue to enjoy a life of ease with the Egyptians (Hebrews 11:24-26). Needless to say, guys like that didn’t come a dime a dozen. Therefore, it was only logical that God would call Moses to the role of deliverer. It was a classic case of God calling the qualified.

On the other hand, little if anything in Moses’ training could have prepared him to lead over two million people on a long trek through the wilderness wasteland of the Sinai Peninsula. That would require experience with such terrain, to say nothing of experience in shepherding a flock in the midst of sparse surroundings. Moses’ Egyptian wisdom had given him a knowledge of how to harness the Nile river to provide drinking water and rich farmland for millions of Egyptians, but the Sinai Peninsula was a long way from the Nile. Therefore, it was only logical that God would qualify Moses for the role of deliverer. It was a classic case of God qualifying the called.

This qualifying wouldn’t take place during Moses’ forty years in Egypt. Instead, it would take place in the region of Midian during his forty years shepherding his father-in-law’s flock. Let’s not think that is was merely a coincidence that God appeared to Moses in a burning bush at Mount Sinai (also called Mount Horeb, Exodus 3:1) rather than along the banks of the Nile. It would be that mountain, not any mountain in Egypt, that would come to be known as “the mountain of God” (Exodus 3:1). As part of Moses’ experience at the burning bush, God told him, “When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain” (Exodus 3:12). God said that because He knew that before He would bring Moses and the Israelites to the brink of the promised land of Canaan, He would bring them to Mount Sinai. There they would remain encamped for over a year, receive His law, and build the movable Tabernacle complex called for by the law.

For forty years in Midian, God taught Moses humility. He taught him patience. He taught him the work ethic of a shepherd. He taught him how to function successfully in the desolate region surrounding Mount Sinai. He taught him how to walk in step-by-step obedience to God rather than racing ahead in his own wisdom the way he had done in killing that Egyptian taskmaster. This was Moses’ post-Egyptian training. This was his post-graduate work. This was his qualifying.

Does God call the qualified? Yes, He does. Does He qualify the called? Yes, He does. The truth is that He uses everything about a person — the person’s nationality, upbringing, scholastic education, family situation, life experiences, etc. — in His molding and shaping of that person for service.

Take Saul of Tarsus for example. He was certainly qualified to become Paul, the apostle who would preach the gospel to both Jews and Gentiles alike. Not only was he born a Jew (Philippians 3:5), he was also born an official citizen of the Gentile Roman empire (Acts 22:22-29). Not only did he receive his training in Judaism under Gamaliel, the most famous rabbi of that day (Acts 22:3), he was also a tentmaker by profession (Acts 18:1-3). All of these things, in a worldly sense, made Saul highly qualified to become an apostle of Christ. However, he didn’t even know Christ as his Savior until the resurrected, glorified Jesus encountered him on the road between Jerusalem and Damascus (Acts 9:1-19). That encounter was a case of Jesus qualifying the called.

Perhaps you are feeling called by God to perform some specific type of service for Him, but you are wondering if you are qualified for the job. My answer is this: If you aren’t qualified God will see to it that you get qualified, and if you are qualified He will see to it that you get even more qualifying to fill in the gaps of whatever you are missing. Listen, God will never ask you to do something that you can’t do. Even if you can do it, He won’t leave you to do it by yourself. He knows how to use what you’ve got, and He knows how to give you what you need so that He can use you even more. All He asks from you is simple obedience in taking each step with Him. He doesn’t need you to be another Moses or another Paul. He just needs you to be yourself. That is, after all, the role you were born to play, and it’s the role you’ve been training for your whole life.

Posted in Deacons, Discipleship, God's Provision, God's Work, Individuality, Ministry, Obedience, Preaching, Series: "Questions From Israel's Exodus", Service, Spiritual Gifts, Talents | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Does God Have Just One Plan to Bless a Person?

Posted on October 26, 2020 by russellmckinney

(“Questions From Israel’s Exodus” series: post #4)

Does God have just one plan, custom designed for each person, by which He can pour blessings into that person’s life? No, He doesn’t. If He did, most of us would never see many blessings.

Think about it. If God had just one such plan for your life, that would require you to never deviate from that plan if you wanted to enjoy His blessings. I’m talking about you always living where He wanted you to live, marrying who He wanted you to marry, remaining married to that person, having all the kids He wanted you to have, working the job He wanted you to work, attending the church He wanted you to attend, etc., etc., etc.

Marry the wrong person? Uh oh, you’ve missed the vein of the plan. Marry the right person but end up divorced? Sorry, there can be no blessings for you post divorce. Sell a house you shouldn’t sell? You’d better buy it back if you want God to keep blessing you. Quit a job God didn’t want you to quit? You must apologize to the company and hope they’ll rehire you. Like I said, if God only had just one plan by which He could pour blessings into an individual’s life, most of us would never see many blessings.

Moses was walking, talking, living proof of this. I don’t know what all God’s plan for him in Egypt entailed, but it surely didn’t include him impulsively murdering an Egyptian taskmaster (Exodus 2:11-12). As a consequence of that murder, Pharaoh placed a death sentence upon Moses’ life (Exodus 2:15). That put Moses on the run, and his escape route took him eastward to a land called Midian (Exodus 2:15).

Midian was located in the Sinai Peninsula near the Gulf of Aquaba, and the Midianites were what we might think of as distant relatives of the Israelites. Midian, the father of the race, was a son of Abraham through Keturah, the woman Abraham married after the death of his wife Sarah (Genesis 25:1-2). Abraham, of course, was the father of the Israelites through Isaac, the son born to him through Sarah. Just prior to Abraham’s death, he gave Midian and all the rest of his offspring through Keturah gifts and sent them eastward to build their own lives (Genesis 25:1-6). The region in which Midian settled came to bear his name and his people became semi-nomadic shepherds who moved throughout that region. Interestingly, it was a group of Midianite traders who purchased Joseph from his brothers and took him to Egypt to be sold as a slave and begin not only his life there but ultimately the nation of Israel’s (Genesis 37:26-36).

Upon Moses’ arrival in Midian, he happened to come to a certain well. He sat down there to rest, and it wasn’t long before seven women came to the well to water their father’s flock (Exodus 2:15-16). As was typical at the wells of those days, trouble arose when some local roughneck shepherds came with their flocks and attempted to drive away the women (Exodus 2:17). Moses, to his credit, defended the overmatched women and helped them water their flock (Exodus 2:17). That showed that he hadn’t lost any of his manhood or his desire to correct injustice.

With their flock watered, the women left Moses at the well and returned to their camp (Exodus 2:18). Their father Reuel, who is also called Jethro (Exodus 3:1; 18:1), was a notable man who carried the title “the priest of Midian” (Exodus 2:16). He was a leader in his local clan, perhaps even the chief leader. As for him being a priest, it’s possible that the Midianites practiced a religion that hearkened back to the one that Abraham had taught Midian centuries earlier. There might have been some spiritual gaps in that religion, but it does seem that Reuel/Jethro had an authentic knowledge of the true and living God (Exodus 18:1-12).

When Reuel/Jethro asked his daughters why they had gotten home so early from watering the flock, they told him the story of how an Egyptian had helped them (Exodus 2:18-19). The fact that they described Moses as an Egyptian rather than an Israelite (Hebrew) surely proves that he was still wearing Egyptian clothing. Also, it’s likely that his head was shaved in the manner that was typical of the Egyptians.

As a way of wanting to show his gratitude to the Egyptian — not to mention wanting to explore the possibility of the man becoming a husband to one of his daughters — Reuel/Jethro had the girls return to the well and invite the stranger to come home with them for dinner (Exodus 2:20). It only takes one verse for the Bible’s record to get Moses married to Zipporah, one of the daughters, and settled down with the family in Midian (Exodus 2:21). Similarly, it only takes one more verse to make him the father of a son named Gershom, a name that means “a stranger there” and was obviously Moses’ way of describing himself as a foreigner in Midian (Exodus 2:22). Although only one son is mentioned in the storyline at this time, we later learn that Moses also fathered a second son, Eliezer, through Zipporah (Exodus 18:1-6; 1 Chronicles 23:15; Acts 7:29). “Eliezer” means “The God of my father was my help” and gives God the credit for Moses being delivered from Pharaoh’s death sentence.

All told, Moses spent forty years in Midian, and the Bible offers no hint that he was unhappy or dissatisfied there (Acts 7:29-30). He became a valued member of that prominent family and worked shepherding his father-in-law’s flock (Exodus 3:1). From everything we can gather from the Bible’s account, Moses would have been fully content to spend the rest of his life in Midian and had no intentions of ever returning to Egypt. His wife, Zipporah, certainly had no plans for the couple and their two sons to ever go there, either.

God, however, did have those plans, and I’ll have more to say about that in future posts. But for now let’s not be so quick to rush Moses back to Egypt. Instead, let’s let him enjoy his forty years of blessing in Midian. Even more than that, let’s learn the lesson those forty years teach us.

And what is that lesson? It is this: God doesn’t have just one plan to bless a person. As He proved with Moses’ life in Midian, God knows how to adapt His blessings to fit our faults, failures, false starts, and foul ups. This adaptability and the blessings that we enjoy because of it are evidence of His grace in our lives. That’s why you should take a moment right now and thank God that He has made so many wonderful omelets out of the eggs you’ve broken regarding your life. You see, your life in Midian can be good, really good. All you have to do is submit that life to God and serve Him there in that different land.

Posted in Adversity, Aging, Backsliding, Change, Contentment, Disappointment, Divorce, Divorce & Remarriage, Family, God's Love, God's Work, Grace, Perseverance, Problems, Prosperity, Restoration, Series: "Questions From Israel's Exodus", Service, Thankfulness, Trusting In God | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Does Moral Failure Disqualify a Person From God’s Service?

Posted on October 23, 2020 by russellmckinney

(“Questions From Israel’s Exodus” series: post #3)

After Moses became the adopted son of Pharaoh’s daughter, he spent the first forty years of his life riding high. Acts 7:22 says: “And Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was mighty in words and deeds” (N.K.J.V.). Two things stand out from that verse. First, Moses was a highly educated man. History evidences that the ancient Egyptians were the most scientifically advanced people on the face of the earth. Furthermore, the fact that Moses learned how to read and write would play an indispensable role in him ultimately writing the first five books of the Bible. Second, the fact that Moses was mighty in words and deeds means that he was a man of great achievement in ancient Egypt. Some students of the Bible even believe that he was in line to one day become Pharaoh.

What the Egyptians probably didn’t know was that Moses never forgot his Israelite roots. The Bible doesn’t tell us how much contact, if any, he continued to have with his parents (Amram and Jochebed), his older sister (Miriam), and his older brother (Aaron), but Acts 7:25 makes it clear that he knew that God was going to use him to deliver the Israelites. How did Moses know this? While it’s possible that God revealed this knowledge to him through some type of unrecorded divine encounter, it’s more likely that he acquired it through an ever-growing sense of destiny inside him. At any rate, however Moses knew, when he reached the age of forty he decided to act upon what he perceived to be his calling.

He got up one day and went out to see the Israelites as they toiled under their Egyptian taskmasters. The fact that he went out there at all surely shows that he had his kinsmen on his mind and in his heart. While he was on site that day he watched as an Egyptian taskmaster started inflicting a beating upon an Israelite whose work wasn’t satisfactory (Exodus 2:11). Such beatings were no doubt common. That day, however, Moses interjected himself into the situation. After looking around to make sure that no one was watching, he killed the Egyptian and buried the body in the sand (Exodus 2:12).

Rather than feel ashamed about what he had done, Moses felt comfortable enough to return to the scene of the crime the next day. It was then that he happened to catch two Israelites fighting with each other. He asked the one who was doing the hitting, “Why are you striking your companion?” (Exodus 2:13, N.K.J.V.). The striker shot back, “Who made you a prince and a judge over us? Do you intend to kill me as you killed the Egyptian?” (Exodus 2:14, N.K.J.V.). That comeback struck fear into Moses as the ramifications of what he had done the day before began to dawn upon him. By the way, it’s worth mentioning that the only person who could have told anyone about him killing that taskmaster was the rescued Israelite. Even if that Israelite reported the news as a way to compliment Moses, things would have been better for Moses if the fellow had kept the story to himself.

It’s hard to say what all had been going through Moses’ mind when he had killed that Egyptian, but Acts 7:25 says that he supposed that his fellow Israelites would understand that God was going to deliver them through him. That also helps explain why he authoritatively rebuked the brawling Israelite the following day. As a grandson of Pharaoh, Moses was accustomed to giving orders and having people obey them. In his way of looking at things, he was the perfect choice to deliver the Israelites from the Egyptians. However, his problem was that his fellow Israelites weren’t on the same page as he was. As the Acts 7:25 verse says, “…but they did not understand.”

Someone else who didn’t understand was Pharaoh. When word reached him that Moses had killed an Egyptian, he immediately sought Moses’ death (Exodus 2:15). I have to say that I find that at least a little bit odd. I mean, we are talking about his grandson here. Even if Pharaoh wasn’t emotionally attached to Moses, he should have been emotionally attached to his own daughter, who had raised Moses as her own son. How would she feel about her father having her adopted son put to death? Then again, if this was the same Pharaoh who had ordered the deaths of the Israelite male babies in chapter 1, he was a moral monster anyway.

Moses responded to becoming a wanted man by fleeing to the land of Midian (Exodus 2:15). He didn’t know it at the time, but he would end up settling down there, marrying a local girl, fathering two sons through her, and taking a job with his father-in-law. He wouldn’t see Egypt again for another forty years, and even then it wouldn’t be his idea to go back there.

But now let’s get to the question at hand: Does moral failure disqualify a person from God’s service? Tailoring the question specifically to Moses’ life, did him murdering that Egyptian disqualify him from being used by God to deliver the Israelites from their Egyptian bondage? The answer is, no. Moses would have to spend the next four decades being humbled and retrained in Midian, but God could and would still use him to deliver the Israelites.

Abraham lied about Sarah being his wife. Jacob deceived his father Isaac and in so doing stole the patriarchal blessing that was supposed to be Esau’s. Joseph’s ten older brothers sold him into slavery. David committed adultery with Bathsheba and had her husband Uriah killed. Solomon plunged headlong into idolatry. Paul oversaw the persecution and martyrdom of Christians. Nevertheless, God still used all of these men mightily in His service. While it’s true that passages such as 1 Timothy 3:1-13 and Titus 1:5-9 teach that certain moral failures can disqualify a Christian from serving in the roles of pastor or deacon, those are only two of countless roles that Christians can perform in service to God.

You say, “But Russell, you don’t know what I’ve done.” You’re right, I don’t. I doubt, though, that it was any worse than MURDER, the deed that Moses did directly and David did indirectly. And yet God was still able to use each of them. Therefore, I feel confident in saying that He can and will still use you despite your past moral failings.

In case you haven’t heard, God is hard up for help. That means that He will put you to work somewhere doing something if you will let Him. He’s like that man who walked up to the counter to buy an airline ticket. The man threw his credit card on the counter and said, “Give me a ticket.” The worker asked, “To where?” The man answered, “To anywhere, I’ve got business all over.” Well, God has business all over, and He needs workers to do it. That’s why the question is never, can God use you? He can. The question is always, are you willing to let Him use you?

Posted in Backsliding, Deacons, God's Work, Ministry, Pastors, Personal Holiness, Preaching, Sin | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Can God’s Plan Take a Long Time to Play Out?

Posted on October 21, 2020 by russellmckinney

(Questions From Israel’s Exodus” series: post #2)

We expect God to do His work through angels, lightning bolts, and whirlwinds, but the fact is that He usually does it through people. More to the point, He oftentimes raises up just one person through whom He begins the work and accomplishes it. Typically, this one person becomes a litmus test for others. Those who follow God will get on board the train of what God is doing through the person, but those who (at best) refuse to get on board or who (at worst) attempt to derail the train set themselves against God.

The Israelites who lived in ancient Egypt needed God to do a work. The Egyptians had turned them into slaves, and the current Pharaoh had decreed that every newborn Israelite male must be thrown into the Nile river. The Israelites cried out for God to deliver them, but He didn’t send the deliverance overnight. First, He had to get the deliverer delivered. That deliverer would be Moses.

The name of Moses’ father was Amram, and the name of his mother was Jochebed (Exodus 6:20). Both were from Israel’s tribe of Levi. Moses was born not long after Pharaoh issued his decree, but Amram and Jochebed hid their baby boy for three months rather than obey the decree. That act itself was nothing less than a legal crime, but while it’s true that for the most part God wants His people to obey their governments (Romans 13:1-7; 1 Peter 2:13-17), He sometimes blesses civil disobedience if the powers that be enact wicked laws and hand down unholy decrees (Acts 4:19-20; 5:29; Daniel 3:1-25; 6:1-28). By the way, baby Moses had an older sister named Miriam and an older brother named Aaron. Aaron was three years older than him (Exodus 7:7) and had been born before Pharaoh’s decree had been instituted.

Eventually there came a time when Amram and Jochebed could no longer hide baby Moses. He was three months old when Jochebed placed him in a basket made from bulrushes (papyrus reeds) and sealed with asphalt and pitch to make it waterproof (Exodus 2:2-3). She then carefully positioned the basket in the Nile among the reeds that grew along the river’s edge. She was obeying Pharaoh’s decree in one sense, but in another sense she was giving the child the best chance she could to survive the river. Interestingly, the Hebrew word used to describe the basket is the same Hebrew word used to describe the ark that Noah built.

After placing the basket among the reeds, Jochebed walked away, but her daughter Miriam kept watch from afar to see what would become of Moses. It was at some point, probably not too long afterward, that Pharaoh’s daughter came down to the river to bathe. She saw the strange sight of the basket sitting among the reeds, and out of curiosity she sent her female servants to fetch it. She had scarcely looked inside the basket when little Moses began to cry. His crying immediately melted her heart and she said, “This is one of the Hebrews’ (Israelites’) children” (Exodus 2:6). Israelite male babies were easy to recognize because they were marked with the mark of circumcision (Genesis 17:1-27).

Now it was time for Miriam to step forward and play her role. In an act of great boldness, this lowly slave girl approached Pharaoh’s daughter and asked, “Shall I go and find a Hebrew woman who can nurse this child for you?” (Exodus 2:7). Pharaoh’s daughter answered, “Go.” Miriam, of course, knew just where to find such a woman. When Jochebed arrived at the scene, Pharaoh’s daughter told her, “Take this child away and nurse him for me, and I will pay you for doing it” (Exodus 2:9).

It isn’t difficult to theorize that Jochebed and Miriam knew that Pharaoh’s daughter would come to bathe at that particular spot on that particular day. Since Egyptian royalty had baths in their homes, the bathing she did at the sacred Nile could have been ritualized bathing done for religious purposes. Perhaps she even had a set schedule for such bathing. If Jochebed and Miriam did know that she would be there that day to find the baby in the basket, surely the plan all along was for Miriam to approach her and offer to find an Israelite woman to nurse the baby. Admittedly, the Bible doesn’t say that Jochebed and Miriam devised any such scheme, but, again, it really isn’t hard to make that case.

In ancient times, children were nursed until they were as much as three years old. This means that Amram, Jochebed, Miriam, and Aaron got to enjoy the new addition to their family for all that time. Once Moses was weened, Jochebed took him to Pharaoh’s daughter and Moses was raised as nothing less than a grandson of Pharaoh. Actually, it was Jochebed who gave Moses his name.

In the Hebrew language the name “Moses” means “drawn out.” While some doubt that an Egyptian princess would have given her adopted son a Hebrew name, others suggest the possibility that it was Jochebed who helped the princess name the child. If this was indeed the case, it explains why Exodus 2:10 quotes the princess as saying that she named the child “Moses” because she drew him out of the water. Along the same lines, from God’s perspective of foreknowledge, it is also likely that the name can be accurately translated as “He Who Draws Out.” Thus, the name was also God’s hidden reference to the fact that Moses would be the man who would one day draw the Israelites out of Egypt.

It is along about here that we usually smile and think warm thoughts as we reflect upon Moses’ story. As a matter of fact, it is obligatory for every preacher to comment on how wonderful it was that God’s plan not only caused Moses’ life to be spared but also caused Jochebed to be paid for nursing him and getting to spend those early years with him. I trust you’ll forgive me, though, for pointing out all the precious time that elapsed while the Israelites were crying out each day for God to deliver them.

For starters, Jochebed carried Moses in her womb for nine months. Second, once he was born, she and Amram hid him for three months. Third, it took approximately three years for him to be weened and given to Pharaoh’s daughter to raise. Fourth, Moses spent the first forty years of his life living as Egyptian royalty, being schooled in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and doing nothing about the plight of his fellow Israelites (Acts 7:21-23). Fifth, as we will learn in future posts, he spent an additional forty years in Midian before returning to Egypt to lead the Israelites.

Let’s imagine an Israelite father and mother who are forced to obey Pharaoh’s sadistic decree by casting their newborn male child into the Nile. They stand on the river bank and watch as their precious infant, who has his daddy’s eyes and his mother’s nose, sinks down into the water never to be seen or heard again. With tears in their eyes and a profound sadness in their hearts, they return to their dwelling and from that time forward call upon God each and every day to avenge their child’s death and deliver their people from the Egyptians. But days pass, years pass, and decades pass without anything changing in Egypt. It is as if the couples’ every prayer and every tear are ignored by God. In the end, they go to their graves mourning for their lost child and never get to see even the slightest inkling that God has a plan to deliver the Israelites from the Egyptians.

I doubt that you’ve ever heard the story of Moses preached like that, have you? That’s because we’ve trained ourselves to race ahead to the good stuff, the happy ending. What we must realize, though, is that a whole bunch of real people suffered a whole bunch of real loss for a whole bunch of real years before God’s plan to put a stop to it all finally came to pass. Babies died, and broken parents were left to limp along in their faith as best they could for the remainder of their lives. And what was God doing while it was all happening? He was working out a long-term plan that would take at the absolute minimum eighty years to accomplish.

So, if the question is, “Can God’s plan take a long time to play out?” the answer is a resounding, “YES.” As a matter of fact, it can take so long to play out that some people who would be eligible to benefit from it can die off never getting to see it accomplish its end game. Is this a depressing reality? I certainly think so. It is, however, one that we need to come to grips with if we want to understand God better and walk with Him in a deeper fellowship. This is a lesson the Israelites had to learn, and it’s one that you and I would do well to learn today. God’s plans can take days, weeks, months, years, decades, and even centuries to play out. But He is always at work keeping those plans in motion, and in His timing they will all produce the results that He wants them to produce.

Posted in Adversity, Aging, Coming Judgment, Disappointment, Doubt, Faith, Faithfulness, God's Timing, God's Work, Justice, Patience, Persecution, Perseverance, Prayer Requests, Problems, Series: "Questions From Israel's Exodus", Suffering, Trials, Trusting In God, Waiting | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment