”But Moses protested again, “What if they won’t believe me or listen to me? What if they say, ‘The Lord never appeared to you’?” Then the Lord asked him, “What is that in your hand?” “A shepherd’s staff,” Moses replied. “Throw it down on the ground,” the Lord told him. So Moses threw down the staff, and it turned into a snake! Moses jumped back. Then the Lord told him, “Reach out and grab its tail.” So Moses reached out and grabbed it, and it turned back into a shepherd’s staff in his hand. “Perform this sign,” the Lord told him. “Then they will believe that the Lord, the God of their ancestors—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob—really has appeared to you.” Then the Lord said to Moses, “Now put your hand inside your cloak.” So Moses put his hand inside his cloak, and when he took it out again, his hand was white as snow with a severe skin disease. “Now put your hand back into your cloak,” the Lord said. So Moses put his hand back in, and when he took it out again, it was as healthy as the rest of his body. The Lord said to Moses, “If they do not believe you and are not convinced by the first miraculous sign, they will be convinced by the second sign. And if they don’t believe you or listen to you even after these two signs, then take some water from the Nile River and pour it out on the dry ground. When you do, the water from the Nile will turn to blood on the ground.” But Moses pleaded with the Lord, “O Lord, I’m not very good with words. I never have been, and I’m not now, even though you have spoken to me. I get tongue-tied, and my words get tangled.” Then the Lord asked Moses, “Who makes a person’s mouth? Who decides whether people speak or do not speak, hear or do not hear, see or do not see? Is it not I, the Lord? Now go! I will be with you as you speak, and I will instruct you in what to say.” But Moses again pleaded, “Lord, please! Send anyone else.” Then the Lord became angry with Moses. “All right,” he said. “What about your brother, Aaron the Levite? I know he speaks well. And look! He is on his way to meet you now. He will be delighted to see you. Talk to him, and put the words in his mouth. I will be with both of you as you speak, and I will instruct you both in what to do. Aaron will be your spokesman to the people. He will be your mouthpiece, and you will stand in the place of God for him, telling him what to say. And take your shepherd’s staff with you, and use it to perform the miraculous signs I have shown you.”“
Exodus 4:1-17 NLT
God had decreed great things for Moses in his leadership of Israel. He had prepared him with everything he needed, including a past adjacent to the Egyptian court. If anyone understood what a nation might look like functionally, it would be Moses. Yet, the years had broken Moses’ spirit, and had left him cynical. He no longer trusted himself, and hadn’t learned to trust God. Instead he trusted the lies of his exile from Egypt. He had come to be afraid of being as special as he was. Here we see two things. First we see God’s understanding and grace as he continually gives Moses what he needs to feel emotionally confident. This includes miracles and eventually physical support. Yet we also see the fracture point for Moses’ legacy. Here, the role of Priest/Prophet/King first gets split to devastating consequences. Aaron, who was primed to handle the role of priest, will introduce idolatry to the people and it will not be for thousands of years of that Christ will resolve that conflict. Nevertheless, to work through the emotional inability of Moses, God shows grace as he did with Abraham at Sodom or Adam and Eve at the gate of the Garden. But just as he did with Jacob’s angelic wrestling match, Israel would walk with a limp because of it. It would’ve been better for Moses to have accepted God’s offer and premise than to doubt it, even if he was ultimately obedient.
JOSH McGARY.COM 