(Exodus 4:1-17) Then Moses said, “What if they will not believe me or listen to what I say? For they may say, ‘The Lord has not appeared to you.’” 2 The Lord said to him, “What is that in your hand?” And he said, “A staff.” 3 Then He said, “Throw it on the ground.” So he threw it on the ground, and it became a serpent; and Moses fled from it. 4 But the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand and grasp it by its tail”—so he stretched out his hand and caught it, and it became a staff in his hand— 5 “that they may believe that the Lord, the God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has appeared to you.”
6 The Lord furthermore said to him, “Now put your hand into your bosom.” So he put his hand into his bosom, and when he took it out, behold, his hand was leprous like snow. 7 Then He said, “Put your hand into your bosom again.” So he put his hand into his bosom again, and when he took it out of his bosom, behold, it was restored like the rest of his flesh. 8 “If they will not believe you or heed the witness of the first sign, they may believe the witness of the last sign. 9 But if they will not believe even these two signs or heed what you say, then you shall take some water from the Nile and pour it on the dry ground; and the water which you take from the Nile will become blood on the dry ground.”
10 Then Moses said to the Lord, “Please, Lord, I have never been eloquent, neither recently nor in time past, nor since You have spoken to Your servant; for I am slow of speech and slow of tongue.” 11 The Lord said to him, “Who has made man’s mouth? Or who makes him mute or deaf, or seeing or blind? Is it not I, the Lord? 12 Now then go, and I, even I, will be with your mouth, and teach you what you are to say.” 13 But he said, “Please, Lord, now send the message by whomever You will.”
14 Then the anger of the Lord burned against Moses, and He said, “Is there not your brother Aaron the Levite? I know that he speaks fluently. And moreover, behold, he is coming out to meet you; when he sees you, he will be glad in his heart. 15 You are to speak to him and put the words in his mouth; and I, even I, will be with your mouth and his mouth, and I will teach you what you are to do. 16 Moreover, he shall speak for you to the people; and he will be as a mouth for you and you will be as God to him. 17 You shall take in your hand this staff, with which you shall perform the signs.”
TODAY'S THOUGHTS AND MEDITATION:
The Lord is so very amazingly patient with us. It is very fine with Him that we ask questions. He wants us to ask Him questions. It is not fine with Him to end as Moses did in this chapter - with a refusal to trust and obey the Lord. Moses' excuse was that he wasn't fluent in Hebrew. And even with that, the Lord is able to give us the words needed. This is one of the gifts - speaking in tongues.
My Spanish is iffy at the best of times, yet there are moments when I'm talking with someone, and somehow what I need to say is there. I know God can give the gift of tongues, but I know this is not my gift. I have to work very hard to learn just the basics of any other language. So let's just stick with English! Even in my own language I can say the wrong things or say things in the wrong way! So I do try to ask God to give me the right words to speak anytime I know that I'm going to be having conversations with people!
I will be the first to admit that I need God's help with this. Even in writing this blog! God does a much better job in communicating than I ever could!!! And God wants us to ask Him for help in all things, all the time. So in everything, we can ask God to do and say things FOR us!!! In His strength, love and wisdom, all to His glory!!!
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