I Am...

Exodus 5:22-6:7

“22 Then Moses turned to the LORD and said, 'O LORD, why have you done evil to this people? Why did you ever send me?

23 For since I came to Pharaoh to speak in your name he has done evil to this people, and you have not delivered your people at all.'

1 But the LORD said to Moses, 'Now you shall see what I will do to Pharaoh; for with a strong hand he will send them out, and with a strong hand he will drive them out of this land.'

2 God Spoke to Moses and said to him, 'I am the LORD,

3 I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, as God Almighty, but by my name the LORD I did not make myself known to them.

4 I also Established my covenant with them to give them the land of Caanan, the land in which they lived as sojourners.

5 Moreover, I have heard the groaning of the people of Israel whom the Egyptians hold as slaves, and I have remembered my covenant.

6 Say therefore to the people of Israel, 'I am the LORD, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will deliver you from slavery to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great acts of Judgment.

7 I will take you to be my people, and I will be your God, and you shall know that I am the Lord your God, who has brought you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians.”

Let me give some background to this story, Moses and Aaron had just requested Pharaoh that the Hebrews would be given leave to go three days journey into the wilderness and sacrifice to God.

And to that Pharaoh responded in anger calling them lazy, saying that the work must be to easy for them if they had extra time to think about worshiping God in the wilderness. So he made their labor harder by giving them no straw to make brick. That left them with mud, and they were still expected to finish they sam amount of bricks each day.

After that the taskmasters beat the Hebrew foremen because they were not making their quota. the foremen evidently did not know what had transpired between Pharaoh, Moses, and Aaron, because after being beaten they asked the taskmaster why such unfair expectations had been placed on them, and why they were being beaten for it. After being told why the people began a pattern that would cover much of Moses' life. The people came complaining to Moses and blamed him for the evil done to them, because (in their words) Moses had “made us stink in sight of Pharaoh and his servants.”

Here is where we come upon Moses and our text. How does Moses deal with a tough and painful situations. He turned to God. I wonder how often it is that I do that, at least how often I do it right away. Because to be honest in Moses' situation I would have tried to defend myself to those people, I would have probably blown up, or gone off to be alone and pout. However that is not what Moses did. Moses didn't wait, he was not concerned with what those around him thought but with what God had to say.

Next Moses was honest. Is it good to blame God for doing evil that someone else has done? I think not, but I also think that God knows we are human, and I think there is a sort of respect in bringing our anger to people or God even if it in of itself is a wrong attitude. I think it's good because it is giving God the chance to deal with it. I think it is also a way of trying to continue the relationship instead of cutting it off.

It was a mistake to place the blame of another man's evil on God though, and it is so easy for me as a human with a finite mind to draw the conclusion that God is unjust and unfair, when in reality I am simply unable to see the whole picture as God sees it.

“Why did you ever send me? For since I came...” Maybe now the anger is being turned inward by Moses. When something goes wrong in ministry first my heart wants to blame someone else or maybe even God for what happened, then the anger is turned inward and I feel it is all my fault. When in reality I have done just as God has asked me, but because of painful circumstances I feel I have made a mess of everything and cry out “why did you ever send me?” Yet God told Moses back in Ex 4:21 That He would harden Pharaoh's heart so that he would not let the people of Israel go. If Moses had remembered that maybe he would have been less discouraged. God told me He would bring me out of the desert into the promise land, He told me I would have to continue to be broken over and over again, and maybe that is what I had forgotten, that to get to the promise after passing the Jordan I have to fight battles to claim the land God gave me. The good news is as God says it is time to enter the promise land I can know He will give me the victory in those battles.

“You have not delivered your people at all,”

Moses was looking at the immediate and often I do that too. God you said you would do x y and z, but I cannot see any proof of it. However looking at the immediate robs us of a hopeful heart. For no one hopes for what he already has or what he can see.

God had a greater plan, He could have delivered the people right away but He didn't and the reason was because what would follow Pharaoh's hard heart were the very miracles to prove that it was no accident that Israel was freed from Egypt. It was to build their faith, and the children's faith, and their children's children's faith. I think of the death of Lazarus, and how his sister while he was alive but sick was looking for the immediate relief of healing. Yet Jesus purposely waited until it was what most would think too late. However by it many people came to believe in Him.

Many times we want immediate deliverance from pain yet in waiting God will do something even more amazing to grow our faith though it takes longer.

As Moses pours out his heart before God, does God stay silent?

No and in verse one of chapter six we see some words that so often turn a scary tale into a fairy tale.

“But the LORD.” We were dead dead in sin, but God. I had no hope, but God. I thought that I would never go to the IGNITE, but God. I thought I would never be able to confront anyone, but God.

As soon as God steps into our lives everything changes.

He tells Moses again, that Israel will be free, and the very Pharaoh that has treated them so wrongly will practically throw them out.

Then God does something truly amazing He tells Moses how Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob knew Him as God almighty, but by my name Jehovah was I not known to them. This is an important passage, there are debates as to whether this means that this would be the first time God had been called by this name or not but that is not important. The meaning is clear, deep, and it is refreshing like a cold mountain lake. The name Jehovah is one of action, He is saying I am, I am revealing myself to you. I am what you need, and you will know the meaning of my name by experience. In verse 4 He says I AM a fulfiller of my promises, I AM the one who hears your cries, I am the one who remembers. In verse 6 I am the one who delivers and redeems you. In verse 7 I am your God. But something else wonderful happens in verse 7 as He reveals His identity, He gives Israel their own identity. He calls them His own.

And to think through Moses turning to God in time of trouble even though His heart was all wrong we can see such beauty. It makes me think Pressure reveals what's inside. In Moses it revealed a dependance on God, and weakness. In God it revealed Strength, and goodness.

Application.

Turn to God first.

How?

Tomorrow morning in my devotions I will lift up the burdens on my heart to God.