Tag: Trusting God

Morning Musing: Exodus 6:1

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“But the Lord replied to Moses, ‘Now you will see what I will do to Pharaoh: because of a strong hand he will let them go, and because of a strong hand he will drive them from his land.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

I’m sure I’ve used this illustration before somewhere, but one of my favorite types of magic tricks are the ones when the magician seems to make a mistake or have something go wrong with the trick. The best versions of these have you totally buying into the drama of the moment only to leave you absolutely astounded when they pull off an even more impressive trick than it had looked like they were going to do in the beginning. After Moses’ first encounter with Pharaoh makes it look like God’s plans were going to be a total bust, God offers Moses a bit of reassurance. Let’s talk about what’s going on here and what it means for us.

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Morning Musing: Exodus 5:1-2

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“Later, Moses and Aaron went in and said to Pharaoh, ‘This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: Let my people go, so that they may hold a festival for me in the wilderness.’ But Pharaoh responded, ‘Who is the Lord that I should obey him by letting Israel go? I don’t know the Lord, and besides, I will not let Israel go.'” (CSB – Read the chapter)

Stepping out in obedience to God’s command often takes a lot of courage. He occasionally calls us to big and bold actions to advance His kingdom. Perhaps you have taken just such a step of faith before. And perhaps when you did, everything fell right into place, and you enjoyed success and the blessing that comes with faithfulness. But maybe things didn’t go quite as you were planning. In fact, maybe they went the opposite of that. If that was your experience, you have something in common with Moses and Aaron. Let’s talk about their first encounter with Pharaoh and when things don’t go according to plan.

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Morning Musing: Exodus 4:13-14

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“Moses said, ‘Please, Lord, send someone else.’ Then the Lord’s anger burned against Moses, and he said, ‘Isn’t Aaron the Levite your brother? I know that he can speak well. And also, he is on his way now to meet you. He will rejoice when he sees you.'” (CSB – Read the chapter)

I played basketball for a few years growing up. Well, I played basketball for a team for a few years. I played a lot of driveway basketball until high school. Then we moved to a house that didn’t have a goal in the driveway and I was too busy with other activities anyway (also, I was terrible). But in my few years of playing, one of the stories my dad told me to encourage me was of Larry Bird’s practice regimen. Bird was, of course, one of the greatest of all time. And while there was certainly an element of tremendous natural talent at play, he became such a superlatively great shooter because he would shoot the ball hundreds of times a day. There was a time, though, when he wasn’t so great. There was a time when Moses wasn’t so great either. This was it. Let’s talk about it.

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Morning Musing: Exodus 4:1

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“Moses answered, ‘What if they won’t believe me and will not obey me but say, “The Lord did not appear to you”?'” (CSB – Read the chapter)

One of the bumper sticker truisms about the Christian faith that sometimes gets thrown around is that whatever God calls us to, He equips us for. That process, however, is not always direct and smooth, and sometimes – especially if we don’t want to do it – we can be rather reluctant recipients of His help. Moses fits rather spectacularly into this category. In the first part of chapter four here, we find Moses trying to get out of what God was sending him to do. What we see here is not the great man of faith we know him to be, but who he was before that. Moses tries three times to get out of what God wants him to do. Let’s look at each of these in turn this week, starting with this first one.

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Morning Musing: Exodus 2:1-2

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“Now a man from the family of Levi married a Levite woman. The woman became pregnant and gave birth to a son; when she saw that he was beautiful, she hid him for three months.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

When you read the story of the Exodus – and specifically the story of Moses – through the lens of the Gospels, it is remarkable just how much the one echoes the other. Yet in the moment, its characters certainly didn’t experience it as good news. Still, though, there is a reminder here of God’s sovereignty in our stories. Let’s talk today about Moses’ birth, the contours of our own stories, and how God accomplishes His plans.

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