God Reassures Moses

Ex 5:22-6:13

Moses had two problems: his enemy and his teammates.  On one end, Pharaoh has no respect for Moses; and on the other end, his followers are losing respect for him quickly as his efforts to deliver them are only making their lives more difficult.   Yahweh’s (Hebrew of The Lord) response is to tell Moses that the people of Israel have only seen a few glimpses of Him as Hw met with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, their current picture of Him is too small for this next season.  

When we begin our lives in Christ we have an initial burst of freedom coupled with fresh, powerful experiences of God’s presence.  It is easy to consider these sufficient for the rest of our lives.  We can have seasons of renewal where our faith is fresh and vibrant, when dependence is natural, and our expression of it is bold.  Yet new challenges come over the horizon or deeper issues of bondage emerge from  the buried layers of our personality.  It is tempting to want to lean upon what we have known of God to draw us through these challenges.  Those lessons of the past are crucial; yet if they were sufficient, then the problems you are facing wouldn’t exist.  You need to know much more of the breadth of God’s personality as well as the depths of His character.  You cannot get that by reading old journals, you must write new ones.  

In this passage, Yahweh tells Moses that this is a new chapter in the relationship between Him and His people, for now He is revealing Himself as the “I AM,” the one who hears the groaning of His people, remembers His promises, who brings them out of slavery, delivers them, redeems them, takes them to be His people, to be their God, and to deliver them to a land which will be home.  Before, with the patriarchs, God sort showed up out of  nowhere and was passed down from father to son.  He surely was God and He surely did provide, but now He reveals Himself as the ever present one, who is always with them, who fights their battles, who takes charge and shows them His love.  

Your current picture of God will be insufficient for the next challenge to come over the horizon.  That is both intimidating and good news.  God is eager to show Himself to you.  He may very well be sending your next challenge so He may follow on the heals to reveal Himself to you.

Have you experienced challenges recently that have forced you to look for God in a way you may not have before?  How did he reveal himself to you? Just click on the title of the blog to comment and let us know.

Posted by Marc