Theological Commentary: Click Here
Today we get
another glimpse of the implementation of God’s plan. It is easy to become fixated on the events of
this story because of the miraculous nature of them. Moses’ hand becomes leprous when he sticks it
inside of his cloak. Moses’ staff turns
into a serpent until he grabs it by the tail.
God promises that He will turn the Nile water into blood if absolutely
necessary. These are captivating elements
of a story indeed.
Although it
is easy to get fixated on the events, when we do so we miss a significant
portion of the story. Look at how Moses
acts in the story. We get a great
glimpse of human nature here. In the
last chapter, we saw how God used Moses’ curiosity to get his attention. Now, however, when God puts the focus on
Moses’ upcoming action we begin to see a little hesitation within Moses. Moses wonders why they would believe
him. After all, he is a murderer. Why would they believe the words of a
murderer?
Perhaps
there is also a hint of fear within his words.
God is asking some big things from him.
In order to accomplish them, he is going to need to go before the Hebrew
leaders. He is also going to need to go
before Pharaoh – likely the son of the Pharaoh who raised him – and make
requests. There are many good reasons
for him to fear. God is setting out a
difficult road, fraught with many difficult activities to come.
Notice that
God does not abandon Moses in spite of his hesitation or his fear or whatever
else that he is feeling. God doesn’t
expect us to blindly follow with absolute courage. He expects us to follow in human ways. He expects us to be fearful, especially when
asking great things. He expects us to be
timid from time to time. He expects us
to be confused and not understand. These
are all normal things for us to experience and they do not prohibit God from
using us.
One of the
great things about studying God’s Word is being free to look at the people God
uses. When we do, we get a long list of
flawed, yet obedient, servants. God’s
Word does show us incredible acts of supernatural power. But perhaps even more importantly it shows us
His action through some very normal human beings. That is a God who desires to be in
relationship with us.
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