DAY 28 Read Exodus 3 through 5.
Today's reading recounts the experience of Moses in encountering the great I Am in a burning bush. Forty years earlier he had tried to free Israel in his own strength. Now he goes reluctantly in God's strength to confront cruel Pharaoh.
Memory gem: "Now therefore go, and I will be with thy mouth, and teach thee what thou shalt say" (Exodus 4:12).
Thought for today:
The Lord asked Moses, "What is that in thine hand?" (Exodus 4:2). Of course God knew what was in his hand; He was merely drawing attention to it. It was the staff or rod, the pastoral crook, which a shepherd always carried.
Now he is told to throw it down upon the ground. He did so, and what happened? It became a serpent, and Moses fled before it. I do not blame him, do you? Moses had been living in the wilderness for forty years, and he knew serpents.
Then came the command of God: "Put forth thine hand, and take it by the tail" (Exodus 4:4).
It would take considerable faith to unquestioningly obey the word of God, and to do it instantly. To pick up an active, dangerous serpent by the tail is more easily said than done, more easily tried than accomplished. The way to catch serpents, especially poisonous ones, is certainly not by the tail with a bare hand. In the case of the large cobra, it would be suicide. The serpent would turn on him like a flash. Before he could even touch it, he would be fatally bitten.
God was testing Moses. He was not playing with him. He was testing him for leadership and also to reveal to Moses himself whether he had the requisites that God was looking for then and is still looking for in those who are to be spiritual leaders.
What had seemed a threat to the very life of Moses, when he acted in obedience to God, became a help, an instrument of deliverance and of victory as he faced the mightiest king in the world. Whatever our opposition, however fierce and threatening the foe may be, by God's grace, may we also take it by the tail. In other words, may God help us to meet the issue by faith, obedience, and courage, in Christ's holy name.
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Difficult or obscure words;
Exodus 3:22. "Borrow"--better: ask. God did not direct the Israelites to deceive the Egyptians.
Exodus 4:21. (and subsequent references). "Harden"--God was saying that the signs and wonders would simply make Pharaoh more stubbornly set in his own chosen opposition. Just as many statements say that Pharaoh hardened his own heart. See Exodus 7:13, 14, 28; 8:15, 19, 32; 9:7, 43, 35; 13:15.
Today's reading recounts the experience of Moses in encountering the great I Am in a burning bush. Forty years earlier he had tried to free Israel in his own strength. Now he goes reluctantly in God's strength to confront cruel Pharaoh.
Memory gem: "Now therefore go, and I will be with thy mouth, and teach thee what thou shalt say" (Exodus 4:12).
Thought for today:
The Lord asked Moses, "What is that in thine hand?" (Exodus 4:2). Of course God knew what was in his hand; He was merely drawing attention to it. It was the staff or rod, the pastoral crook, which a shepherd always carried.
Now he is told to throw it down upon the ground. He did so, and what happened? It became a serpent, and Moses fled before it. I do not blame him, do you? Moses had been living in the wilderness for forty years, and he knew serpents.
Then came the command of God: "Put forth thine hand, and take it by the tail" (Exodus 4:4).
It would take considerable faith to unquestioningly obey the word of God, and to do it instantly. To pick up an active, dangerous serpent by the tail is more easily said than done, more easily tried than accomplished. The way to catch serpents, especially poisonous ones, is certainly not by the tail with a bare hand. In the case of the large cobra, it would be suicide. The serpent would turn on him like a flash. Before he could even touch it, he would be fatally bitten.
God was testing Moses. He was not playing with him. He was testing him for leadership and also to reveal to Moses himself whether he had the requisites that God was looking for then and is still looking for in those who are to be spiritual leaders.
What had seemed a threat to the very life of Moses, when he acted in obedience to God, became a help, an instrument of deliverance and of victory as he faced the mightiest king in the world. Whatever our opposition, however fierce and threatening the foe may be, by God's grace, may we also take it by the tail. In other words, may God help us to meet the issue by faith, obedience, and courage, in Christ's holy name.
----------------
Difficult or obscure words;
Exodus 3:22. "Borrow"--better: ask. God did not direct the Israelites to deceive the Egyptians.
Exodus 4:21. (and subsequent references). "Harden"--God was saying that the signs and wonders would simply make Pharaoh more stubbornly set in his own chosen opposition. Just as many statements say that Pharaoh hardened his own heart. See Exodus 7:13, 14, 28; 8:15, 19, 32; 9:7, 43, 35; 13:15.
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