WHAT DO YOU KNOW ABOUT OUR GOD? ( Part 4)

“Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®, Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.”

Yes We Believe In God. That Is Not The Issue. The Problem Is That Although We Believe In God, We Find It Difficult To Trust Him Completely.

Ex 4:1 Moses answered, "What if they do not believe me or listen to me and say, 'The LORD did not appear to you'?" 2 Then the LORD said to him, "What is that in your hand?" "A staff," he replied. 3 The LORD said, "Throw it on the ground." Moses threw it on the ground and it became a snake, and he ran from it. 4 Then the LORD said to him, "Reach out your hand and take it by the tail." So Moses reached out and took hold of the snake and it turned back into a staff in his hand. 5 "This," said the LORD, "is so that they may believe that the LORD, the God of their fathers — the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob — has appeared to you." 6 Then the LORD said, "Put your hand inside your cloak." So Moses put his hand into his cloak, and when he took it out, it was leprous, like snow. 7 "Now put it back into your cloak," he said. So Moses put his hand back into his cloak, and when he took it out, it was restored, like the rest of his flesh. 8 Then the LORD said, "If they do not believe you or pay attention to the first miraculous sign, they may believe the second. 9 But if they do not believe these two signs or listen to you, take some water from the Nile and pour it on the dry ground. The water you take from the river will become blood on the ground."

Moses believed in God. He had always known about the God who revealed Himself as the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. However, with his firm belief in God, Moses found it difficult to agree to what God was asking him to do. I suppose this is true for most of us. We believe in God. We believe in His word. We do not question His majestic status as Supreme Being; God of gods and King of all kings. It’s just that some of His instructions to us are not that easy to comply with or obey. Of course He is always right and we are wrong but the difficulty remains.

Moses heard God spoke about a plan that He wants Moses to implement. Moses should go back to Egypt (where he was a fugitive, wanted by the Egyptian authorities for murder) and tell Pharaoh (who thought of himself as the king of kings and son of a god, and in fact, a god himself) to let the slaves, the Israelites, go to a certain Mountain to worship God.

This was a bit too much for Moses. Confront Pharaoh? Refer to the Israelites as children of the Most High God when the Egyptians consider them as slaves of the lowest kind? Tell Pharaoh about the most God High God when Pharaoh firmly believes that he is a god and protected by all other gods? It was a difficult assignment. So Moses became afraid. He raised arguments hoping to convince God not to go on with the plan.

We sometimes go through something like this. We believe God; yes but some of His instructions are difficult to obey. God tells us to forgive but in our minds: forgive the person who has betrayed me, offended me and made me feel like I am less than a person? Trust Him to take care of us when things are really down and no hope seems to at the horizon? It is often difficult to believe completely. Moses was afraid that the people would not believe him when he tells them that God had spoken to him. Do you know what the real problem was? His problem is also our problem today. Moses trusted God but not all the way. God said GO, Moses raised all kinds of arguments so he could not go. Trusting God but not all the way. This is a weakness common to the many believers. Let’ work on this weakness and give it up altogether by the grace of God. In the end, the true measure of ABSOLUTE TRUST in God is UNCONDITIONAL AND COMPLETE OBEDIENCE. Do you trust God? Enough?