Take a moment to read the entire chapter of Exodus 4 before reading the devotional below.
Moses goes down in history as one of the people that least wanted to do what God was asking of him. God’s attempts to prove that his power would be with Moses only freak him out more. Imagine you unsuspectingly go to look at a weird bush on fire. Then you start to hear God’s audible voice. Then that voice tells you to throw down your shepherd’s staff onto the ground and it turns into a snake. Yeah, I’d be even more freaked out at that point too. Moses’s response is a desperate one: “God send anyone else…” Thanks, but no thanks.
God agrees to send Moses’ biological brother Aaron with him, and this reassurance is what finally causes Moses to relent to obedience. When God finally gives him more details of the plan, it turns out that a significant part of the plan is Pharaoh refusing to cooperate. Wait, what?? Moses already did not want to do this job, which meant returning to a place he might be instantly killed for his past murder. Now God’s saying that Moses will fail repeatedly at convincing Pharaoh to let the Jewish people go.
Here’s your freedom for today: God’s plans for victory often seem like earthly failures. Pharaoh refusing to listen. King Saul spending years trying to kill David after God anointed him king. Elijah running for his life for years. Jesus dying as a common prisoner after a mob riot. Paul getting thrown in jail for spreading the Gospel. Earthly measures are simply not a good way to know if God is moving. God’s plans operate in a different realm, with moving parts we only barely can begin to understand. Self-reliance is so dangerous because we do not have all the information. Stop trying to make things work out. Step back and simply follow God’s ways when the moment of obedience comes.