070906

My Declaration of Dependence
I Will Trust in God’s Purpose and Power


Exodus 3:1-6 (Monday)
“Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the far side of the desert and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. There the angel of the LORD appeared to him in flames of fire from within a bush. Moses saw that though the bush was on fire it did not burn up. So Moses thought, "I will go over and see this strange sight--why the bush does not burn up." When the LORD saw that he had gone over to look, God called to him from within the bush, "Moses! Moses!" And Moses said, "Here I am." "Do not come any closer," God said. "Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground." Then he said, "I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob." At this, Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look at God.” (NIV)
1) Moses had left Egypt around age 40 and at this point had spent 40 years in Midian, tending sheep. I imagine he had plenty of time to reflect on his actions (killing the Egyptian) and why his attempts to help his people had failed. In what other ways do you think this 40 year exile helped to shape Moses into the man who would indeed deliver his people? Can you think of other lowly shepherds that ended up leading their people?
2) Has God ever put something—a circumstance, a situation, an event, a person, an opportunity--anything in your path that caused you to pause just long enough to put you in complete awe of God? What was it that drew you to God? Share.
3) Why a burning bush? Wonder why God didn’t just speak to Moses first?
4) True, Moses saw a burning bush—in his forty years in Midian, he had probably witnessed many such occurrences, since this was a very dry region. No, it wasn’t the fire or the bush that caught Moses’ attention. So, what was it that held Moses so spellbound?
5) Where was the angel of the Lord? Who spoke from within the bush? Oh, this Angel was none other than the pre-incarnate Christ! I have heard many people state that only Moses will ever have a “burning bush” experience. To the contrary, I believe, beloved child of God, that this is yet another picture of God’s heart for mankind! This was God’s plan for you and me all along! If you are a believer in the risen Lord Jesus, take a look in the mirror! No mere bush are you! You, dear one, are a planting of the Lord and within you dwells Almighty God Himself! And, though it is true that our God is a consuming fire—like this bush, you and I are not consumed! Only a God like ours! Don’t you just have to marvel at a God like that?
6) Now, you know Moses had chosen to stand with his Hebrew brethren rather than live as a son—a prince of Pharaoh. Yet, until this moment, we have no indication that Moses had a personal knowledge of the Living God. No wonder he hid his face (Oh, please read Psalms 3:3)! Yes, Moses had heard of God from his beloved mother and father, but Moses didn’t know Him! Head knowledge can never replace a personal, divine encounter with a loving Father God that desires a relationship with us! It is only when we come face to face with the Holy One that we fall on our faces and truly worship!
a) I think this is where so many people fall for what is perhaps satan’s biggest lie! Oh, and the thought of this terrifies me because many of so blinded! There are so many “good”, church-going people who know “about” God. They can tell you Bible story after Bible story—quote verses from books you and I have never even bothered to read—shame on us! They live very “clean” lives. They may even have been baptized, serve in their church families, attend Wednesday night services! The truth is these lost souls are merely continuing vain and useless family traditions. To there great loss, they truly believe that living right, or being a member of an organized church or religion is the way to be right with God! Poor and eternally deadly substitutes—all! Satan has used this tactic for ions of time to blind multitudes! Jesus said, “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life!” “No man comes unto the Father, except by Me!” Pretty strong words for today’s politically correct world! If you don’t know anything else about God, know this! God is all about relationship! He is a Relationship (Father, Son and Holy Spirit) and it is He who instituted marriage and the family—all so we would understand how He desires to relate to us! God is a very personal God! Jesus said, “I stand at the door and knock, if any man (or woman) opens the door, I, and my Father will set up our abode with him/her!” (Jennifer paraphrase!) I plead with you, if you cannot go back to a time where you asked Jesus into your heart, and meant it—please ask Him into your heart right now! It’s as easy as acknowledging God’s only way and plan for your salvation. That is, recognizing that Jesus Christ, God’s only Son—the God-Man—came to this earth, put on flesh, died in your place and rose again. Then, (and this is where it gets hard for most, no, probably all of us) admit you are a sinner and you are in need of His forgiveness. Oh, don’t be blinded, don’t settle! Put away your “good” works, any accomplishments you feel make you “worthy” to enter into God’s kingdom and fall on His mercy! Seek only His grace—His unmerited favor!
7) Why wasn’t Moses ready for the work God had for him to do (last week’s lesson)—because he didn’t know Who he would be serving!
8) Oh, I love how God introduces Himself to Moses as the God of Moses’ fathers! Yes, our heritage is very important! Passing down our faith plays an important part in familiarizing our descendants with God! Still, like Moses, we must make an individual and conscience choice to follow after the One True God!
9) Exodus 3:7-15 (Tuesday)
“The LORD said, "I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering. So I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey--the home of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. And now the cry of the Israelites has reached me, and I have seen the way the Egyptians are oppressing them. So now, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt." But Moses said to God, "Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?" And God said, "I will be with you. And this will be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you will worship God on this mountain." Moses said to God, "Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, `The God of your fathers has sent me to you,' and they ask me, `What is his name?' Then what shall I tell them?" God said to Moses, "I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: `I AM has sent me to you.'" God also said to Moses, "Say to the Israelites, `The LORD, the God of your fathers--the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob--has sent me to you.' This is my name forever, the name by which I am to be remembered from generation to generation.” (NIV)
1) I pray it is a comfort to you that God “sees” and is “concerned” about our sufferings! Every tear, every pain, every rejection, every bit of agony we experience in this world. “…weeping may remain for a night, but rejoicing comes in the morning”! (Psalms 30:5b) God always has good things planned for us! What plan did God reveal to Moses that He had for His children? How long had this been in God’s heart for His children? Go back to Genesis 15:13-14, then read Ephesians 2:10!
2) 400+ years! Quite a wait! I love what Charles Stanley in his “In Touch Daily Devotional” of 7/11/06 has to say about waiting upon the Lord’s deliverance:
“Waiting to see tangible evidence of divine action can be frustrating, but timing is important in the Christian life because God is orchestrating events to work for His children’s good.”
3) Who was going to rescue the Hebrew children? What was God’s method in doing so?
4) Are you prepared for God to “send” you? God gave Moses a reassurance—what was it?
5) I AM! God’s name forever! From generation to generation! This is from the Hebrew root “hayah” which translated means, “to exist, i.e., be or become, come to pass (always used with a forceful and resounding emphasis)! How does this particular name of God speak to you?
Exodus 3:16-22 (Wednesday)
“Go, assemble the elders of Israel and say to them, `The LORD, the God of your fathers--the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob-- appeared to me and said: I have watched over you and have seen what has been done to you in Egypt. And I have promised to bring you up out of your misery in Egypt into the land of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites--a land flowing with milk and honey.' "The elders of Israel will listen to you. Then you and the elders are to go to the king of Egypt and say to him, `The LORD, the God of the Hebrews, has met with us. Let us take a three-day journey into the desert to offer sacrifices to the LORD our God.' But I know that the king of Egypt will not let you go unless a mighty hand compels him. So I will stretch out my hand and strike the Egyptians with all the wonders that I will perform among them. After that, he will let you go. "And I will make the Egyptians favorably disposed toward this people, so that when you leave you will not go empty-handed. Every woman is to ask her neighbor and any woman living in her house for articles of silver and gold and for clothing, which you will put on your sons and daughters. And so you will plunder the Egyptians.” (NIV)
1) Only a mighty hand would compel Pharaoh to let God’s people go! Whose?
2) Notice that God not only was going to deliver them, He was going to cause them to find favor with their taskmasters! Imagine! Egypt was going to be “compelled” to free their very useful and necessary Hebrew “slaves”, and then, of all things, send them out to worship their own God, not one of Egypt’s many false “gods”! To heap insult upon insult, these very Hebrew “slaves” would go out in complete freedom from Egypt, with Egypt’s very own riches! Only the great I AM could accomplish such a thing!
3) You know, sin always takes away—robs us of so many things. Our sense of worth and value, our dignity. Too often, our homes, our families, our health—our lives! God has promised that we will not leave “sin” empty-handed! What has God restored to you that sin sought to steal away? Is there something, or some “things”, that you have now that you know you would not have if you had not accepted Christ into your life? Even if you are a new Christian, you may be able to answer this one! Oh, we are not paupers!
4) Why do you think God wanted the Hebrews to “ask”? Why not just place it on the hearts of the Egyptians to freely give? (Hint: One reason may have something to do with facing or standing up to our own “Goliaths”!)
5) Can’t walk away from this story without helping you to see the “parallels” in our own lives. Egypt is often used as a term for “sin”. We all have to be set free from our slavery to Egypt—to sin! So, even before sin entered the world, God had a plan set in motion for our deliverance! He would send a Deliverer (Christ Jesus) who would lead us not only into our earthy promise land, one flowing with milk and honey! But, one day, (soon, I pray) into our heavenly “promised land” with Him!
Exodus 4:10-17 (Thursday)
“Moses said to the LORD, "O Lord, I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since you have spoken to your servant. I am slow of speech and tongue." The LORD said to him, "Who gave man his mouth? Who makes him deaf or mute? Who gives him sight or makes him blind? Is it not I, the LORD? Now go; I will help you speak and will teach you what to say. But Moses said, "O Lord, please send someone else to do it." Then the LORD's anger burned against Moses and he said, "What about your brother, Aaron the Levite? I know he can speak well. He is already on his way to meet you, and his heart will be glad when he sees you. You shall speak to him and put words in his mouth; I will help both of you speak and will teach you what to do. He will speak to the people for you, and it will be as if he were your mouth and as if you were God to him. But take this staff in your hand so you can perform miraculous signs with it.” (NIV)
1) Okay, here come more of the why me’s and the why not,s! I can’t serve you because…! What is your excuse? I’ll let you quietly consider that question!
2) What was God’s response to Moses’ objections?
3) Oh, I wish I could say that God’s response was enough for Moses (or for the rest of us for that matter), but it wasn’t for Moses and it usually isn’t for us!
a) Exodus 3:11—Who am I to do this?
b) Exodus 3:13—What do I say when they ask me Your name? (By the way, by what names do you know God? Oh, please read this promise in Psalms 91:14-16!) Just KNOW His name!
c) Exodus 4:1—They won’t believe or listen to me (Oh, how often have I said this one!)
d) Exodus 4:10—I don’t speak well, I’m not eloquent, I stutter (Yep!)
e) Exodus 4:13—Send someone else, please! (Oh, be careful with this one because this cost Moses and the Hebrew children dearly!)
f) God’s anger “burned” at Moses. Why?
g) Still, God graciously suggested Moses’ brother Aaron to work alongside him. If God has a work to be done—He will always provide, make provision (hence, I AM)! Moses was God’s choice and God knew he was up to the task (Although, Moses really doesn’t start walking in his calling until chapter 8)—He would make him so, but God let Moses have his “crutch”! Although, God knew Aaron would prove to be weak and would allow, even assist the Hebrew children in a most grievous sin (Exodus 32:1-35), God also had a plan and purpose for Aaron’s life. What was it? (Exodus 28)
Exodus 4:27-31(Friday)
“The LORD said to Aaron, "Go into the desert to meet Moses." So he met Moses at the mountain of God and kissed him. Then Moses told Aaron everything the LORD had sent him to say, and also about all the miraculous signs he had commanded him to perform. Moses and Aaron brought together all the elders of the Israelites, and Aaron told them everything the LORD had said to Moses. He also performed the signs before the people, and they believed. And when they heard that the LORD was concerned about them and had seen their misery, they bowed down and worshiped.” (NIV)
1) Oh, I hope you know that this scene is a snapshot of our Lord! Whenever God calls or sends us out, the Lord is quick to come to our side, walking along side of us! We are not alone! We cannot do it in our own strength—we need our Big Brother, Jesus Christ!
2) According to this passage, what should knowing that God sees and is concerned with every detail of our lives lead us to? Oh, He is worthy!