PASTOR’S NOTES
And Moses took the rod of God in his hand.
After all of his arguing with God, Moses leaves to go back to Egypt at the end of chapter 4. All that worry and complaining about the “what ifs” and scripture honestly doesn’t even spend that much time describing the encounter with people in Egypt. Three verses outline the encounter that Moses was so concerned about. Three verses that played out exactly like God had promised. They spoke and the people listened, just like God promised. Only if Moses had faith from the beginning.
As we close out chapter 4, Moses leaves, but still shows that he is not 100% bought-in as he doesn’t tell his father-in-law exactly what he is doing. Doesn’t lie, but doesn’t tell the truth. Even though Moses is still dragging his feet, reluctance is the least of his problems.
The end of Exodus 4 opens the doors to a lot of questions. What does it mean by God hardening the Pharaoh’s heart? Why would God want to kill Moses after he just started back to Egypt? These are wonderful questions to ask, but we often see that questions like these often lead to more questions that lead to more questions.
The answers to the these questions might not fit into a weekly devotion, nor the mind of man and that is okay.
During the message Sunday, we will dive into what God calls us to in the midst of all these questions. We will unpack truths in God’s goodness, grace, love, and plan that live in hard-to-answer questions.
One truth that is not hard to see is the Gospel that lives here at the end of chapter 4. The good news of who Jesus is and what He has done shines bright in this week’s text. The story of Moses and the Exodus paints a picture of the coming Christ and salvation. It also paints a picture of sin and the need of a savior from the standpoint of man.
This week I want you to read verses 18-31 and really read the text with eyes looking for the Gospel. Where is Jesus in chapter 4 of Exodus?
SCRIPTURE TO GO ALONG WITH THE MESSAGE
Read Romans 3:25 and Hebrews 9:22 and read these texts about the Gospel and try to see this week’s text in Exodus in them both.
HIGHLIGHT IN YOUR BIBLES
Highlight verses 24-26 in Exodus 4.
