Slipping Up
Slipping Up
Exodus 5:22-23
Then Moses turned to the LORD and said, “O Lord, why have you done evil to this people? Why did you ever send me? For since I came to Pharaoh to speak in your name, he has done evil to this people, and you have not delivered your people at all.”
That’s gotta be it for Moses, surely. No doubt, chapter six will open with the Lord recruiting someone else. Someone who won’t make every excuse under the sun for why he can’t speak efficiently. Someone who obeys right off the bat. Someone who won’t get knocked down at the very first sign of opposition and whose knees won’t buckle under the grumbles of a discontented crowd. And definitely someone who won’t have the audacity to turn around and point the finger at God when the going gets tough.
Well, that might be how Exodus would read if it were the story of God looking for a perfect human messenger, but it isn’t. Instead, it’s the story of a patient and merciful God who works through human weaknesses to accomplish His perfect redemptive work. Yes, Moses slips up a little here, but this foot-in-mouth exchange takes him deeper into the heart of his Deliverer. And let’s not overlook the fact that Moses does here what the other Hebrews didn’t do. He goes to God directly. Maybe he’s forgotten to remove his sandals this time around, or forgotten that Egypt too is holy ground, or forgotten that he’s wrestling the Creator of the universe and not just some guy his size, but it doesn’t matter. Because God is strong enough and good enough to shoulder his toughest questions and harshest accusations.
Friend, I hope God’s mercy toward Moses comforts you as much as it comforts me. Even when we go to our Father with the wrong attitude, or we jump to the wrong conclusions, or we feel all the wrong impulses, He wants us to come to Him nonetheless. And it’s only in the comfort of His abiding favor, in this crucible of affliction shared, where we discover what a peace that passes understanding is all about.