FBC Daily Devotional – Feb. 22, 2021

Faith Baptist Church

Subscribe

Download

Share

00

00:05

Well, a good Monday to you. Here we are the beginning of the last week of February.

00:11

Isn't that incredible? Seems like just the other day it was New Year's Eve and we were ushering in a new year and here we are in the last week of the second month already.

00:22

Well, grateful for the Lord's grace in bringing us through these weeks and bringing us to this point.

00:31

So, are you staying up with the Bible reading plan? So, I hope you are and if so, then today you read in Exodus chapters 4 and 5 and you know, don't you just love armchair quarterbacks?

00:48

You know, you know those guys who sit there in their armchair watching a football game and ask, you know, why did he do that?

00:56

Why didn't he throw it to this guy? Or you know, why did he hand it off when he could have done to us? And you know, it's pretty easy to do that, isn't it?

01:04

It really is. I mean, you're sitting there looking at the whole thing, the whole game from the sky practically and yeah, it's pretty easy to be critical.

01:13

But we can do that too with some of the characters in the Bible and certainly we can do that with Moses.

01:21

So, here we are in Exodus 4 and you know, God's calling Moses to go serve him and deliver the people of Israel and you might think, wow, what a great privilege and man, he ought to jump at that opportunity, etc, etc.

01:35

Instead, what he does is he expresses reluctance and he makes a bunch of excuses and as armchair quarterbacks, we can be pretty critical of Moses saying, well, you know, he shouldn't have done that.

01:49

He should have enough faith to believe God and yet, come on, let's be honest. What would you do?

01:55

Would you have responded any differently? I mean, think of what he did. Think of how he responded.

02:01

In the first place, he wanted to know, well, who are you? Who is it that is actually communicating to me?

02:09

What's your identity? He asks for the Lord's identity and he seeks some kind of confirming authorization, you know.

02:16

All right, I'm supposed to go to these people. I haven't been to Egypt in 40 years. People aren't going to remember who

02:22

I am, will they? And I'm supposed to tell them that you have sent me to do this.

02:30

I mean, again, put yourself in his shoes. Go someplace where you haven't been in 40 years and go to the town council and say, you know,

02:41

God has sent me here to do thus and so and you need to toe the line. You need to follow me. Yeah.

02:48

You would certainly want to have some kind of credentials, wouldn't you, to be able to do that?

02:56

Well, certainly you would and Moses is no different. And is it really, can you really blame him for recognizing his own personal inadequacy?

03:08

Lord, you want me to speak to Pharaoh? I can't even hardly get a whole sentence out.

03:17

He knows his own limitations and that knowledge causes him to be reluctant.

03:25

You know, given the task, that sounds quite reasonable. Even coming to the place where he says, you know, why don't you send somebody else?

03:37

Have you ever done that? I have. I have. I've said times and times,

03:44

I'm not cut out for this. I'm not able to do this. I'm not up to the task.

03:51

So all of Moses's objections really, you know, sound quite familiar and yet, yet the

03:58

Lord faithfully provides. He patiently deals with his servant.

04:04

He answers each of each of his objections and in the end, he confirms his sovereign choice.

04:12

Moses, you are the one. And he compels him to comply. So, thankfully, even though too many times

04:21

I'm a lot like Moses, not much different from him, the

04:26

Lord is still the same too. He's patient. He's gracious and yet compelling and providing.

04:35

I'm grateful for that. As you continue on in the reading, are you not struck with the mystery of the sovereignty of God?

04:45

He tells Moses, all right, I'm sending you to do this, but here's what's gonna happen.

04:51

I'm going to harden Pharaoh's heart. You're gonna tell Pharaoh, let my people go and I am going to harden

05:00

Pharaoh's heart, so he won't let the people go. That can cause us to scratch our head a little bit and it's almost like the

05:09

Lord is telling Moses, I'm sending you on a mission that will seem like it's doomed to failure and yet, chapter 4 verses 21 through 23,

05:21

Moses went. He went and he gathered the elders of the people together and he said, this is what

05:26

God has given me to do. Well, when, you know, the

05:32

Lord does what he says and even those who are being served as what's going to happen next.

05:39

At first, they're all excited. People are all excited about that. But then, you know what happens next. Moses goes before Pharaoh, says let my people go.

05:50

Pharaoh gets mad, says why should I do that? I'm not gonna let your people go. Instead, I'm gonna increase their workload and it's gonna be even more difficult for them.

05:59

And consequently, even those that were a while ago celebrating the coming of Moses to deliver

06:08

God's people from Egypt and bondage, now those same people are beginning to oppose him and you know, say what?

06:18

You came to set us free. Look at what's happened. Our workload is all the greater. Nothing's happening here.

06:25

You've made life more difficult for us. Given that experience, can you really blame

06:33

Moses again for his response? Chapter 5 verse 22, we read

06:38

Moses turned to the Lord and said, Lord, why have you done evil to this people?

06:44

Why did you ever send me? Why did you ever send me? For since I came to Pharaoh to speak in your name, he's done he's done evil to this people and you have not delivered your people at all.

06:58

Oh, isn't it easy to sit in the armchair and be critical, isn't it? Here are a couple of responses, a bunch of responses of Moses and we see them and we see the end of the story.

07:09

That's our problem. We see the end of the story. But put yourself in the middle of it. You find yourself being just like Moses, don't you?

07:17

I do too often. Lord, why did you put me in this position?

07:23

Why did you put me in this pickle? You haven't done what you said. Yeah, we need to add a word to that, don't we?

07:31

Yet. Yet. So we got to be careful about being too critical of Moses and his responses.

07:41

If we're honest, we'll see ourselves in it. But what I also want us to see in it is our

07:47

Lord. None of this rattles him. None of this keeps him from fulfilling his commitment, his promise that he's made to his people.

07:56

And he will. And he will. So, thank the Lord that he is not bound by our weaknesses and that our weaknesses and our failures and our inadequacy and our our improper responses.

08:16

They don't thwart the Lord's plan. Don't keep him from accomplishing what he wants to accomplish.

08:22

Let's thank him. Thank him for that grace. Thank him for his mercy. All right. Well, I hope you have a good rest of your

08:28

Monday. Let's have a word of prayer and ask God to bless us in it, shall we? So, our

08:34

Father and our God, we do realize today just how oftentimes we are inadequate and our responses are not what they ought to be.

08:44

And yet, Lord, we are grateful that you are who you are. You are patient with us. You are gracious and you use us in spite of our weaknesses.

08:54

Thank you for that, O Lord. Now, I pray, bless the remainder of this day and our service to you in it.

09:00

And we ask it in Jesus' name and for his sake. Amen. All right.