Doubt

Who are you really doubting?

When I was a young guy, our playground was the woods across the street from my granddad’s house.

100’s upon 100’s of acres of woods

Pine trees, hardwoods, bushes, briars, vines - everything a boy could love.

As well as a creek.

Silver Creek - at it’s widest, maybe 20 feet.

At it’s deepest, maybe 3 feet.

There were a bunch of us boys that played back there and the one thing I was better at than any of the other boys was jumping rocks.

Not skipping - jumping - from rock to rock across the creek.

It was rare that I slipped and fell and I was kind of proud of it.

Other guys would slip and fall in - not me.

I was as sure footed as could be.

Fast forward 10 years or so.

In my early 20’s, we’re hiking the Appalachian Trail on the approach to Clingman’s Dome.

For several thousand feet on the approach, the trail follows a very narrow ridgeline.

In my memory, I see a path that’s about 2 feet wide - in reality, I expect it was 6 - 8 feet wide.

But down both slopes, either side of the trail, it was an extremely steep slope.

If you fell, it would be a long time and a lot of pain before you stopped.

I was terrified.

I don’t like being up high and - even though my feet were solidly on the ground, I kept thinking

What happens if I trip?

Keep in mind - I’m the guy who would jump rock to rock in any creek, stream or river and not fall in.

I was the most sure footed person in our group.

But all I could think about was - what if I trip?

What caused me my terror was not the narrowness of the ridge

Or the steepness of the slope

It was my doubt in my own ability.

Moses felt it too.

Our text for today begins with verse 1 of chapter 4 of Exodus.

Moses is still talking to Yahweh at the burning bush on Mt. Horeb.

Austin did a magnificent job last week of explaining the name Yahweh to us.

It was probably the best message I’ve ever heard him preach.

Renee’ and I were at a Ministry Couples Retreat sponsored by the Georgia Baptist Mission Board.

It was great and what helped make it great was knowing that Austin and Matthew wanted to make Jesus known in this place with all of their heart.

And it showed.

The Lord has been good to us.

So here we are now, back at the burning bush.

Yahweh is telling Moses what his mission is.

And Moses isn’t having any of it.

Like Austin said last week, Moses is being very southern in his refusal.

It was their culture to - be humble, refuse politely.

Moses has already said, “I’m not worthy...”

And the Lord answered Moses gently.

The Lord understood, it’s not everyday in the middle of nowhere you have a conversation with God face to face.

The Lord will give Moses a little time to catch on.

But eventually, Moses’ real objection comes out.

Kids - bet when you studied this in Sunday School you didn’t realize that Moses talked to God a really long time.

And that God was very patient with Moses.

The Lord is still patient with us because sometimes it takes us a minute to catch on to His plan for us.

Listen closely and see if you’ve ever been like Moses.

The three words you are listening for are life, believe, and good.

Now, let’s all listen closely to God’s word.

Hear the Word of the Lord from Exodus 4:1-17

Exodus 4:1–17 ESV

Then Moses answered, “But behold, they will not believe me or listen to my voice, for they will say, ‘The Lord did not appear to you.’ ” The Lord said to him, “What is that in your hand?” He said, “A staff.” And he said, “Throw it on the ground.” So he threw it on the ground, and it became a serpent, and Moses ran from it. But the Lord said to Moses, “Put out your hand and catch it by the tail”—so he put out his hand and caught it, and it became a staff in his hand— “that they may believe that the Lord, the God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has appeared to you.” Again, the Lord said to him, “Put your hand inside your cloak.” And he put his hand inside his cloak, and when he took it out, behold, his hand was leprous like snow. Then God said, “Put your hand back inside your cloak.” So he put his hand back inside his cloak, and when he took it out, behold, it was restored like the rest of his flesh. “If they will not believe you,” God said, “or listen to the first sign, they may believe the latter sign. If they will not believe even these two signs or listen to your voice, you shall take some water from the Nile and pour it on the dry ground, and the water that you shall take from the Nile will become blood on the dry ground.” But Moses said to the Lord, “Oh, my Lord, I am not eloquent, either in the past or since you have spoken to your servant, but I am slow of speech and of tongue.” Then the Lord said to him, “Who has made man’s mouth? Who makes him mute, or deaf, or seeing, or blind? Is it not I, the Lord? Now therefore go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall speak.” But he said, “Oh, my Lord, please send someone else.” Then the anger of the Lord was kindled against Moses and he said, “Is there not Aaron, your brother, the Levite? I know that he can speak well. Behold, he is coming out to meet you, and when he sees you, he will be glad in his heart. You shall speak to him and put the words in his mouth, and I will be with your mouth and with his mouth and will teach you both what to do. He shall speak for you to the people, and he shall be your mouth, and you shall be as God to him. And take in your hand this staff, with which you shall do the signs.”

This is the Word of the Lord.

Thanks be to God.

Moses’ first objection was - “I’m not worthy.”

His second one was, “I don’t even know your name.”

Verse 1 is his third one.

Exodus 4:1 “Then Moses answered, “But behold, they will not believe me or listen to my voice, for they will say, ‘The Lord did not appear to you.’ ””

This is real - I’m picking up what Moses is putting down.

No one hears from God face to face.

The people Yahweh is telling him to go liberate have been in slavery for 400 years.

And in that 400 years, the only people who spoke to God face to face were crazy people.

And in walks Moses.

“Lord, these people will think I’ve lost my mind.

“Hey guys, I know the last time you saw me I was running for my life because I killed a guy.

“But look, I’ve had time time to think and get my life together.

“And you’ll never believe this, but one day, while I was leading my sheep to some grass, we were walking through this really barren place

And I ran across the bush that was burning but it wasn’t really burning.

“Because see, God was in it the bush and He told me to come here and tell you guys that I’m going to get you guys out of here.”

“I’m going to lead you to the promised land.”

Uh huh, you realize that’s crazy talk right?

There has to be something to make them believe him.

Now, let’s level set here.

Moses has faith in God

How can I say that?

Look at verses 3 and 4 - Exodus 4:3–4 “And he said, “Throw it on the ground.” So he threw it on the ground, and it became a serpent, and Moses ran from it. But the Lord said to Moses, “Put out your hand and catch it by the tail”—so he put out his hand and caught it, and it became a staff in his hand—”

Listen, we could talk for 10 minutes about his staff

Again, when we went walking in the woods, we’d always break us off a walking stick.

You needed it to beat back briars and maybe scare something off.

But their staffs weren’t sticks they picked up on the way.

They were deliberately chosen and kept for a long, long time.

They were very intricately carved, they identified the person, it was like their wallet in a sense.

Everything important about them was somehow carved into that staff.

Moses tosses his staff down like God told him too.

It turns into a snake.

I’m sure Moses had dropped his staff before - it never turned into a snake.

Today, it’s a snake.

It scares the bejebbers out of him and then God says

Pick it up by the tail.

You do know why that’s a real dumb idea, right?

When you pick up a snake, you pick him up right behind the business end - right behind the head

That way, he can’t whip around and bite you.

But the Lord tells Moses to pick him up by the tail.

I saw a tough guy - and I use that term to mean dumb - but this tough guy showing off to the crowd picks up a poisonous snake by it’s tail.

Because see, tough guys can do that.

But on this day, this snake was a bit tougher and a bit more piqued than the tough guy anticipated.

And the snake whipped it’s body around and bit him pretty solidly on his arm.

Because you don’t pick up a snake by its tail.

The Lord told Moses to do something extremely dangerous and Moses did it.

Moses believed God.

Moses faith is not in question - but something else is.

Now real quick, let’s talk about the three signs.

First, the staff became a snake and then changed back.

The Creator can give life and take life away.

Second, Yahweh makes Moses’ hand leprous and then makes it healthy again.

In their culture, they believed that the gods controlled sickness and health

So if Moses’ God could make him sick and healthy just like that, He must be God.

The third sign is more ominous.

He told Moses if he had to, to take some water from the Nile river and pour it on dry ground.

Why dry ground?

Because there was nothing there for folks to say it made the water look any kind of way.

When the water hits the ground, it is blood.

This is big and we’ll talk about it more in a later message

But for today - the Egyptian’s worshiped the god of the Nile.

The Nile river was their source of life.

The vast majority of the population of Egypt lived right beside the Nile.

It gave them water and it’s plains provided them with food.

So what was the message that Yahweh was giving them in taking the water, that was their life and turning it into blood?

Well, what is blood?

Leviticus 17:11 ESV

For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it for you on the altar to make atonement for your souls, for it is the blood that makes atonement by the life.

The life of the flesh is blood.

The Nile was their life.

And God poured their life - the Egyptian’s life - their god’s life - their blood - out on the ground.

The Lord is pronouncing judgment - their blood will be required.

So that’s a big deal and we’ll talk a lot more about this later.

Now, back to Moses.

Look at Exodus 4:10 “But Moses said to the Lord, “Oh, my Lord, I am not eloquent, either in the past or since you have spoken to your servant, but I am slow of speech and of tongue.””

This doesn’t mean what I thought it meant.

I thought it meant he wasn’t a good speaker - but if you read all of the first five books of the Bible, that doesn’t make sense.

Moses will end up speaking much more than Aaron.

Some of his speeches are quite long and complex and deep and meaningful

And spoken in front of a lot of people.

It’s not that he’s not a good speaker or has a speech impediment or even that he doesn’t like public speaking.

His speech is slow

The word is literally heavy.

It means Moses isn’t quick on his feet.

He’s not good in an argument - he doesn’t do well in conflict.

We’ve seen that .

Remember, when he was challenged by the Hebrew man who was beating up on another Hebrew - did he try to explain anything?

Nope - he turned tail and ran as fast as he could.

Moses knows what his limits have been all of his life.

He’s walking across the ridge.

What if I stumble and fall?

Walking in to see Pharaoh - what if they ask me a question and I freeze up.

You see, it wasn’t that Moses didn’t believe in God

Moses didn’t believe God would do it for him

Exodus 4:13 “But he said, “Oh, my Lord, please send someone else.””

If you are reading the New International Translation, they really watered down what Moses said.

“Pardon your servant, Lord. Please send someone else.”

In the previous four objections, Moses has acted according to his culture and he’s been very polite.

This time he shouts.

“Please! Send someone else!”

Moses is demanding - I don’t want to do this.

And the Lord wasn’t happy

Exodus 4:14 “Then the anger of the Lord was kindled against Moses ...

We don’t know what that looked like.

Maybe the bush blazed higher.

Maybe the Lord’s voice became more adamant.

But notice what didn’t happen

The Lord didn’t strike Moses - and the Lord didn’t abandon Moses.

The Lord was patient with Moses.

Even in his aggravation, He was patient with Moses.

Remember, Moses isn’t doubting the Lord’s ability to do anything.

Moses doubts if God will do it for him.

His past haunts him.

His frailties, his shortcomings, his slowness haunts him.

And although the Lord was angry - the Lord showed Moses grace.

“I’ll send your brother with you.

“And you will be a team.

“But Moses - you are still my man.”

So Moses left the mountain, and got busy.

If you are a Christian and a person of the Book, then you have to think differently from everybody else.

You have to understand that since the fall, life is hard.

Very early on, God said to Adam and to all of us: Genesis 3:17-19

Genesis 3:17–19 (ESV)

...”cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life;

thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field.

By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”

Life is hard and it’s not going to get easier.

That’s not a reflection on the goodness of God.

Strokes, cancer, broken hips, deafness, blindness, Alzheimer's, those things don’t make the Lord good or bad.

Those are a part and parcel of living in a fallen world.

What does reflect the goodness of God is this:

While His anger burns against sin

In grace, with mercy He made a plan to rescue you and me from the horror that our sin was going to bring on us.

Moses arguing with God and God’s patience shows us very plainly that God’s plan to save us cannot be stopped by our doubt.

God’s plan for our life cannot be stopped by our believing that, He might do that for someone else - but He won’t do that for me.

If you are His child, in grace with mercy He will prove you wrong.

He will be with you regardless - because He is good.

Psalm 107:1 ESV

Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever!

The King James reads: “for his mercy endureth forever.”

Did you know that the phrase “for his mercy endureth forever” is repeated 84 times in the Bible?

Do you think he wants us to hear something?

I hope we remember that every time we have cried out like the father of the possessed boy did to Jesus

“I believe, help my unbelief.”

“I believe you can do it.

“I believe you have done it for others.

“I’m just not sure you’ll do it for me.

And 84 times in the Bible, Yahweh says to us, “Yes I will.”

Brothers and sisters, life is hard.

Quit expecting it to not be hard.

Quit expecting something to rapture us out of this hardship.

Instead, let’s start looking for the Lord’s purpose and what He’s called us to do to make it happen.

He didn’t just have a plan for Moses’ life - you know He has a plan for yours too.

And that plan, as hard as it might be - will be for your good and for His glory - so many can be saved.

Which brings us to this.

If you’ve listened, you’ve heard me say following Jesus isn’t going to make your life easy.

But it will give your life meaning.

When you follow Jesus, you are joining a family of people who have all said

God does things for other people, but He’ll never do it for me.

And then He does.

Over and over and over again.

And we slowly but surely learn, that Jesus will always do for us what Jesus promises He will do for us.

He’s done it for me

He’ll do it for you too.

Join us.

Come join Jesus’ family.

Come home with us.

You come home with us and we will show you the goodness of God.

Let us pray: