Exodus 4 - When God Doesn't Feel Save

I want to invite you today to Exodus chapter four, where we're going to be together. Exodus chapter four. And really chapter four is a part of a grander story that started for us in chapter three of the life of Moses. As we've studied the book of Exodus, one of the things that we've discovered is that the Exodus story is a story of redemption, how the children of Israel go from this place of slavery to this place of freedom, and they find themselves in a relationship with the Lord. The book ends where they have direct interaction with the Lord. So it's really the pursuit of all of our lives that they're the picture of. The book of Exodus really becomes an overarching story for all of Scripture, that this is God's heart for everybody, that we would come to know him and enjoy him all of our days. That's the reason for which God has created you — is primarily not about what you do, but who you are, made in his image. And that means being able to connect with God for relationship. You don't discover the purpose of your existence until it's given over to the Lord, because he is the one that created you.

The book of Exodus shows that redemption story of Israel. It becomes this grander redemption story for our lives that's painted throughout the Bible. But before we get to that point, we see this mini redemption story in the life of Moses. Moses goes from this place — really, I think — of unbeliever to this place of believer, where he sees God do some great things in his life, and he's come to that critical point in his life where God is calling him to take a tremendous step forward. In fact, the ask that God has of him is so significant that Moses finds himself really going through this place of solidifying his faith. He really wants to know, okay, God, do I depend on you the way that I think I do?

And in fact, some people have looked at chapter three and four, and they've made the argument that it's possible that up until this point, Moses might not even have been a believer yet. Meaning you really don't have a lot of evidence in his life that would suggest he was a believer, let alone a strong believer. There's a verse in the book of Hebrews chapter 11, verse 25 and 26 that says Moses chooses to identify with the Hebrews rather than the Egyptians, which is choosing to align with God's people here in this Old Testament passage. But even into this point, when you see Moses take his first stand, when he's 40 years old, he chooses to stop an Egyptian soldier from harming a Hebrew slave. And the way that he intervenes is by killing the soldier. And some see that maybe as an evidence of Moses's faith. But look at that faith as being misled, right? He's stepping into his own strength rather than depending on the Lord. And because of that, the consequence for Moses's life is he has to go on the run and hide for the next 40 years.

He spends the first 40 years in Egypt, growing up in Pharaoh's household. And when he tries to stand for his own people, the Hebrew people, he then is rejected by the Hebrew people and Pharaoh tries to kill Moses. So he goes on the run for the next 40 years of his life, and he's in the wilderness. And it's finally at this point that God shows up in the life of Moses.

And he asks this question in Exodus chapter three verse ten, he says this, "Come and I will send you to Pharaoh, that you may bring my people out of Egypt." I don't know if you think about this verse — really the focus of chapter three and four is built on this significant ask that God has of his life. I'm going to send you back to the place where they tried to kill you, and you're going to go to the superpower of this day, which is Egypt, among the greatest leaders of civilizations during this time, which is Pharaoh. And you're going to just declare that he would let all the slaves go, he would let the Hebrew people go. And you can imagine if you were put in that kind of a position, especially knowing that you had just previously left that place because they were trying to kill you, how reluctant you might be to want to go back.

And in fact, even if God asked that question, there are some things that you just might want to solidify before you step into that. And maybe we could even think of it in terms of our own faith today, that God calls us into something more in who he is, rather than just simply entrusting ourselves to anything in this world. And if we're going to give our hearts over to God, if we're going to really trust him to take steps of faith — even when we come to places of big steps of faith — what is it we really need to know about the Lord? What is it that it's going to require for us to discover before we lean our lives into God fully, to where we're entrusting him completely?

You know, it's easy to call yourself a follower of the Lord when your faith doesn't cost you anything. But when you realize there might be consequences to your trust in Jesus, whether good or bad, you want to be a little bit more particular in asking yourself the question, do I really believe what I proclaim? In fact, we could be honest with ourselves and maybe say it like this — it's not until your faith really costs you something that you can look back at it and say my faith is genuine. It's easy to say you're a follower of Jesus when there's no cost or consequence to your faith. But when you have the evidence of a faith that stands true through a test in life, it becomes this platform, this determiner of saying there's truth to your faith. It's solidified in something because you're willing to pay a cost for it.

And this is where Moses is. Some would look at this and argue Moses really wasn't a believer until this moment. Other people would look at this and say, well, he may have been a believer, he may have been a follower of the Lord, but it wasn't until his faith came to this consequential moment that he solidified his identity in who God is.

And for us, as we come here this morning, maybe we're at that place where we're saying, I have this intellectual knowledge of who I think God is, but I haven't fully trusted him yet. Or maybe I've trusted in the Lord, but there are some areas of my life that I just feel like I have control of because I don't really want to hand it over to him yet. And so rather than let God determine my path, I let fear dictate me. I let anxiety dictate me. I let worry dictate me. I let anger control me, rather than endear myself to a sovereign God who cares for me.

And all of us in our faith come to this place of really a crossroads in life where we might ask ourselves the question, what is it I'm going to trust in? And this is where Moses finds himself. He comes to this place where he realizes at this crossroads, if he follows after the Lord, the path in front of him doesn't look incredibly safe. In fact, it might not even be safe at all.

And so in order to take that step forward in God, what does Moses need to know? And that's what we're going to talk about today. Those two questions about life's crossroads when following God doesn't feel safe.

And truth be told, the Bible never says to us following God should make you feel safe. Maybe we could even say, if there's one thing God isn't, it is that he isn't safe. Now, it could be true in terms of eternity, your destiny being secure in him — you know that God is a safe bet that way, right? Like there is security there. But when we talk about God being not safe, what we mean is God can't be controlled. And just because you follow the Lord, it doesn't necessitate that life is going to be comfortable. In fact, following after the Lord often leads you to this place that life is uncomfortable.

Now we do know that God is a compassionate God. God is capable. But God certainly isn't safe because God can't be controlled, and because following after the Lord doesn't necessitate that life is going to be comfortable. But it's certainly worth it. And so Moses is coming to this point, and he's wanting to discover this as he gets ready to take a step forward.

And any of us should want to be able to do this. In fact, we should look at what Moses is asking about this moment, knowing what God has called him to in this world is greater than what Moses is able to deliver. And so, God, how do I know that I'm not going to fall flat on my face? How do I know that inevitably this is going to work out?

It's like if I use the example of perhaps going and getting a surgery. There are some surgeries that may not feel like big deals to us because they're outpatient, it's a couple seconds, they don't even put me under, right, they just numb it. And you get a surgery and you're done and you're out. But then there are other surgeries that could be so consequential that to not get it could lead to the end of your life, and you need it in order to survive. And so it's a matter of life and death. And anytime you're putting your life in someone else's hands that way, you want to be able to entrust yourself to that person. So if it's a doctor, you might be asking the question like, did you graduate yesterday? Out of all the people you have operated on, tell me I'm not number one. I want to know that there is a history there and that people have survived. You want to see a foundation to it.

And this is where Moses is. Coming to this crossroads, Moses really has two big questions on his mind. He peppers his two big questions with some smaller questions underneath, and he gives some objections to God, because he wants to make sure that what he's about to entrust himself to will work out. But when he comes to this crossroads and he realizes God's not safe, what are the two questions Moses wants to know?

Number one, is this in your notes: Can I trust him?

In Moses asking this bigger question on his mind, he's really driving to that answer by peppering his conversation with the Lord with a couple other questions on top of it. God, can I trust you? And here's how I need to know this, Lord, because I'm not even confident — Moses might be saying — in this moment, based on you picking me, that you should be trusted, right? Like if you knew all the people in the world that you could pick, the fact that you've picked me might already make you a little bit questionable, Lord. Out of all the people, you might say you should send this person back to Pharaoh. Don't you know where I've been? Don't you know these people wanted to kill me? Why in the world would you be choosing me?

And Moses is asking this question. If we go back to chapter three for a moment, by starting off this way, in asking "who am I?" — Exodus 3:11, "But Moses said to God, who am I that I should go to Pharaoh?" And I love God's response here. Moses is saying, God, I'm hearing what you're saying, but then I'm looking in the mirror and this seems underwhelming and unimpressive. Moses knows who he is better than anyone else, at least on earth. And so Moses has this rightful question to ask, like, are you forgetting, God, where I come from and why I'm here to begin with? Like I ran scared for my life. And not only that, I've been a guy taking care of sheep in the wilderness for 40 years. Like, are you sure that I'm the person you want? I'm 80 years old. Going back to Egypt seems like that might fit anybody else but me.

And I love what God does here. Rather than look at Moses and what he's capable of, God says this in verse 12, "But God said, but I will be with you," meaning Moses, if you're starting on the basis of looking at yourself, you're looking at the wrong thing. What sets the precedent for your success in life is not who you are, but who I am.

And this is critical for all of us to ask. This is critical for all of us to think about in life. Discovering the value of who you are as a human being — I mean, we get so desperate as people in understanding who we are, we'll attach ourselves to anything that might help us find any type of meaning in this world, even if it's destructive for us, if it just makes us feel appreciated and valued, we'll just continue to go back to those places, out of really an ignorance of understanding who we are because of who God is.

And for Moses, God is saying to him, if you want to discover who you are, the beginning of that journey starts with understanding who I am. Because as people, if we're not careful, we'll start to determine the worth of who we are based on what we can do. The things that you do in life determines your value — that's where we'll find ourselves. And the reality is that is not true, and that is unhealthy.

Now, certainly the things that you do should be an outflow of who you think you are. Your actions in life are constantly preaching a theology about what you believe, right? So if you want to know what it is you truly hold to, look at how you live, because how you live is the evidence of what you really believe. Now, if we want to change the way that we live, we've got to get deeper into who am I? And the way we understand who we are is not by looking in us, but by looking beyond us at the one who created us for his purposes.

And God is saying, for your life to be successful, you need to stop looking down in you. You need to stop looking around at others for that affirmation. But you need to start looking up to the one who's crafted you for his purposes. Anything God has called you to in this world — if you're going to do it successfully, it's not by depending on your strength. Moses has already tried that. That was the first 40 years of his life, when he tried to stand up against an Egyptian soldier, and it didn't go well for him. And so he spends the last 40 years in humility in this desert, to really come to this place of seeing how much he needs God in his life.

So God is encouraging him to discover who he is by looking at who God is. And so Moses is then following it up with that second question. God, rather than just simply asking who am I, then let's deal with the bigger question. God, who are you?

And God gives that profound answer that we've talked about together. In verse 13, "Then Moses said to God, if I come to the people of Israel, and they ask me, what is his name? What shall I say to them?" And God says to Moses, "I am who I am," which is a powerful statement.

If you weren't here last week, I'll give you a little synopsis of it this way. This way God defines himself is as a verb. It's really about — the full term he gives here is "to be." God is the existent one. And what God is saying is he has no past. He didn't come into existence in the past. He's eternal. He has no beginning, and he has no end. God is the uncaused cause of everything. Which works for us this way — everything in all of creation depends on something to exist. You and me, our lives are dependent upon a source outside of ourselves in order to sustain. By God simply being the being that exists, what he's saying is God is dependent on nothing else, that all things rather are dependent upon him. He is the uncaused cause, the great I am.

And so Moses is beginning to discover the identity of this God and the need that he has to depend on who God is.

As Moses is considering — okay, God, you've declared this to me. You're teaching me who I am as it's shaped in you. And I'm understanding who you are. It's wonderful that you've said those things. But God, can you prove it? How do I know those aren't just words that you're echoing? But when I really put my trust in you, that God, you're not going to disappoint. That I'm going to go to Egypt and I'm going to say this before the children of Israel and even Pharaoh, and in that great moment when I'm fully trusting in you, completely dependent on you, that you're not going to abandon me. God, how do I know?

To be honest, anytime we lack faith in the way that we move forward, or lack faith in God because we put our faith into something else, this is what we're saying — God, there's what you say, and I may say I believe that. But when push comes to shove and I realize there might be consequences for the way I step forward, sometimes, if I'm honest, I choose to endear myself to something else, believing that it will deliver for me more than you will.

If you remember, at the end of Exodus chapter three, verses 19 and 20, as Moses was having this conversation with the Lord, God said it like this, "I will deliver you with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm." And when God says that, it was a picture of really Pharaoh throughout history. You remember I showed an illustration last week that throughout the centuries, pharaohs were known for painting motifs on their walls and even in their temples, where they would dominate their enemies, to the point where these images would show Pharaoh grabbing their enemy by the hair of their head with a mighty hand, and then with an outstretched arm, they would have some sort of weapon in the other hand, as if to send a fatal blow to their enemy. And all these images were painted throughout the walls of the different places where the pharaohs would walk.

And God is saying, the way that you perceive Pharaoh this way, Moses, I want you to know that's who I am. I am the ultimate Pharaoh. I'm the ruler of all things. With a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, I will deliver you.

And for us, that becomes a picture of consideration of what we entrust our lives to. Meaning, I know for us, we don't have to have the worry of a Pharaoh over our lives. That doesn't exist here. But we do give credence to other things in our life that dictate the steps that we're taking. And in so doing, we're saying we're entrusting ourselves to this more than the Lord.

And for our lives, it works like this. Maybe we know God is leading us somewhere, but there's this reluctance to believe that he is sufficient for my life. And so rather than give my life fully to him, if I'm honest, I'm too anxious about it. If I'm honest and I think about what it means to follow the Lord, there's this fear that creeps up over my heart and in my life, and I would rather bow down to the fear than give my life over to him. Or maybe my struggle in life is anger, where I want to take control of a moment because I'm so frustrated by it that I live it out in my flesh and I lash out at other people, rather than entrusting that circumstance to the Lord. I put the dependence on me. And in so doing, I fail to see the greatness of who he is and, by faith, walk with him.

We all struggle with pharaohs in our lives. And this is what Moses is doing — he's wrestling with that question of, can I trust the Lord? And, God, can you give me some ways to know that I can move forward with you?

In fact, his first objection that he's raising is this: Are you trustworthy, God? Are you trustworthy? Can you really support my life and what you've called me to? And Moses says it like this, "And Moses answered the Lord, but behold, they will not believe me or listen to my voice, for they will say, the Lord did not appear to you." There's all these what-ifs, God, that pop up in my mind, all these concerns. I'm afraid, I'm anxious, I'm worried, I'm fearful. God, how do I know that you're enough? Can you demonstrate — not just words, but give me something?

And can I tell you, for the life of the believer, like all of us have a demonstration of God — not just God telling us he loves us, not just God telling us he wants to lavish you with grace upon grace, but God actually doing it in a tangible sense. We as believers this morning, or just as people in general, have a place to go to see the example of God saying to us that he will supply, he will not disappoint. And if you want to know where it's at, it's at the cross of Christ. That's the tangible expression of the love of God, to the point that he sacrifices himself for you and for me, that we can have life in him. And more than that, he overcomes the grave — because he lives, you can too.

You see the faithfulness of God demonstrated as he fulfills his promises, to the point that he becomes flesh and gives his life for you and for me. He declared it in the Old Testament. He lived it out in the New Testament. That becomes the tangible expression for us of God's love, so that we know when we endear ourselves to him, when we entrust ourselves, we put faith in him, we're believing in him — our evidence is everything the Old Testament proclaimed of what the Messiah would be, and the fulfillment of that in what Jesus did at the cross.

But in Moses's day, this is before the cross. In fact, this is even before the Bible was written, because Moses writes the first five books. And so Moses is asking, God, what evidence do I have? And God gives him three miracles.

When God does these miracles, he tells Moses — at the end of chapter four, we're going to run out of time so I won't be able to read all of this — but at the end of chapter four, he says, go and demonstrate to the children of Israel. Then they'll believe. And you see at the end of chapter four, they do. But Moses is also told to do this with Pharaoh, and Pharaoh's heart hardens rather than believe. But even before these two audiences, for Moses, this becomes evidence of the hand of God with him.

And the first miracle comes to us in verse two where it says, "The Lord said to him, what is that in your hand? And 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, has appeared to you."

Now I want you to know this particular miracle is significant. To understand this is not like Moses saying, okay, God, prove it. And God's like, all right, I'll be gracious. I'll demonstrate this time. What are we going to do? I don't even know. I know you got a stick. I guess we'll do something with the stick. And then he just turns it into a snake. That's not the intention behind this miracle. It's more profound than that.

In fact, if you study the ancient Egyptian lifestyle during this time, especially Pharaoh and the headdress that he would wear — the pharaoh's headdress was given over to two images at the top. On one side, which you can kind of see a little distorted there at the top right on the far left, is the picture of a vulture's head. And on the far right is a picture of a cobra or a snake. Now for Lower Egypt, which was northern Egypt, the image was that of the snake. And the image of Upper Egypt, which was southern Egypt, was the image of the vulture.

The place where Moses is confronting Pharaoh is in Lower Egypt in the north. And the symbol for these people of divine protection is that of the snake. And so when God is choosing to turn Moses's staff into a snake, he's not only showing Moses a type of miracle, but a particular miracle — recognizing that Pharaoh is seen as the divine presence of God on this earth, and that snake has divine protection from the gods. Now Moses has the authority of this snake given over to him.

And when Moses goes before Pharaoh, if you remember the story, Moses throws down the staff, the staff turns into a snake. Pharaoh's sorcerers do the same thing. But in the midst of that miracle being performed, we're told that Moses's snake devours the snakes of Pharaoh. And what it's demonstrating is ultimate authority. Ultimate control.

Moses asking the question, God, how do I know you're trustworthy? And God demonstrating to Moses that he's more than capable of providing for what Moses needs.

Not only do you see that with the idea of the snake, but then it goes on from there and it talks about the miracle of the healing of leprosy and the miracle of the turning of water to blood. And in verse six 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 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 out on dry ground, and the water that you shall take from the Nile will become blood."

Now let me just explain these two things quickly, because I've got to save a little time here at the end.

The idea of leprosy certainly builds the picture painted throughout the Bible. To the point, by the time you come to the New Testament, the curing of leprosy was to be a sign that pointed to the Messiah. If you read in the Old Testament, you find one Hebrew person cured from leprosy. Anyone else cured from leprosy was actually a Gentile. And so into the New Testament, you find that the Jewish people had established this rule that when the Messiah would come, there were certain things that the Messiah would do to demonstrate that he was the true Messiah. One of them was to cure leprosy. One of them was to raise the dead to life. One of them was to cast out demons.

Even when John the Baptist from prison sent some of his followers to Jesus as he was sitting in prison, they were to ask Jesus, are you the Messiah? Or should we look for another? Because John the Baptist had this expectation of what the Messiah should do. But Jesus wasn't doing fully what John the Baptist had assumed the Messiah would do. And so he asked that question, are you truly the Messiah? Or shall we look for another? And that's where Jesus says there's no one greater in history than John the Baptist. But Jesus's response back to John the Baptist was to quote Isaiah 35, verses five and six. He says things like, and the lame will walk, and the blind will see, and the deaf will hear. And Jesus says, and the leper will be cured. And so Jesus has given this evidence of leprosy.

But even before the time of Christ, leprosy was comparative to isolation. Meaning when people would contract leprosy, they were worried. They didn't know how people got it. They didn't know how it was spread. And so out of concern, you were cast aside. But here you're seeing that God can take those that have been separated, that feel like castaways, maybe even be in a place of slavery, and God's able to take what is broken and he's able to restore it to what is new.

And in verse seven, God uses that phrase to demonstrate his abilities. At the end of verse seven, he says it like this — "it was restored like the rest of his flesh." God is able to take what is broken, restore it, and use it for his purposes. It's the same for us. And Moses might be coming with all these excuses of why he shouldn't be used, but God is reminding him, it's not because of who you are, Moses, but because of who I am. I can take the brokenness of your past and turn it around to something glorious for me.

Not only does he do that, but he also turns the Nile River into blood. Meaning, when you study ancient civilizations, you discover that nearly all ancient civilizations built their lives on major waterways, whether it was the Tigris and Euphrates for Babylon or Assyria, or here the Nile for Egypt. Ancient civilizations built their lives on major waterways. Even today, if you want to know some of the most impoverished countries in the world, it tends to be countries that are landlocked. When there's water, there comes the ability to trade, and in so doing, there's commerce. There's life.

And when Moses comes and turns the Nile River to blood, not only is it demonstrating the authority of God, but when those civilizations would build their lives on these ancient rivers, they would look to these rivers as places to dedicate to their gods. And especially the Egyptians depended on the flooding of the Nile to provide the nutrients for their soil to produce crops. And now God, demonstrating his control over this water, is showing who truly has the authority.

And so Moses raises this objection to God. God, how do I know you're trustworthy? And God demonstrates this through these examples that he gives to Moses in a tangible way. This is how you know, Moses.

But then Moses raises this next objection in verse ten. The last objection Moses has to the Lord is this: God, aren't more people qualified? Isn't there someone better than me? God, if you just look around for a minute, surely you might find someone that's more capable.

But can I tell you, God's interest hasn't been in calling the capable. And the reason for that is when God simply calls you because you're capable, the result is that God doesn't get the glory, but the person in their own strength gets that glory. In fact, in the book of Deuteronomy, chapters seven and eight, God says over Israel that the reason I chose you is not because you're great. In fact, you're the least among all people. And here they are in this position of slavery, not able to rescue themselves. But this becomes the great opportunity to show the divine hand of God — of those that feel incapable — that what makes them adequate to do anything isn't the strength they find within themselves, but it's the Spirit of God moving within them.

And so Moses is asking this question, God, are you sure that you should call me? Aren't others more qualified? And he says it this way in verse ten, "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." And 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."

God again is saying to Moses, Moses, your problem is that you're looking down and you're looking around, but you're not looking up. You're not seeing the greatness of who I am and the ability that I have to fulfill what I've called you to. But I want you to know that you need to go. So therefore go.

And Moses's response in these moments — we might even compare it to the idea of an abused animal. If you've ever seen video footage of someone finding out that there's an abused animal that's been held somewhere, and they've been sent on that rescue mission to deliver that animal. And they go to the place where that animal is found. And when they first get there, the animal is just full of fear over entrusting themselves to that person. Maybe they might go to a dog that's been caged all its life. And finally that individual walks up to the cage and they open the cage. But rather than that animal walk out into freedom, it just cowers in the corner. It just wants to stay in what it's been familiarized with, rather than trust in the hope of what could be. The animal just stays in the reluctance of that uncertainty, holding on to those simple things that have been a part of that life, even if it was to the detriment of its soul.

And guys, it's the same for us. When we fail to trust in the greatness of who God is, what we're saying is we believe something else is more important for us than the Lord. And we're failing to recognize all the goodness in which God is calling us to. And we would rather stay like a caged animal cowering in the corner than step into the promises of who God is, because we lack the trust in his greatness in our lives.

Which leads me to point number two in your notes. Moses's first question is can I trust him? But then the second question, and maybe the more important one, is this: Will I follow him?

It's one thing to come to the place of saying, I believe I can trust him. But then we've got to come to the place of answering the question, will I follow him?

And you see in verse 13, "He said, O my Lord, please send someone else." Finally, Moses comes to this place as God has answered his objections, God has answered his questions, and Moses says, okay, God — never mind, I will not do this.

And then you see in verse 14, "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."

Moses is reluctant to step into this, and because of this you see God's anger. Now I want you to know God's anger is different than human anger, right? There is such a thing as righteous anger. When we see injustice in this world, we can be angry about the way sin destroys people and the destruction people go through. That's okay. But what tends to happen in the lives and hearts of people is that our response to anger goes overboard. Meaning we're not just angry at injustice, but our anger becomes selfish. It becomes fleshly. It's not like God's anger, where our anger just swells up with this emotional outburst, of which we lose control. And the focus of our anger is all about self-serving, right? There's something we want we can't get, so we'll destroy in order to get it, even if it's the hearts of other people. And so oftentimes our anger is an unjust anger. Most of the time our anger is an unjust anger.

But then when it comes to the anger of the Lord, what's important to see is that God's anger is a just anger. God's anger is a righteous anger. God's anger is not an emotional outburst. He's not surprised by how Moses is responding. He already knew the decision Moses would make before Moses made it. But God's anger is demonstrating to us that Moses's response is wrong. Moses isn't merely struggling with his inadequacy. He's resisting God's command.

Can I tell you, God is okay with your weaknesses, right? Because the Christian life is not about impressing God with who we are. God is okay with our weaknesses, but weakness is never an excuse for disobedience. Meaning for some of us it might just be saying, God, I have had a tough road. And honestly, this life has me feeling like I'm cowered in the corner of a cage. But I know you're calling me to more. And I want you to know, if I step out of this cage, my first step might just be an inch, and I might be clinging to the cage with my other hand. But God, no matter how small a step I take here, Lord, I'm trusting in you to hold me. Rather than let anxiety dominate my heart, rather than let fear of what other people might say, rather than let my own emotional outbursts of anger control me — God, I'm tired of those things. And Lord, I'm seeing the greatness of who you are. So God, I'm going to step out.

And you see Moses start to take these steps. In verse 18 it says he goes to his father-in-law, Jethro, and said, "Please let me go back to my brothers in Egypt to see whether they are still alive." And Jethro said to Moses, "Go in peace." And the Lord said to Moses, "Go back to Egypt, for all the men who are seeking your life are dead."

Here you see Moses is planning to go to Egypt, but it looks like he's almost going to hit the eject button at any moment. Because when he goes to his father-in-law, he doesn't say, God said I need to go and set the Hebrews free. He just says, I want to go visit my family and see if they're still alive. He kind of tells a half truth. He's like — he's definitely going to see his family if they're still alive, that's for sure. But his calling on his life is much more than that. He only tells Jethro just a little bit of it.

And then it goes on from there, and God tells him, by the way Moses, the people that you were worried about, they're all dead. And the reason God's telling him this is because he knows Moses is afraid.

And then something interesting happens, which I have to share this verse and close. But some of you, knowing that this story is in the book of Exodus, said to me, I can't wait till you get here. And I say to you, you're weird.

When you read this verse, it's an interesting passage. In verse 24, "At a lodging place on the way, the Lord met Moses and sought to put him to death." So he's like, Moses, go — this is for you. And then, I'm going to kill you. Right? Verse 25, "Then Zipporah took a flint and cut off her son's foreskin and touched Moses' feet with it and said, surely you are a bridegroom of blood to me. So he let him alone. It was then that she said, a bridegroom of blood, because of the circumcision."

Amen. We should close. That is so weird. My son came downstairs a couple weeks ago reading through the Bible and he was like, dad, the Bible is so weird. And I was like, no truer words have ever been spoken, son. There are some wild stories in the Bible, and this is one of those. This is bizarre.

Just so you know, I'm not sharing with you a practice we all need to instill here as a church. Here is just a wild thing that took place. And the question is, what in the world is happening here and why is this taking place?

Well, I want you to see — if Moses is a believer up until this point, he is just barely a believer. And the reason I say that is because in Genesis chapter 17, God gave Abraham and his people a sign of their covenant, a sign of their relationship, which was circumcision.

But we know Moses has struggled with identity. The word Moses is generally an Egyptian word. It's often attached to a god's name, like Ramos, which means "given to the god of Ra," which is the sun god. The Egyptians would use the word Moses for a name, but they would attach it to the name of a god, and they would give credence or credit to a god for the life of a person. But Moses's name was never attached to anything. It's just Moses — taken from something, but it never says for anything.

And Moses struggled. For the first 40 years of his life, he didn't know if he was Hebrew or Egyptian. The next 40 years in Midian, he never really identified with anything. When Moses's wife introduced Moses to his father-in-law, she described him as an Egyptian, even though verses before that, Moses wanted to be identified as a Hebrew. And he never shares his name when he meets his wife for the first time. This is a guy that struggled. And even to the point when he had children, he doesn't circumcise his children, which is a sign of belonging to the covenant family.

So what is Zipporah doing here? Well, Moses is on his way to go back to Egypt to represent a God of which his family doesn't belong to. How can you represent something for which you're not claiming you belong to?

And God is showing him the seriousness of this. To the point Zipporah comes in, and this phrase of touching Moses's feet with this foreskin is seen by many people as a euphemism. It's expressing the connection to Moses's lower half. It's saying it like this — that just as you were called to identify this way, Moses, our family is belonging to this. In fact, you're the bridegroom of this blood, this covenant that we've entered into with the Lord. You belong to him. You're his bridegroom. This is how our family is going to identify.

And it's Zipporah who's taking a stand for Moses, that's helping the family have identity in the Lord. And she cries out, you belong — you're the bridegroom of this covenant, this blood covenant. She's not saying this in anger. She's saying this as a declaration over Moses's life. This is what we're called to be. This is who we're called to be. This is what we're called to belong to.

And for Moses, this became that defining moment of moving forward in identity in who the Lord is.

I need to close with this. In 1880, there was a young lady born by the name of Helen Keller. Helen Keller is the young lady sitting in that chair in the picture. And at 19 months old, she went blind and deaf. And for the next few years of her life, she struggled to communicate. But at six years old, she was introduced to a lady named Anne Sullivan. And Anne Sullivan, in meeting Helen Keller, began to take her hand and form different signs in Helen Keller's hand. But Helen Keller didn't understand what Anne was doing, but she started to mimic those same signs that she felt in Anne's hand.

Finally, one day, Anne took Helen over to a well, and in one hand she started to pour water out in Helen's hand, and in the other hand she started to sign the word water. And all of a sudden Helen realized those hand motions she learned were communicating something to her about the world she did not understand. And Helen Keller described that moment as the great awakening of her soul.

It was at that moment she began to become curious about all of life around her, and her life was dependent on Anne Sullivan to be that communicator to her of the things that she could not see, introducing that world to her. Helen Keller went on with her life to become the first deaf-blind woman in American history to receive a bachelor's degree from college. She became an international lecturer. She became an author of several books. But her life was radically transformed by someone who could see a world she couldn't see, and Helen entrusting herself to this woman to discover what was before her.

Guys, can I say it's the same for all of us? That God sees something over us that we ourselves can't see within our own strength. But entrusting ourselves to him, we realize that God is calling us to something more. That rather than being reluctant and hiding in the cage, we endear ourselves to the greatness of who he is. And because of that, find our lives living for something so much better than what this world has to offer.

Let me close in a word of prayer. God, we thank you so much for Exodus four and the reminder to us as a people of what you call us to in you, that you're a God that sees the greater picture, that you're a God who is far gracious over our lives, and you're more than capable of delivering all that we need. Lord, no matter what we've gone through in life, no matter what makes us reluctant, no matter what makes us hide in the corner of a cage and cower, may we see you as more than enough. God, help us to give ourselves over to you fully. Let us see the beauty of what you desire to do, and we ask it in Christ's name. Amen.