Commentary
by Walter Albritton
Our God is
Able to Deliver His People from Evil
Exodus 3-4
Key Verse: I will
send you to Pharaoh to bring my people, the Israelites, out of
This series of
lessons sends us leap-frogging through the Scriptures from Genesis to
Ephesians. Our focus throughout is on the “God of Continuing Creation.” Today
we search for help and truth in the stirring story of Moses.
We find the Israelites
in bondage in
Then one day,
observing an Egyptian beating a Hebrew unjustly, he killed the Egyptian and hid
his body in the sand. Realizing the next day that his crime was
known, he fled from the wrath of Pharaoh who tried to kill him.
Now Moses the
murderer was on the lam. He found a good hiding place, as well as a bride, in
Midian. His father-in-law gave Moses a job as a shepherd, sending him to the
boondocks to tend the flock. For Moses it was a safe haven for forty years.
However, though the Egyptians could not find him, God did. One day, seeking
better grazing for the sheep, Moses led the flock to the far side of the
desert, near Horeb, the
There, Moses
reported, “the angel of the Lord appeared to him in flames of fire from within
a bush.” Though the bush was on fire, it did not burn up. Moses walked over to
inspect this strange sight. It was then that God spoke to him, calling his
name. Wisely, Moses replied, “Here I am.”
God warned him
not to come any closer, and to take off his shoes for he was standing on “holy
ground.” Explaining to Moses that he was the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob,
God made clear the reason for his appearance. He had seen the misery of his
people. He had heard their cry for help. So I am going
to rescue them from the hand of their oppressors and bring them out to “a land
flowing with milk and honey.”
As though that
was not surprising enough to the fugitive Moses, God went on to tell Moses, “I
am sending you to handle this rescue for me.” Already afraid to look at God,
Moses responded as any man might have, “Who am I to tackle such a job?” God’s only reassurance was that he would be with him, and
that when the rescue was finished, “you will worship God on this mountain.” So, overcoming his reluctance, Moses began to follow orders.
No longer would he herd sheep, soon he would be herding thousands of Egyptians
to a new life in a new land.
What lessons
for our lives may we learn from this passage? Here are some of the more obvious
lessons:
l. God cares. Our God is no stoic ruler of
the universe. He does not observe his creation with indifference. He is a God of compassion. Though he may seem
silent at times, God cares. That is essentially why we
call God “Our Father,” because he is a Person whose heart is touched by our
needs.
2. God cares about hurting people. Here is
a window into the heart of God. He does not like it when his people are oppressed. Treat people cruelly and you have a problem
with God! As followers of Christ, we are expected to
treat all people with respect and kindness. None is “beneath us.” We are not
superior to other races. Made in the image of God, we are
expected to share God’s concern for all people to have freedom and
justice.
3. God calls people to help hurting people.
Though he has the power to do otherwise, God chooses
to use willing people to correct injustice. He dignifies our lives by allowing
us the privilege of sharing in his mighty works of deliverance. In this way we may choose to be “co-workers” with God. What an
honor!
4. God chooses people whom we might ignore to
serve him. Who among us would have gone to the far side of nowhere and
picked a sheepherder to deliver the Israelites from bondage? This should cause
us to pay more attention to the people we disregard when we make up our lists
of people worthy to serve the Lord. Remember, this was the
same God who arranged for the Savior of the world to be born in the remote
5. God gets our attention in many different
ways. God is not predictable. He is the God of infinite variety. As far as
I can tell, Moses was the only man whose attention God got with a burning bush.
We should be foolish to look for burning bushes. We should be wise to look and
listen for the unique way God chooses to speak to us.
6. No situation is hopeless to God.
Rescuing the Israelites from
7. God promises to be “with us” also when we
accept our mission. God was with Moses. He was with other heroes of the
faith. We have the promise of his Son, “I will be with you.” Whenever, and
wherever, he calls us to serve him, we can obey him in the calm assurance that
God keeps his promises and he has the power to deliver his people from evil.
This we affirm each time we prayer the words in the Lord’s Prayer, “deliver us
from evil.”
This being our conviction,
we should never then stand behind the teacher’s podium or the sacred deck like
timid souls afraid of our shadow. Rather, we should speak boldly of the power
of God to deliver those who trust him. We have such good news. We can be
co-workers with the God who can break the chains of bondage, set the prisoner
free, and cause the lame to leap with joy! No other religion offers such a high
privilege!
+ + + + (Contact Walter at walbritton@elmore.rr.com)