Missions Paul

Abraham never owned the land God promised him. 

That ancient reality is applicable to us in 2026. 

We are to live as foreigners where we are. We do it as we continue to walk with God. 

“I also established my covenant with them to give them the land of Canaan, where they resided as foreigners. Moreover, I have heard the groaning of the Israelites, whom the Egyptians are enslaving, and I have remembered my covenant.” Exodus‬ ‭6‬:‭4‬-‭5‬ ‭

Does this sound familiar to you? We are still navigating through a world that we still don’t belong to. We do it holding on to the promises of God we are yet to see fulfilled. 

This doesn’t make us insecure but rather the opposite. We are held securely. 

Living with eyes on the covenant of God give you a settled heart in an u settled place. 

However, there are times when we don’t feel we are held securely. We can experience the taskmaster’s whip. 

So how would you summarise what’s going on for you?

The important truth to remember is what God says: I have heard. I have remembered.

Maybe your very life is groaning for change. God will not ignore this. 

You may be living as a foreigner. What I mean is you could still be waiting for your life and situation to begin to feel like home. 

We can all feel like a foreigner in some way. Whether it be physically in our body or with people, like our marriage or ministry. 

We are just not in the right place. But God will not forget you. Just because it’s very difficult for you this is not the indicator that He has forgotten you. 

He has heard you and He will.

God had a name He’d been saving.

All 3 patriarchs knew Him, but there was a name they had never heard; a name for a redeemer and for a people about to be set free. It was Moses who needed to know God in a way they hadn’t. 

“God also said to Moses, “I am the Lord. I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob as God Almighty, but by my name the Lord I did not make myself fully known to them.” Exodus‬ ‭6‬:‭2‬-‭3‬ 

What stirred the Apostle Paul after all he had seen and discovered of God to say: I want to know Christ?

Did he not already know Christ?

We know the truth that though we know God we also don’t. 

 

Whenever God reveals Himself in the Bible story, He reveals His name, but this is not only an aspect of His character but that of His intention. Foretelling of the coming Messiah Jeremiah says “A king will reign wisely and do what is just and right, he will be called The Lord Our Righteousness” 23:5-6. 

“This is who I am Jehovah Tsidkenu, but this is also what I intend to do.”

Exodus 6:1-3 I appeared as El Shaddai God Almighty but my name Lord/I AM/Yahweh I did not make known.

Abraham, Isaac and Jacob have never known this name but I am revealing it to you. I am God the redeemer.

Is it possible that you have carried around in your life a picture of God, a revelation of His nature and intention that has not changed since it was first revealed to you?

It is also possible for a whole church to be locked into one aspect of God’s nature eg. The judge. Judgment of sin occupies their preaching, their prayers and principles for ministry. But because of a lack of revelation of God they do not grow in grace, love and mercy.

As revelation changes so does our prayer life. We pray differently, expect differently, we step out in faith to do what we would never have done. We talk about God in ways that use a whole new vocabulary. And our world changes, our home, work or personal lives change. This is because God has given revelation of who He is and what He intends to do.

Revelation is never just information. It’s an invitation.

God doesn’t just want you to know His name. He wants you to know what He’s about to do.

So ask Him. 

Sometimes obedience makes things worse before it makes them better. Moses obeyed, and Pharaoh’s answer was to make things far worse with more bricks and more cruelty.  When obedience seemed worthless, God was about to say the one word that would change everything.

“Then the Lord said to Moses, “Now you will see what I will do to Pharaoh: Because of my mighty hand he will let them go; because of my mighty hand he will drive them out of his country.” (Exodus 6 v 1-2)

Pharaoh had refused Moses’ request. The people were groaning under heavier bricks and harder taskmasters.

God’s answer to Moses’ why question was a promise. “Now you will see what I will do.”

God lets Pharaoh say no before he shows his mighty hand. He points to His mighty hand twice. The rescue will be all from God. It will be all of Him.

Since you made the decision to obey God, perhaps your situation hasn’t changed, and it could have got worse. But hold on, it is often the exact moment before God says ‘now’. He hasn’t forgotten you; rather, He is about to show you His hand.

Moses did what God asked and it backfired. We have all felt this at some point and we wonder if being obedient was worth it.

“Moses returned to the Lord and said, “Why, Lord, why have you brought trouble on this people? Is this why you sent me? Ever since I went to Pharaoh to speak in your name, he has brought trouble on this people, and you have not rescued your people at all.” Exodus‬ ‭5‬:‭22‬-‭23‬ ‭

Some prayers we pray don’t sound nice. They are not polished. Here is one such prayer. Moses has done the right thing but it is all going wrong. He is now confused about what God is doing and seeks an explanation. 

Obedience doesn’t come with a guarantee that things get easier. Sometimes obedience is the very thing that stirs up the opposition. You forgive someone and the relationship gets colder. You take the step of faith and the money gets tighter. 

Moses assumed obedience should produce immediate relief. Scripture tells us this is a wrong assumption. 

If you’re in a season where doing the right thing hasn’t made things better for you then this is the experience of Moses. Hang in there God hasn’t finished His work. 

The overseers turned on the two men sent to save them. If you have ever led people through hard ground before reaching promised ground, you know exactly how this feels.

“Then the Israelite overseers went and appealed to Pharaoh: “Why have you treated your servants this way? ¹⁶ Your servants are given no straw, yet we are told, ‘Make bricks!’ Your servants are being beaten, but the fault is with your own people.” ¹⁷ Pharaoh said, “Lazy, that’s what you are—lazy! That is why you keep saying, ‘Let us go and sacrifice to the Lord.’ ¹⁸ Now get to work. You will not be given any straw, yet you must produce your full quota of bricks.” ¹⁹ The Israelite overseers realised they were in trouble when they were told, “You are not to reduce the number of bricks required of you for each day.” ²⁰ When they left Pharaoh, they found Moses and Aaron waiting to meet them, ²¹ and they said, “May the Lord look on you and judge you! You have made us obnoxious to Pharaoh and his officials and have put a sword in their hand to kill us.” (Exodus 5 v 15-21)

The overseers did everything right. They went through the proper channels of appealing to Pharaoh with respect. They stated the facts plainly: no straw, same quota and servants beaten for someone else’s failure.

They walked out with nothing changed. There was no merciful adjustment; it was what it was.

Then they found Moses and Aaron waiting.

And instead of anger at Pharaoh, they turned it on the men who’d come to deliver them.

But neither Moses nor Aaron had caused the suffering. They were there in support of the people.

But this is what pressure does. It makes people misdirect their pain toward whoever’s closest.

If you’ve ever led people toward something better and been resented for the discomfort it caused along the way, you can relate to this part of the story.

There are times when even though the answer to prayer is on its way, you are not feeling or seeing it yet.

Pharaoh’s tactic was calculating. He took away the straw and left the quota exactly where it was.

That’s the enemy’s oldest trick, more pressure and less help.

“That same day Pharaoh gave this order to the slave drivers and overseers in charge of the people: “You are no longer to supply the people with straw for making bricks; let them go and gather their own straw. But require them to make the same number of bricks as before; don’t reduce the quota. They are lazy; that is why they are crying out, ‘Let us go and sacrifice to our God.’ Make the work harder for the people so that they keep working and pay no attention to lies.” Then the slave drivers and the overseers went out and said to the people, “This is what Pharaoh says: ‘I will not give you any more straw. Go and get your own straw wherever you can find it, but your work will not be reduced at all.’ ” So the people scattered all over Egypt to gather stubble to use for straw. The slave drivers kept pressing them, saying, “Complete the work required of you for each day, just as when you had straw.” And Pharaoh’s slave drivers beat the Israelite overseers they had appointed, demanding, “Why haven’t you met your quota of bricks yesterday or today, as before?”” Exodus‬ ‭5‬:‭6‬-‭14‬ 

It can be tough being a leader.

Sometimes it can feel like standing in the gap with blows coming at you from either side. 

The Israelite overseers were caught between Pharaoh’s demands and their own people’s suffering. They were being punished for a shortfall the leaders had not created.

The enemy’s strategy hasn’t changed in three thousand years.

Straw was withheld so Israel would have no time to dream of Sinai. Busyness is still one of your enemies favourite weapons.

But this hardship wasn’t the end of the story. The harder Pharaoh pressed, the closer the exodus came. Every plague after this proved that no amount of bricks can bury a promise God has spoken.

If today feels like straw has been taken away and the quota hasn’t moved, take heart. You’re not being punished. You’re being positioned. The pressure before deliverance often looks exactly like this.

Ever been in a situation where someone raises a question not because they want an answer, but to shut down the conversation?  

Pharaoh is one of those people.

Moses and Aaron stood in front of the most powerful man in the world and got a flat refusal dressed up as a question. Pharaoh went straight for what he actually cared about: the bricks and the labour.

“Afterward Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and said, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘Let my people go, so that they may hold a festival to me in the wilderness.’” ² Pharaoh said, “Who is the Lord, that I should obey him and let Israel go? I do not know the Lord and I will not let Israel go.” ³ Then they said, “The God of the Hebrews has met with us. Now let us take a three-day journey into the wilderness to offer sacrifices to the Lord our God, or he may strike us with plagues or with the sword.” ⁴ But the king of Egypt said, “Moses and Aaron, why are you taking the people away from their labour? Get back to your work!” ⁵ Then Pharaoh said, “Look, the people of the land are now numerous, and you are stopping them from working.” (Exodus 5 v 1-5)

Do you know those questions that are more about the challenge rather than seeking an answer? Here is an example.

“Who is the Lord, that I should obey him?” He was ending the conversation, unwilling to accept an answer. He didn’t really want to know the Lord’s identity, and what Pharaoh says next shows as much: “You’re stopping them from working.” The real issue was control. Moses and Aaron didn’t win the argument that day. Pharaoh’s heart didn’t move an inch. But they said what needed to be said anyway.

We tend to measure obedience by results, but sometimes obedience looks like a door slammed in your face.

You may have been obedient, but the silence received isn’t proof you got it wrong. It might just be Pharaoh, being Pharaoh.

Say it anyway. Let God work it out.

Moses had a calling, but he didn’t have to carry it by himself. Before he ever stood before Pharaoh, God had already called his brother, Aaron, to stand beside him.

“The Lord said to Aaron, “Go into the wilderness to meet Moses.” So he met Moses at the mountain of God and kissed him. ²⁸ Then Moses told Aaron everything the Lord had sent him to say, and also about all the signs he had commanded him to perform. ²⁹ Moses and Aaron brought together all the elders of the Israelites, ³⁰ and Aaron told them everything the Lord had said to Moses. He also performed the signs before the people, ³¹ and they believed. And when they heard that the Lord was concerned about them and had seen their misery, they bowed down and worshipped.” (Exodus 4 v 27-31)

God never sends us alone. He brought Aaron alongside Moses, and he shared the message from God with him.

Moses wasn’t sent alone.

Moses told Aaron everything.

Then together, they gathered the elders.

Aaron spoke and performed the signs. The mission that started with one man’s calling became a shared calling.

And Israel believed.

How? They believed because they heard that the Lord was concerned about them. That He had seen their misery.

That’s what moves a person to worship. The news that God has seen you. Not eloquence or signs alone, but the truth that God cares, spoken by a brother who stood beside him.

Moses is on the road back to Egypt, having just been commissioned by God. We are all good. Yet we are going to read a very strange few verses of what happens next.

Basically, God decides to kill Moses.

It’s one of the strangest verses in Scripture. Moses has a call, but he has an uncircumcised son. He’s about to stand before Pharaoh and demand freedom for God’s covenant people, while his own house isn’t right with the covenant.

“At a lodging place on the way, the Lord met Mosesand was about to kill him. ²⁵ But Zipporah took a flint knife, cut off her son’s foreskin and touched Moses’ feet with it.“Surely you are a bridegroom of blood to me,” she said. ²⁶ So the Lord let him alone. (At that time she said “bridegroom of blood,” referring to circumcision.)” Exodus 4 v 24-26

God doesn’t care how big your assignment is if your own home is out of order.

It’s Zipporah who saves him, just at the right moment; she knows what Moses has let slide.

So the Lord let him alone.

God can call and send you, and then stop you dead if the covenant in your own house has been neglected. Gifting isn’t the same as obedience. Calling doesn’t cover for what you’ve left undone at home.

Sort the altar in your own house before you go build one for everyone else.

God’s call often sends us back to the very place or people we thought we’d left behind. Moving on sometimes means becoming a different, stronger person in order to return to the past.

Things will have changed, as they had for Moses; returning often means adapting to those changes. Sometimes obedience looks like returning to the place you escaped and finding it isn’t quite the place you left.

“Then Moses went back to Jethro his father-in-law and said to him, “Let me return to my own people in Egypt to see if any of them are still alive.” Jethro said, “Go, and I wish you well.” ¹⁹ Now the Lord had said to Moses in Midian, “Go back to Egypt, for all those who wanted to kill you are dead.” ²⁰ So Moses took his wife and sons, put them on a donkey and started back to Egypt. And he took the staff of God in his hand. ²¹ The Lord said to Moses, “When you return to Egypt, see that you perform before Pharaoh all the wonders I have given you the power to do. But I will harden his heart so that he will not let the people go. ²² Then say to Pharaoh, ‘This is what the Lord says: Israel is my firstborn son, ²³ and I told you, “Let my son go, so he may worship me.” But you refused to let him go; so I will kill your firstborn son.’” (Exodus 4 v 18-23)

Just because God told you to do something doesn’t give you licence not to be courteous. Moses honoured the people in his life, seeking Jethro’s permission to go back, even though God had commanded him to do so.

He takes his wife, his sons, a donkey and his staff.

This is the God-appointed leader of Israel. He looked like the sheep farmer that he was, not the deliverer of his nation. God was dropping the vision, section by section, into his heart, and as he was on his way, He laid out for Moses what he should expect.

Pharaoh’s heart will harden, even after such wonders as will be demonstrated.  Moses is given the message to preach: “Israel is my firstborn son… Let my son go, so he may worship me.”

God always delivers people to bring them to Himself.

Moses is walking back into the very place he fled. He will realise soon enough that a staff in his hand and a word in his mouth will be enough.

Elisabeth Elliot understood this. After her husband Jim was killed by the Waorani people in Ecuador, she went back and lived among the very tribe that killed him, not out of naivety, but obedience. She carried no weapon, only the Word. In time, some of that tribe came to faith.

Is there a place you once fled that God is calling you back to? What if it isn’t the place you remember? What has changed there, and what has changed in you?