Missions Paul

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?

Ever done that?

Maybe we try to dress the NO up as reverence, reality, or an admission of weakness. We might have a thousand reasons why we cannot do what God is asking of us. Yet it is still NO. At that moment, we might think God will walk away from us, and the opportunity to serve Him is gone. Not necessarily so. There are times when God will not take NO as an answer.

“Now go; I will help you speak and will teach you what to say.” ¹³ But Moses said, “Pardon your servant, Lord. Please send someone else.” ¹⁴ Then the Lord’s anger burned against Moses, and he said, “What about your brother, Aaron the Levite? I know he can speak well. He is already on his way to meet you, and he will be glad to see you. ¹⁵ You shall speak to him and put words in his mouth; I will help both of you speak and will teach you what to do. ¹⁶ He will speak to the people for you, and it will be as if he were your mouth and as if you were God to him. ¹⁷ But take this staff in your hand so you can perform the signs with it.” (Exodus 4 v 12-17)

Moses had run out of excuses, for God had answered every objection. All he was left with was, “Please send someone else.” Notice that he did throw in the name Lord into the sentence. It doesn’t sit comfortably, does it? “Lord, no, not me.”

See what happens?

God gets angry. But His response in His anger is different to what we might expect. We might think that if God is angry, He would discard Moses. But the opposite happens. The rebuke and God’s help happen in the same sentence. Aaron is already walking into the situation.

God doesn’t lessen the mission. He doesn’t find another leader; he adds a mouthpiece for that leader. Moses is given God-authority anyway, despite himself.

God’s call was never contingent on Moses’ eloquence. It rested on God’s presence: “I will help you speak.”

You may be standing in a similar circumstance. Like Moses, you are aware of the gap between what is being asked of you and what you feel able to give.

God is here. He has arranged for encouragement to come, participants in your life. He is telling you to hold on to what is familiar to you. For Moses, it was His staff; it means be yourself. Finally, look at v15-16 again. God will be all you need Him to be. That is all you need.

There’s no one who knows you better than you, right?

Wrong! God knows you more than you know yourself because He knows what you can be like with Him by your side.

But Moses’ weakness wasn’t the problem. It was never the point.

“Moses said to the Lord, “Pardon your servant, Lord. I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since you have spoken to your servant. I am slow of speech and tongue. The Lord said to him, “Who gave human beings their mouths? Who makes them deaf or mute? Who gives them sight or makes them blind? Is it not I, the Lord?” Exodus 4:10-11

Moses had already seen the burning bush. He’d already heard the divine name. But even after that, his honest response to God’s call was: I’m not eloquent. I have never been.

We often forget how God has used us in the past when faced with a new commission.

Moses names his weakness plainly. He is slow of speech and tongue. He is not a public speaker. He tells this to God, who commissioned him, as if God didn’t know.

What’s striking is what God doesn’t do. He doesn’t deny Moses’ limitation. He doesn’t offer a pep talk about hidden potential. Instead, He simply asks: “Who gave human beings their mouths?” The answer to inadequacy isn’t self-confidence but the presence of the One who sends.

Most of us, faced with a calling beyond our ability, reach for the same excuse Moses did. But the call was never about Moses’ eloquence. It was about God’s sufficiency.

Sometimes the most honest prayer isn’t “I’m ready,” but “I’m not, and I need You to go with me.”

God knew Moses’ faith would falter, and His response wasn’t impatience but provision. To those who may see something of themselves in this story, it is a beautiful reminder that God meets our hesitant hearts with grace, again and again, for as long as it takes.

“Then the Lord said, “If they do not believe you or pay attention to the first sign, they may believe the second. ⁹ But if they do not believe these two signs or listen to you, take some water from the Nile and pour it on the dry ground. The water you take from the river will become blood on the ground.” (Exodus 4 v 8-9)

We have had the staff-turned-snake and the leprous hand healed. Moses’ anticipation of the people’s unbelief is met not with frustration by the Lord, but with grace and further confirmation. The Lord is patient!

You can be honest in your conversations with the Lord. He works with our slowness to believe. Gideon asked for a fleece not once but twice. Thomas needed to see the nail marks, and Jesus obliged. For those who genuinely need evidence or confirmation, even one more after so many, who have very little faith, are equally met with a genuine grace.

Interestingly, this miracle of water turning to blood on the ground points us to the cross, where blood and water flowed from Jesus’ pierced side, proof of God’s redemption to a broken, doubting world.

Perhaps you wake today, and there is still doubt in your mind. You know God has given assurances to you; you have the promises of His presence and provision in the Bible, yet your heart is not at peace, yet. Don’t worry; trust in God’s patience. He is still patient and strengthens weak faith. He will confirm His word to you again. Be ready!

You may be holding something that feels small. There may be a skill, a job, relationships and opportunities that is so familiar they have stopped feeling significant. But God may have a question for you today. The same question he asked Moses.

“Then the Lord said to him, “What is that in your hand?” “A staff,” he replied. ³ The Lord said, “Throw it on the ground.” Moses threw it on the ground and it became a snake, and he ran from it. ⁴ Then the Lord said to him, “Reach out your hand and take it by the tail.” So Moses reached out and took hold of the snake and it turned back into a staff in his hand. ⁵ “This,” said the Lord, “is so 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.” ⁶ Then the Lord said, “Put your hand inside your cloak.” So Moses put his hand into his cloak, and when he took it out, the skin was leprous^[a]—it had become as white as snow. ⁷ “Now put it back into your cloak,” he said. So Moses put his hand back into his cloak, and when he took it out, it was restored, like the rest of his flesh.” (Exodus 4 v 2-7)

God asked Moses a simple question. “What is that in your hand?”

Just a shepherd’s stick. Moses had carried it for forty years, a work tool of an ordinary man doing an ordinary job. But God wanted it.

God doesn’t ask Moses what he wishes he had. He doesn’t point him toward someone else’s gifting or another man’s resources. He asks about what he already has and what he is familiar with using.

The Bible is full of this message in a variety of ways.

The feeding of the thousands came from what was in a child’s hands.

Shamgar had a farmer’s tool, and with it he struck down six hundred Philistines and saved Israel (Judges 3:31).

Joshua stretched out his javelin toward Ai and held it there until the battle was won (Joshua 8:18).

David reached into a stream and picked up five smooth stones, and the giant fell.

Dorcas had a needle and thread, and her hands became an expression of the gospel in Joppa (Acts 9:36-39).

The widow at Zarephath had a little oil (1 Kings 17:8-16).

The question is not, “What do you wish you had?” It is always what is in your hand?

Moses thought he had a stick. God saw the beginning of a nation’s deliverance.

The question hasn’t changed. What is in your hand—and are you willing to make it available?

What if the Red Sea doesn’t part? What if the walls of Jericho don’t fall? What if the fire doesn’t come down on Elijah’s altar? What if the giant doesn’t fall? What if the lions’ den kills Daniel? What if the tomb stays sealed?

What if I pray and nothing happens? What if I share my faith and they walk away? What if I give sacrificially and still struggle financially? What if I answer the call and it costs me more than I expected? What if God called the wrong person?

What if my best isn’t good enough? What if my past disqualifies me? What if I’ve misheard God? What if I fail publicly?

“Moses answered, “What if they do not believe me or listen to me and say, ‘The Lord did not appear to you’?” Exodus 4 v 1

He had just had the most extraordinary encounter of his life. A burning bush and a divine commission to lead a nation out of slavery. Within moments, he is already imagining failure. “What if they do not believe me?”

If we are honest, most of us have asked this and similar questions.

We are going to see that, like Moses, your “what if” is not a disqualification. It may be the very place where God chooses to reveal Himself to you afresh.

They arrived with nothing. Generations of slavery had stripped them of everything. God, however, had other plans.

““And I will make the Egyptians favourably disposed toward this people, so that when you leave you will not go empty-handed. Every woman is to ask her neighbor and any woman living in her house for articles of silver and gold and for clothing, which you will put on your sons and daughters. And so you will plunder the Egyptians.”” Exodus‬ ‭3‬:‭21‬-‭22‬ ‭

The Egyptians would not just let Israel go, they would fund their departure. The Exodus wasn’t a nation limping, they left Egypt enriched. 

This is still how God works. 

The years and the years were real. But so is this: God wastes nothing.

Whatever season has felt like Egypt to you God has a way of making sure you don’t leave that season empty-handed.

You came with nothing. But you won’t leave that way.

The Hebrews left with gold but more than that, they left with a story. 

Today may mark the start of a new day. You may move into that chapter with hands full of provision but as much of a blessing would be to carry a new wisdom or a deep compassion and understanding for someone and some situation. 

With God, we never leave empty-handed. Look what you are carrying today.

Most of us want certainty before we take a step. But that doesn’t mean we are not going to face closed doors. Even the failings Moses would experience are ones that God has written already. 

God knew Moses would experience failure by a refusal to comply. But He sent him already and strikingly, Moses went. 

“The elders of Israel will listen to you. Then you and the elders are to go to the king of Egypt and say to him, ‘The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, has met with us. Let us take a three-day journey into the wilderness to offer sacrifices to the Lord our God.’ But I know that the king of Egypt will not let you go unless a mighty hand compels him. So I will stretch out my hand and strike the Egyptians with all the wonders that I will perform among them. After that, he will let you go.” Exodus‬ ‭3‬:‭18‬-‭20‬ ‭

God sent Moses with a script. A script He had already written and the outcome He made known even before Moses had uttered a word. God knows it all. He knows how it will all end.

There wasn’t any maybe’s or might be’s. God didn’t give Moses a variety of possible outcomes. God knew the outcome. It was almost like God had already seen what would happen. He had.

Now look again.

God told Moses that the king would refuse. But He still sent Moses to the king to ask him.

Just because you are in a chapter of difficulty and resistance doesn’t mean that the plan of God for your life has suffered a setback. 

Pharaoh’s stubbornness is as part of the plan of God. 

Now pause.

When the door closes in your face, it may not mean God has forgotten you. It may mean he is about to stretch out his hand.

All you need do is be obedient. 

Moses is wanting to know from God what assurance he can have when he leads the people out of Egypt, that they will actually follow him. He has doubts about his own ability and he is now asking about the identity of God and the assurance that God will do what only God can do. Basically Moses is asking for God’s credentials. 

“God also said to Moses, “Say to the Israelites, ‘The Lord, the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob—has sent me to you.’ “This is my name forever, the name you shall call me from generation to generation. “Go, assemble the elders of Israel and say to them, ‘The Lord, the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob—appeared to me and said: I have watched over you and have seen what has been done to you in Egypt. And I have promised to bring you up out of your misery in Egypt into the land of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites—a land flowing with milk and honey.’” Exodus‬ ‭3‬:‭15‬-‭17‬ ‭

God gives Moses what He will continue to give His people throughout the Bible story. His name.

The Lord, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob.

But here we have not just a name but a testimony. God’s name would have been enough. He is Lord. He is God. However, here he tells Moses a story. Three generations of men who were far from perfect but whom God never let go of, even though at times they let go of Him.

God was telling Moses that he wasn’t the first person he had used before. Actually he was just part of a story. There were chapters of life before him. 

We need to hear this today for ourselves. 

When afraid and wondering if you are going to make it, God has walked with people before you, and has not only answered their cries but opened their doors and lifted them out of pits of misery. The message is this: you’re not the first to have to trust Him and His name. God has proven Himself with a generation before you. Therefore God keeps His promises. He remembers names and He hasn’t and will not forget yours. 

There are questions we carry and indeed ask of God which reveal the position of our thinking more than perhaps we realise. 

Moses wanted to know what kind of God would show up for him. 

Perhaps today this is true for you also. You need to know in this present circumstance what God has in mind for you. 

In today’s reading God doesn’t promise what He might be.

His promise is in a name He gives for himself.

I am.

“Moses said to God, “Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ Then what shall I tell them?” God said to Moses, “I am who I am. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I am has sent me to you.’ ””

‭‭Exodus‬ ‭3‬:‭13‬-‭14‬ ‭

When Moses asked for God’s name, he wasn’t asking to broaden his knowledge of Him, but rather he was asking who God would be for himself and the people. 

“Who are You for us, really?” 

God’s answer pointed to His self-existence. 

“I Am has sent me to you.” 

You may be facing huge mountain- size tasks and you wonder how you will get through. 

God does not become what we need; He already is. Our lack meets His fullness. Our questions meet the One who simply, faithfully, eternally is.