Be Still and Know Daily Bible Devotion

Exodus 16:11–12

Then the Lord said to Moses: “I have heard the Israelites’ complaints. Now tell them, ‘In the evening you will have meat to eat, and in the morning you will have all the bread you want. Then you will know that I am the Lord your God.’”

We cannot be sure how many Israelites left Egypt, but it was certainly many thousands. Feeding such a group of people would have been a massive logistical exercise in any location, but to do so in a desert would seem an impossible task. But God had an answer and, miraculously, throughout their 40 years of wilderness wanderings, the people were fed. In the evening, they fed on quails, which are migratory birds belonging to the partridge family. On their long flights quails would often become exhausted in the evening and large flocks of them would land on the desert floor and be easy to catch. In the morning the people were supplied with bread which was called manna, a word that literally means “What’s that?” because that’s what the people said when they first saw it. It was a drop-like substance formed from the excretion of an insect living on the trees and shrubs of the region, especially the tamarisk tree. In these amazing ways the people were fed.

One of the recurrent themes of the Bible is that God provides. Abraham made this discovery when he was about to offer his son Isaac as a sacrifice. God provided a ram for the sacrifice that Abraham needed to make and Abraham named the place “Jehovah Jireh”, which means “The Lord will provide” (Genesis 22:14). Through the twists and turns of the history of God’s people in the Bible, he continued to provide for them. The apostle expressed exactly this same confidence in God when he wrote: “And this same God who takes care of me will supply all your needs from his glorious riches, which have been given to us in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:19).

Our needs are totally different from those of the wandering Israelites, but we serve the same God and we can be confident that, as we place our trust in him, he will give us what we need day by day.

Question

In what ways have you seen God provide for your needs?

Prayer

Loving God, I thank you that your name is still Jehovah Jireh. I praise you that you have provided for me in the past and always will. Amen

Exodus 15:23–24

When they came to the oasis of Marah, the water was too bitter to drink. So they called the place Marah (which means “bitter”). Then the people complained and turned against Moses. “What are we going to drink?” they demanded.

Pressure. Every leader knows what it is to face discontented people. I hasten to add that I haven’t faced a huge number, but then I’ve never taken tens of thousands of people on a walk through a desert! It’s easy to understand why they were complaining. Life in a desert is hard enough work even when there is a good supply of water, so arriving at an oasis and finding its water was too bitter to drink must have been a shattering experience for everyone.

Moses could have apologised or tried to put a positive gloss on the experience by saying that everything had gone all right until now, or he could have joined the people in complaining. The choice he made was a good one. He prayed (v25).

When a crisis breaks, it is very easy to get sucked into the whirlpool of confusion that it creates. We are tempted to examine the situation in ever greater detail, pulling in all the experts to explore solutions. Those are not bad things to do, but they shouldn’t be the priority. Moses got it right and prayed. In doing so, God directed him to do something that he would never have thought of. He simply needed to throw a piece of wood into the water, and it became sweet. There at Marah God gave the people a standard to test their faithfulness to him. He promised them that if they obeyed his commands then he would ensure that they didn’t suffer the same fate which he sent to the Egyptians. He promised that he would be their healer.

We all face crises. They are often unexpected and always unwelcome. This means that we need to know how to face them, and here Moses learned that the best way was to bring them to God. As we lift up our dilemmas to God, we need to be ready to do whatever he tells us to do, even if it is bizarrely different from anything that we have done before.

Question

How good are you at handling crises, and how do you think you could improve?

Prayer

Loving Father, thank you that you are with me whatever challenge I have to face. Amen

Exodus 15:2

The Lord is my strength and my song; he has given me victory. This is my God, and I will praise him— my father’s God, and I will exalt him!

This is part of a wonderful song that Moses sang after the people of Israel had crossed the Red Sea. After 400 years they had finally left Egypt; 400 years is a very long time, and the people could easily have stayed there for ever. But there was a deep longing to be free from the persecution and slavery that they had experienced in Egypt. Moses’ song of victory beautifully expressed a national sigh of relief that the suffering was now at an end. At last they were free.

The people’s exodus from Egypt was a defining moment in the nation’s story because it told them so much about their God. They learned that God is, by his very nature, a God who loves to set people free. He’s a God of salvation. It’s not surprising that throughout the Bible there are frequent references back to the crossing of the Red Sea. If God was able to overcome an obstacle as great as this, then surely nothing could stand in his way.

There’s great encouragement in this for all of us. Whether we are looking at global problems, national difficulties or the situations that we are facing in our own lives, we need to look at them through the lens of God’s salvation. He is the God who sets people free and looks to us to work with him to bring his salvation to the world today. We will often be daunted by the challenges that we face but, like Moses, we need to keep our eyes fixed on the Lord who remains our strength and our song.

Question

In what ways have you discovered God to be your strength and your song?

Prayer

Lord God, I worship you because you are the God of the Exodus. Thank you that you are constantly setting people free in our world today. Amen

Exodus 14:13–14

Moses told the people: “Don’t be afraid. Just stand still and watch the Lord rescue you today. The Egyptians you see today will never be seen again. The Lord himself will fight for you. Just stay calm.”

This was a crunch moment in the history of the people of Israel. After the long succession of plagues, they were finally heading out of Egypt and it is said that they did so with fists raised in defiance. Surely Pharoah would at last be glad to see them go! But no, he changed his mind yet again and sent out his army to stop them. It must have been a truly terrifying moment. We are told that Pharaoh sent 600 of his best chariots after the people, which must have been an incredibly intimidating sight for them. The people immediately panicked and lashed out at Moses, blaming him for bringing them out into the desert to die. They argued that it would have been much better to have continued as slaves in Egypt than to be corpses in the wilderness.

It's never easy for leaders when people panic. Moses must surely have felt more than a little concerned that the mighty Egyptian army was bearing down on them. But just look at the calm and wise way in which he addressed the people. He urged them to look to the Lord rather than to the terrifying threat of the Egyptians. He reminded the Israelites that they were not alone and that God would give them the victory, so they should remain calm.

We face continual threats in our own day. In many places churches are small and struggling. Often they are facing huge financial challenges. Many people are finding it hard to navigate their way through the moral challenges which our society poses. In

many countries Christians are a small and persecuted minority. And everyone is aware of the enormous challenges to our world’s way of life from climate change, international terrorism and regimes that have no regard for human rights. The challenges are many and we need to pray for Christian leaders to be just like Moses – calm and confident in God.

Question

What do you think we need to learn from Moses’ example?

Prayer

Lord God, thank you for our leaders. Help them to live so close to you that they will always be calm and confident in their leadership. Amen

Exodus 4:21

And the Lord told Moses: “When you arrive back in Egypt, go to Pharaoh and perform all the miracles I have empowered you to do. But I will harden his heart so he will refuse to let the people go.”

God sometimes asks people to do extraordinarily difficult jobs. But this must be one of the toughest. As we know, Moses was feeling very inadequate and ill-equipped for the task. He was now told that when he went to plead with Pharoah to let the people of Israel leave Egypt, he would fail. Time and again, Moses would go to Pharaoh and beg him to release the enslaved people, and repeatedly Pharaoh would say no. God sent one plague after another and even though, at times, Pharaoh seemed to be weakening, he continually refused to let the people go. Even after the tenth plague, in which the firstborn sons and livestock were killed throughout Egypt, Pharaoh withdrew his permission to the people of Israel to leave the land.

What amazes me about this period in the history of the people of Israel is Moses’ persistence. To have endured the ten plagues and all the terrible implications of them must have been incredibly tough. It would have been entirely understandable if Moses had given up after the first five. But he stayed true to his mission and continued to go to Pharoah and plead the cause of his people. This dogged persistence is a quality that we see in many people in the Bible and notably the prophets, some of whom were specifically told that their words would be totally rejected by the people.

We all want to be effective in what we do for the Lord, and it can be desperately hard when everything seems to be going wrong. It is hard to keep going in the face of discouragement and failure. But often God calls us, like Moses, simply to be faithful. To hang in there through the times of apparent defeat and trust God. In doing so Moses was able to lead the people out of Egypt after 400 years in the land.

Question

In what situation is God asking you to be doggedly persistent at the moment?

Prayer

Lord God, when you ask me to do something that is difficult, give me also the resolve and strength to be faithful. Amen

Exodus 4:16

“Aaron will be your spokesman to the people. He will be your mouthpiece, and you will stand in the place of God for him, telling him what to say.”

Moses felt sure that his speech difficulties disqualified him from serving God. How could someone who was tongue-tied possibly lead the people of Israel and negotiate with Pharaoh? The answer was simple. His brother Aaron could fulfil that part of the role, and Moses could be the person who kept close to God and listened to his voice. In an ideal world, Moses would have been a perfect communicator and would have been able to do to the job himself, but in the real world he needed help.

We don’t live in an ideal world! This means that we need to be continually light on our feet and ready to adapt to new circumstances. The pandemic forced us to change and adapt in all sorts of different ways. In our churches, we had to look at everything we do with new eyes. Meeting together online had all sorts of downsides, but it had many blessings too. It was wonderful to meet so easily with people from all over the world and to be able to offer online services to many people who weren’t used to attending church.

God’s plans were not defeated by Moses’ speech difficulties and when he looks at us and our limited abilities, he won’t be held back by our inadequacies either. The image of the body of Christ makes it clear that no one has all the gifts. You and I have some gifts but without our brothers and sisters we will never be able to do God’s work. Throughout Moses’ crucial ministry he needed to rely on many other people. He needed to be humble enough to welcome the wisdom, support and voices of others – as do we.

Question

In what way have other people’s gifts been a blessing to you?

Prayer

Lord God, thank you for the wonderful gifts that you have given to the people in my life. Help me to value them and encourage them. Amen

Exodus 4:13

But Moses again pleaded: “Lord, please! Send someone else.”

I wonder if you can identify with Moses. I certainly can. Time and again God has clearly asked me to do something and, like Moses, I have pleaded with him to find someone else. Moses would quickly have recognised that going back to Egypt was going to be hard enough, let alone to become the leader of his people and negotiate with the mighty Pharaoh. Anyone would have shaken at the knees to have taken on such a role.

The reasons that people use for objecting to God’s call are many. Some, like Moses, are overwhelmed by the challenge and feel that their lack of skills makes them a poor choice. Others object to God’s call because they feel that the job they have

been offered is beneath them. God calls them to be involved in youth work when they would much rather be in the worship band; or God calls them to do cleaning in the church when they would rather become a leader.

What Moses had to learn was that God knew what he was doing. He was going to be one of the most important leaders in the whole history of the people of Israel. It was going to be through Moses that God delivered the law to his people, which would provide the framework for their life and worship. Moses looked at himself and observed his failures and disqualifications. God looked at him and saw the man of his choice, who he would equip to be exactly the right leader at the right time.

The challenge we face day by day is to listen to God so carefully that we hear what he wants us to do. Whether it is a high-profile role, or a hidden and low-profile role, if it is what God is calling us to do, it is the most important job in the world.

Question

How are you seeking to discover what God wants you to do?

Prayer

Lord God, thank you that you have a purpose for our lives. Help me to know what you are calling me to do today. Amen

Exodus 4:10

But Moses pleaded with the Lord: “O Lord, I’m not very good with words. I never have been, and I’m not now, even though you have spoken to me. I get tongue-tied, and my words get tangled.”

I feel a bit sorry for Moses. I have often heard people suggesting that Moses was just looking for excuses to turn down God’s job offer. However, Moses’ reply to God sounds to me like a perfectly reasonable objection. He clearly had significant problems with speaking and this would, it seems to me, make him a far from ideal candidate for a job that would be all about effective communication. But God was

having none of it. He had decided that Moses was the man for the job and no objections, however substantial, were going to cause him to change his mind.

When God chooses someone to work for him, he equips them with the ability to do it. In the New Testament we are introduced to Peter who, throughout Jesus’ ministry, consistently blundered with his words. Time and again we wince at his foolishness, and we squirm with embarrassment at the memory of his repeated denials that he knew Jesus. If you were looking to appoint a communications officer straight after Jesus’ ascension I can’t imagine that Peter would have been your preferred candidate! Surely, he was bound to make a mess of it. But look at what happened. On the Day of Pentecost Peter spoke with power and clarity and the outcome was that over 3,000 people became followers of Jesus that day. And that was no flash in the pan. Peter became the principal leader of the church in Jerusalem and finally died for his faith. God knew exactly what he was doing when he called Moses and Peter. On the face of it they seemed unsuitable for the roles to which God called them, but in an amazing way the Lord enabled them to be incredibly effective in their work for him. That should be a great encouragement for us all. When God calls us to work for him he will equip us.

Question

In what ways has God equipped you to do his work?

Prayer

Lord God, thank you that you promise to equip me to do whatever you call me to do. Amen

Exodus 3:15

God also said to Moses: “Say this to the people of Israel: Yahweh, the God of your ancestors—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob—has sent me to you.”

I wonder what you would say if God asked you to lead his people at a time of desperate need. I suspect that you, like Moses, would have a string of questions to ask! The first thing that he needed to know was who was sending him. The people of

Israel were bound to ask, and he needed to have a good answer for them. God told him that he should say that “I am” had sent him to them, and then spelt out that this was God’s eternal name and that he was the God of their forefathers. We can be sure that the stories of the great fathers of the Jewish faith would often have been told among the people of Israel, and they needed to know that Moses stood in that line of succession.

At the end of Jesus’ earthly ministry, a similar situation occurred. As Jesus sent out his disciples he recognised that they would need to know with what authority they went. Matthew records that the resurrected Jesus took his disciples up to a mountain in Galilee and there he informed them that he had been given all authority in heaven and earth. It would be in his name that they went out to make disciples of all nations. The unfolding story of the early Church in the Acts of the Apostles makes it consistently clear that their mission was inspired, energised and directed by the risen Jesus.

The work of the Church today will never get anywhere unless we are clear that we are acting with the authority and in the name of the risen Lord Jesus Christ. This should give us great encouragement as we serve him together.

Question

How should the fact that we are working with the authority of the risen Christ affect our work for him?

Prayer

Risen Lord Jesus Christ, I thank you that every day you give me the authority to go out and serve you. Amen

Exodus 3:11–12

But Moses protested to God, “Who am I to appear before Pharaoh? Who am I to lead the people of Israel out of Egypt?” God answered, “I will be with you.”

Moses was about 80 years old when God spoke to him from the burning bush. He was in the desert of Midian, on the eastern side of the Red Sea, which is where he had fled to after he had murdered an Egyptian. The idea of returning to Egypt and

appearing before Pharaoh must have seemed crazy to him. And, given his upbringing in the royal palace, he hardly had the common touch to lead the people of Israel out of Egypt. It is little wonder, therefore, that Moses questioned God’s decision to appoint him as the people’s leader.

When God calls people to serve him, they almost always ask the same question, “Who am I?” I certainly did. I was 18 years old when a man in our church asked me to go and preach in a village church near our home. I was amazed that he thought I would be suitable. It sounded like a terrifying responsibility. What would happen if I dried up mid-way through the service? Who was I, a mere teenager, to lead worship for people who were very much older than me? I was extremely unsure of myself, but I agreed to take the service. I also ensured that no one from my family attended! I couldn’t have coped with that. However, as the service progressed I spotted a friend of my parents sitting at the back of the church. This was definitely not what I wanted because I could now be sure that a full report on the service would get back to my family. At the end of the service the friend came up to me. Only those who have led public worship will know how vulnerable one feels in the moments after a service. She looked at me with a warm smile and said: “Jonathan, the Lord was with you this evening.” Her affirmation was incredibly important to me, and gave me courage to keep preaching in the knowledge that the Lord would always be with me.

On paper Moses was spectacularly ill-suited to the role of leading the people of Israel. But God had called him and would be with him, and that’s what mattered.

Question

In what ways are you encouraged by the knowledge that God is with you?

Prayer

Lord God, thank you that however great the challenges that I face, you will still be with me. Amen