Where's God? Finding Him in the Small Stuff

As Moses headed back to Egypt, uncertain as he was, hesitant, fearful, unsure, he held tightly to the "staff of God." In the years ahead, whenever he felt anxious again, Moses would hold tightly to that same staff because God had promised him that it would be instrumental in bringing forth miraculous things. We don't have a staff like that today as Christians, but we have something even better to hold on to when we are anxious or unsure: we have God's promises as found in His Word!

Moses was worried that he would not be eloquent enough for God to use him, especially in the Egyptian royal court. And even though God assured him, "I will be with your mouth," Moses still hesitated. This angered the Lord, but He accommodated Moses by giving him, among other things, the "staff of God" to carry back to Egypt. What was that all about anyway?

As Moses tried to convince God that he was not the right man to go to Egypt and be used by God to deliver the Israelites from slavery, God made three promises and gave Moses three signs to show him that he would be successful. Yet Moses still hesitated. One of the excuses Moses used was that he was "slow of speech." What did he mean by that?

At first, Moses did not want to return to Egypt when God called to him from the burning bush. Why was he so resistant? Why did Moses want to know God's "Name?" God promised to provide Moses with a "sign" which would assure Moses that God was with Him in Egypt. What was that sign? And when God told Moses to ask Pharaoh for a three-day cessation from work so the Israelites could go and worship God, why did He not instruct Moses to demand their permanent release instead?

We all know that Moses was sent to Egypt by God to deliver the Israelites from slavery in Egypt. But did you know that he was also called to deliver God to the Israelites? The Lord sent Moses to Egypt from the burning bush because God saw how His people were struggling under the "hand" of the Egyptians, and He would show them the difference between the power of Pharoah's "hand" vs. God's own "mighty Hand," a theme we will see repeated throughout the plagues ahead.

Moses was called by God to a burning bush that was not actually burning.  That will get your attention! Actually, all three persons of the trinity Godhead were present at the burning bush!  The Lord says He "knows" and "remembers" His people in Egypt.  What does that mean? Moses said, "I have become a stranger in a strange land." What did he mean? And what was it about life in Egypt for the Israelites that moved God to rescue them through Moses?

After Moses struck and killed an Egyptian slave master, he spent 40 years in the wilderness of Midian tending sheep. Why was it necessary for Moses to be there for so long?  How did God need Moses to change before God could use Moses to free His people from slavery?  What was the difference between the pre-Midian Moses and the post-Midian Moses?  How is the change in Moses identified by the language used in Exodus chapter 2?

Moses had been living in the Egyptian royal palace forty years when he decided one day to go check on the Hebrew slaves. Within hours, he had killed an Egyptian man who was a slave master. Moses' actions make us ask several questions. Why did Moses "look this way and that" before he sprang into action? Why was he so frightened by what he had done, and why did he hide the body? When Moses returned to the scene of the crime the next day, what kind of reception did he expect from the Israelites? And why was Pharaoh so angry when he found out what Moses had done? Lots of answers, some of which may surprise you, coming up in this episode!

As we read Moses' birth narrative, we are introduced to some very interesting people. In Exodus, chapter two, we will learn about Miriam, Moses' sister, and the role she played in his early life. We will wonder why Pharaoh's daughter, who pulled Moses from the Nile, let a Hebrew woman nurse him (instead of hiring an Egyptian). We will be amazed by the "rest of the story"" of Pharaoh's daughter's later life. And we will try to determine who gave Moses his name. This episode is all about the women in Moses' early life!

After Moses was born in Egypt, he was placed in a small basket, (or "ark") by his mother and placed in the Nile. She was trying to save him from the edict of Pharaoh which ruled that all male babies born to Israelite mothers should be drowned. How was Moses' ark similar to Noah's ark? Eventually, Moses was rescued by Pharaoh's daughter who snatched him out of the river. Did Moses' mother intend for him to be found by Pharaoh's daughter, or was it just a "God thing," or both?