...Let’s consider Moses again. Not only did God call him to do something seemingly impossible, but God also allowed Moses to see the future trouble he would have. God informed Moses that He would harden Pharaoh’s heart so that he would not listen and as a result there would be trouble. God made it clear to Moses that his mission would not be an easy, nor a comfortable one. But Moses eventually submitted his will to God’s will and obeyed.
So Aaron and Moses finally enter Pharaoh’s court and declare God’s Words. Turn to the scene in Exodus 5:1:
And afterward Moses and Aaron came and said to Pharaoh, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ’Let My people go that they may celebrate a feast to Me in the wilderness.’ “
Now this is not well received by pharaoh who is not accustomed to being ordered around. You see in ancient Egypt, the pharaoh was perceived as a god himself and thus was worshipped by the people. Now you can understand why Moses’ pronouncement doesn’t sit well with pharaoh.
Listen to pharaoh’s reaction in verses 5-8: Again Pharaoh said, “Look, the people of the land are now many, and you would have them cease from their labors!” [6] So the same day Pharaoh commanded the taskmasters over the people and their foremen, saying, [7] “You are no longer to give the people straw to make brick as previously; let them go and gather straw for themselves. [8] “But the quota of bricks which they were making previously, you shall impose on them; you are not to reduce any of it. Because they are lazy, therefore they cry out, ’Let us go and sacrifice to our God.’
You know Moses knew he wasn’t going to be a popular guy in Egypt, but now he’s really going to catch heat. Because of his decision to obey God and keep his vision clear, Moses has now created a very miserable situation for the Hebrews.
Listen to how the Hebrew foremen reacted to all of this, verses 19-21:
Since Pharaoh would not let up on his demands, the Israelite foremen could see that they were in serious trouble. [20] As they left Pharaoh’s court, they met Moses and Aaron, who were waiting outside for them. [21] The foremen said to them, “May the Lord judge you for getting us into this terrible situation with Pharaoh and his officials. You have given them an excuse to kill us!”
Yup, they were mad, they were smokin’ mad at Moses and Aaron. Life up til’ now had been hard, but livable. Now, things are just plain ugly and who’s to blame for all of this? Moses, a man simply obeying God directive.
What do you think Moses is thinking at this point? Verses 22-23 say it all:
So Moses went back to the Lord and protested, “Why have you mistreated your own people like this, Lord? Why did you send me? [23] Since I gave Pharaoh your message, he has been even more brutal to your people. You have not even begun to rescue them!”
There’s no doubt, Moses is completely discouraged. Where Moses initially considered this whole plan a bad idea, now he’s sure of it and so he questions God’s wisdom. And once again we see a mirror image of ourselves don’t we?
Have you ever doubted God’s plan for your life but reluctantly obeyed only to find yourself in a world of discouragement? Has this ever happened to you? The fact is each of us in only human and in our humanity we fail to see the long term results of our obedience. As a result we are tempted to call it quits before God is finished blessing us. Spiritual vision is long-range vision. It sees beyond the immediate situation to the long term purposes of God.
Here’s the bedrock and there’s really no getting around it… “Do you trust God to take care of you?” “Do you believe that God has your best interest at heart?” I mean really, do we actually think that God is out to make our lives miserable? Does God desire you and I to suffer as much as possible for suffering’s sake? Of course not! John 10:10 says that Jesus Christ came to give us life, and not just normal life, but abundant life! So when the discouraging times come we have a choice to make. Either we will stand upon God’s character and His promises or we will wallow in self-pity and play the blame game with God.
Our vision can get distorted when hard times come. We can easily lose sight of God’s plan in a storm. So what can we do to refocus our vision on a regular basis?
Our friend Moses can teach us several lessons. But before we consider Moses, let’s do a quick review of what we’ve learned about vision from Noah & Abram.
Noah taught us the following principles:
First, we learned that in order to receive God’s Vision for our lives, we must be intimately connected to Him. Listen to how Genesis 6:9 puts it: Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his time; Noah walked with God. The New Living Translation puts it best when it says: Noah was a righteous man, the only blameless man living on earth at the time. He consistently followed God’s will and enjoyed a close relationship with him. In other words, we must be properly related to God.
Second, we learn that when God gives someone a vision, it is often revealed in phases and it is usually pretty specific. God wanted to use Noah to preserve the human race. First, He wanted Noah to build an ark and gave Noah specific dimensions. Next, God then gave Noah specific instructions regarding animals and provisions. And, finally, God gave Noah specific instructions on when to enter and when to exit the Ark.
Third, we learned that when God gives us a vision, He also empowers & equips us to see the vision through to completion. Noah was not completely alone in his mission, but had three sons to help him, along with his wife and daughters-in-law. Most significantly, God Himself, will use His own power to make things happen. Remember who shut the door behind them when they all entered the ark? Genesis 7:16: Those that entered, male and female of all flesh, entered as God had commanded him; and the Lord closed it behind him.
Finally, we learned that when God gives us a vision, He will sustain us throughout the entire process. We know that Noah and his family were in the ark along with a host of animals for several months. This situation must have gotten on everyone’s nerves after a while. Noah must have been wondering, “God… have you forgotten us down here trapped in this floating zoo?” But then in Genesis 8:1 we read: But God remembered Noah and all the beasts and all the cattle that were with him in the ark; and God caused a wind to pass over the earth, and the water subsided.
Abram taught us the following principles about vision:
Vision is born from faith. If I have trouble believing God, I will never be able to receive His vision for my life.
Abram chose to obey God and travel hundreds of miles to a land he had never seen because he had faith.
Vision is sustained through personal worship. My love, my passion for God is expressed through worship.
Abram was able to keep going through the difficult times because of his love for God and passion for worship. We know Abram was a worshipper because he built altars everywhere he went in order to honor the Lord.
Vision enables us to release control of our lives to God. In the beginning Abram struggled with a “control issue”.
Remember he referred to Sarai as his sister which was a half lie. When he panicked, he began to operate on fear rather than faith and subsequently took matters into his own hands by bending the truth. Later, Abram learned that when he kept focused upon his vision, God directed and blessed every situation in his life.
And this today’s message we learn three things from Moses regarding vision:
The first is, God can be unconditionally trusted because He keeps His Word. In Exodus 6:2-5 God said:
“I am the Lord. [3] I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob as God Almighty, though I did not reveal my name, the Lord, to them. [4] And I entered into a solemn covenant with them. Under its terms, I swore to give them the land of Canaan, where they were living. [5] You can be sure that I have heard the groans of the people of Israel, who are now slaves to the Egyptians. I have remembered my covenant with them.
The words I am the LORD occur four times in verses 2-8. As the Lord, Yahweh, He is with His own and is always faithful and true to us. But what did God mean when He said, “…though I did not reveal my name, the Lord, to them.”? Was not God known by the name Yahweh to the patriarchs Abraham… Isaac, and
Jacob? In fact He had (e.g., Gen. 13:4). But He mainly appeared to them as God Almighty (el sadday), the One who provides or sustains (cf. comments on Gen. 17:1). He had not displayed Himself to the patriarchs primarily by the name Yahweh. So in Exodus 3:14 God meant that now He was revealing Himself to Moses not only as Sustainer and Provider, but also as the Promise-Keeper, the One who was personally related to His people and would redeem them.
Next we learn that God will sometimes give us a vision that doesn’t make complete sense to us.
Listen to Exodus 7:1-3: Then the Lord said to Moses, “Pay close attention to this. I will make you seem like God to Pharaoh. Your brother, Aaron, will be your prophet; he will speak for you. [2] Tell Aaron everything I say to you and have him announce it to Pharaoh. He will demand that the people of Israel be allowed to leave Egypt. [3] But I will cause Pharaoh to be stubborn so I can multiply my miraculous signs and wonders in the land of Egypt.
On the one hand God is telling Moses that he will be like God to pharaoh by the miracles performed, but at the same time God told Moses that He was going to harden pharaoh’s heart or make him stubborn. Why? Well God says in order to multiply His miraculous signs and wonders, but even so, this must have seemed quite confusing to Moses in the beginning. Sometimes we are required to follow God’s outlined mission even when the game plan seems rather illogical. Here’s the thing, we must always bear in mind those sobering words found in Isaiah 55:8-9: “My thoughts are completely different from yours,” says the Lord. “And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine. [9] For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts.”
Finally we discover that when we operate within the vision and mission God has given us, we are able to influence others to follow God. Hebrews 11:28-29 testifies that:
It was by faith that Moses commanded the people of Israel to keep the Passover and to sprinkle blood on the doorposts so that the angel of death would not kill their firstborn sons.
[29] It was by faith that the people of Israel went right through the Red Sea as though they were on dry ground. But when the Egyptians followed, they were all drowned.
Moses had influence over the people of God because He had faith in God purpose for his life. Moses stepped into the vision God had given him and as a result he became the leader of a large nation as they exited Egypt and stepped forward to claim the promised land. Even when the impossible seemed to block their progress, Moses believed in the dream of freedom for his people and he said to them: Exodus 14:13 “Do not fear! Stand by and see the salvation of the Lord which He will accomplish for you today; for the Egyptians whom you have seen today, you will never see them again forever.
That’s vision, that’s what God desires you and I to have.
Where will God take you in the next week, the next month, the next year? Seek God’s Vision for your life and move into it by faith. This is living life at the highest possible plane!
God bless You!
