11 The Lord said to him, ‘WHO GAVE MAN HIS MOUTH? Who makes them deaf or mute? Who gives them sight or makes them blind? Is it not I, the Lord? 12 NOW GO; I WILL HELP YOU SPEAK AND WILL TEACH YOU WHAT TO SAY.’ Exodus 4
Would we be willing to speak for the Lord or would fear of man prevent us?
Moses was having a personal interview with God after being a shepherd for forty years with his father-in-law Jethro’s sheep in the backside (King James Bible English) of the desert. He’d already lived eighty years and God spoke with him in the burning bush and told him to go and deliver His people from their slavery in Egypt. (A very similar situation to what’s happening the Church today!)
God had given Moses some miraculous signs to show the people of Israel that he had a genuine calling to deliver them. Moses had the power of God in evidence and he needed it. Moses must have been very unwilling to speak because in the end Almighty God appointed his brother Aaron to speak on his behalf.
5 Afterwards 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.’ Exodus 5
Moses and Aaron spoke to a world ruler and were rejected, as God had said, Exodus 4:21. Most of us will never be called to speak to such people, but there will be times when we can bring God and His Truth into a situation and that may require us to gather our courage.
25 Fear of man will prove to be a snare,
but whoever trusts in the Lord is kept safe. Proverbs 29
So I want to say something now which may be unpopular with others, even believers. I was saddened recently to read a report that the Irish ladies basketball team had snubbed Israel’s ladies at a qualifying match for the Eurobasket 2025. Ireland would have withdrawn altogether, but their own chief executive, John Feehan, warned they would face heavy fines and expulsion. A further example of this hostility towards Israel in the same news is the threat to ban them from the next Eurovision Song Contest.
The overwhelming message in this world is anti Israel and that’s serious in God’s eyes! GOD HIMSELF makes two significant statements in the same part of Exodus where He spoke with Moses.
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 that he may worship me.’ But you refused to let him go; so I will kill your firstborn son.”’ Exodus 4
2 God also said to Moses, ‘I am the Lord. 3 I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob as God Almighty, … 4 I ALSO ESTABLISHED MY COVENANT WITH THEM to give them the land of Canaan, where they resided as foreigners. 5 Moreover, I have heard the groaning of the Israelites, whom the Egyptians are enslaving, and I HAVE REMEMBERED MY COVENANT. Exodus 6
Almighty God is in Covenant with Israel, He’s given His sacred word to them and will keep it, no matter what the people of this world say.
I have prayed for God’s mercy for Ireland concerning His people Israel. There is a strong anti Israel stance abroad in the land at this time and I pray that those who know God will ask for mercy and not judgement.
May God bless and keep you today. Immanuel, God is with us.