Our text presents an unsatisfying conversation that the Lord had with Moses. The Lord’s servant presented his complaint to the Lord, and God responded by giving his promise for immediate action. I have no idea what Moses expected the Lord to do, but as the end of the section shows, the answer did not satisfy him. It amazes me how we can act like Moses. For example, people will pray, and God will answer precisely, but doubt lingers, like some still doubted after they saw the risen Christ (Matthew 28:17). Our Father in heaven knows our weaknesses, and he doesn’t stop his plan to wait for us to arrive at full satisfaction about our complaints, questions, or fears. Having answered Moses, God moved on to other matters that Moses needed to learn, so that he could teach others.
Before the lesson, the Lord chose to preface it by setting it in the historical context of the story of his glory. We see two main presentations in the Bible. The first is the narrative of the story of God’s glory in Jesus Christ through salvation by judgment. The second is God’s commentary on or explanation of the narrative. Here, God talks to Moses about part of his story that will set the stage for the next step in his plan for his people. You see, God’s plan was not simply to rescue them from something, but to rescue them for something better. People tend to focus on the “from” part, since no sane person likes to suffer. But the Lord not only wants to end the pain but to increase the joy by sharing his glory and goodness with us. People go wrong by the delusion that they can have an incomplete rescue (the “from” part) without friendship with God (the “for something better” part). But rescue apart from God will only fall back into a deeper experience of bondage and pain (cf. Luke 11:24-26). For this reason, they needed more than an immediate rescue from the bondage and pain of Egypt. They needed a relationship of God that would bring them to a better position as his people.
- The living God provided a new explanation of his identity (6:2-3). He had made himself known to the Patriarchs (Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob) by his name “God Almighty”. It made known the ability of God to the founders of God’s people in contrast to the inability of the gods the people among whom they lived. God used another name, the Lord (Yahweh), which is perhaps a shortened form of the name “I Am Who I Am” to declare his character as faithful and dependable as he enters into a covenant of relationship with the nation of Israel. God would be the covenant Redeemer of his people; they could rely on him as the one who set them free from slavery to belong to him.
- God reminded them of the covenant that he had made with the Patriarchs, which was the covenant of promise (6:4). The promise covenant, among other matters, involved the plan to give to the people the Promised Land, where the Patriarchs had lived as strangers and foreigners. Their life in the land in this way pointed to something better, as Abraham understood (Hebrews 11:8-16). The covenant that God was about to make would be something that came along (Romans 5:20) as God pursued his plan for the something better. God works out his plans step by step. He still follows this method as his people spread the god news of salvation in Christ to all nations.
- The Lord reassured Moses that he knew about the suffering of his people (6:5; cf. 2:24-25; 3:7). He was not ignorant of the suffering of the people that caused Moses’ dismay. He also knew their oppressors. Instead, God reaffirmed that he, the covenant making and keeping God, had remembered his covenant, and was about to rescue his people.
All this information was crucial for the way of life of Moses and Israel through the exodus. All that the Spirit of God has revealed in the Bible is also crucial for our way of life now. Are you in suffering? Listen to God’s word. It is important for you to know how to live with the living God now, while you wait for the day of salvation.
Grace and peace, David
Everyone experiences conversations that do not go as well as we wish. If we evaluate such disappointing talks objectively, which is a difficult task, we might able to realize that our own motives and/or expectations were incorrect concerning the outcome we desired. Usually we are left with less than pleasant thoughts about the other person. We can end up feeling rather dissatisfied.
This passage in the story of God’s glory (the Bible) is about a man who was in a conversation with the Lord God and walked away dissatisfied. I think that it is a fair evaluation, because he ends the discussion with a complaint that ties in with a previous dialogue that wasn’t satisfying to him also. The man was Moses, but not the heroic Moses of the pretend world of “God does nice things for us that make us happy”. Instead, it is the real Moses who was beginning to find out that living God is not someone that we people get to order around. The Lord patiently led Moses through this discovery process.
Moses began the conversation with a complaint that the Lord had let him down. Moses returned to the Lord and said, “Why, Lord, why have you brought trouble on this people? Is this why you sent me? Ever since I went to Pharaoh to speak in your name, he has brought trouble on this people, and you have not rescued your people at all” (Exodus 5:22-23 NIV). Since Moses is human like us, it might be beneficial to consider how many of our prayers are complaints. (I’m not implying that Moses usually prayed this way, but simply asking a question.) It is a rather doubtful method to build your friendship with God by constantly complaining about something. Do you want to a friend that incessantly complains? Moses had a lot to learn, but he had enough insight to recognize a couple points:
- He saw that the Lord God was in charge of the unpleasant events. Seeing God as in control of all that happens is almost a prerequisite to prayer. Since God is God, he is sovereign over all.
- Moses saw that Pharaoh was one of the responsible agents in oppressing God’s people Israel. Everyone is not “nice”, some are very evil and destructive. There is no “spark of goodness” in human hearts. Moses could evaluate Pharaoh and call him out as wicked. Moses was telling the truth at this point.
- He was disappointed about God’s schedule. If he had listened carefully to the Lord (in Exodus 3-4), Moses would have known that God planned to rescue his people from Pharaoh and Egypt over a period of time. The rescue would be a process, not a single act. God works the story of his glory out in time. We want him to do everything yesterday, naively forgetting that there are plenty of people yet to be rescued today and tomorrow. We need to accept that the Lord works out the rescue or salvation of people from sin to glory over time. We must be willing to wait calmly as the rescue happens.
Next, we hear the first of the Lord’s answers to Moses’ complaint. God didn’t dismiss Moses for his failure, but used it as a teaching opportunity to make more of himself known to Moses and to us. God’s answer is to reveal some of the most important truths about his relationship with his old covenant people, Israel. But first, he decided to answer Moses’ complaint. Then the Lord said to Moses, “Now you will see what I will do to Pharaoh: Because of my mighty hand he will let them go; because of my mighty hand he will drive them out of his country” (Exodus 6:1 NIV).
- The Lord told Moses that his rescue operation was on time; in fact, now was the time. For his own wise purposes, the sovereign God allows people to reach the full measure of their sins before he steps in (cf. Genesis 15:16). God’s people must be patient during those times. We wait and trust and look for the dawn of salvation.
- God said that he would act against Pharaoh. He knew the identity of the oppressor and would bring him to justice. The sovereign Lord sees and he will act at his appointed time. Anyone who comprehends this will not dare to oppress other people.
- God planned to use his mighty hand to accomplish the rescue of his people. As we will see in future articles, the Lord had a good and wise purpose in this method. He used the whole situation to demonstrate his glory.
I don’t know what unsatisfying conversation you might be in with God. But I know that his word, the story of his glory, reveals his ways to us, and that he invites us to be a partner in this great story. You may enter into it through the gate, the Lord Jesus Christ (John 10:9-10). If you are a partner, let God’s story transform the way you look at your life. Let your complaints become humble questions to your Father in heaven.
Grace and peace, David