Moses - One on One with God
Lesson 3 - Moses: One on One with God
What a Guy!
Moses - quick, what comes to mind? An angry, bearded man in a long robe with two stone tablets in his hand? The same character with a big staff in his hand in front of a large mob of people somewhere in the desert? Charleton Heston dividing the waters in Cecil B. de Mille's epic "The Ten Commandments"?
Whatever your thoughts, the name "Moses" conjures up a larger-than-life figure for most people. In many ways, that's exactly what he was - larger than life! Or at least larger than most of us ever dreamed of being.
Consider what he was -
- A nobleman who served in the courts of Pharaoh, king of Egypt.
- A nomad, a bedouin who led herds in the desert.
- A nation-builder who organized an ethnic minority into a functioning, independent nation.
Also consider what he accomplished -
- Led an ethnic minority group out of 400 years of dependence into independence.
- Organized and trained a national government.
- Established a national religious system
You'll find his story in Exodus through Deuteronomy. If you haven't read this, get a good modern English Bible and enjoy a good read. Sure, many things in it are amazing, even miraculous. Why not? That's the underlying theme - God uses Moses to forge a brand new nation, a nation whose God was Yahweh and whom Yahweh was pleased to call "My people."
Moses was the human tool God used to accomplish all this.
His Relationship to God
On the human side of things, the key to Moses' success was his relationship to God. From the first days of his life to the last God's hand was on him. Somehow his mother, hired by Pharaoh's daughter to raise the infant her highness found in the reeds, instilled in him an undying connection to his people, the descendants of Israel.
As a Nobleman
We can only guess at Moses' mental and spiritual growth during his first 40 years. Somewhere along the line he made a choice that not only would he identify with his people but he would deliver them from the Egyptian oppression! Exodus 2:11-12 records his brave efforts.
Not only did he serve in Pharaoh's court, but he had a wicked backhand, for he killed an Egyptian who was mistreating a Jew. Stephen, one of the Church's first deacons and martyrs, says that Moses expected his fellow Jews would recognize him as their leader (Acts 7:25).
As a Nomad
His efforts fail, his crime is discovered, and he flees into the desert where he joins the family of Jethro, the "priest of Midian" (Exodus 3:1). For forty years all Moses hears, at least as far as the Biblical record goes, is silence. Yet something was at work inside him. When Yahweh confronts him in the burning bush incident Moses has no doubt about whom he's speaking to.
Yes, I wonder, too. What God did Jethro serve? Did Moses worship or have any formal religious traditions? Something kept the fires of devotion burning, albeit none to brightly. Whatever it was, nothing is recorded and we'll leave it at that.
As a Nation-builder
Here's where Moses, Paul, and most of the rest of us part company. Moses and Paul each had a singular encounter with God. Neither of them ever looked back in doubt. Sure, they sometimes asked for encouragement. On occasion they were discouraged. But neither of them looked back and wondered if their experience with God was actually too much pepperoni pizza. Once their hand was on the plow and their eye on the distant goal they never looked back!
One on One with God
Moses' epitaph, probably written by Joshua, is in Deuteronomy 34:10 - "Whom Yahweh knew face to face." Let's see how this "face to face" relationship worked out. We'll do this by looking at a few of the many encounters between these two.
Honest Questions
When Moses and Aaron fall flat on their faces in their first confrontation with Pharaoh Moses voices an open, honest complaint to God - "Why have you brought trouble on this people? Is this why you sent me?" He did what he was told to do and it apparently backfired. Now he wants to know why! Fair enough - hard to find a more direct question than this!
Here's another direct question - "What am I to do with these people? They are almost ready to stone me!" (Exodus 17:4). And they were, for they had run out of water. Yahweh gave a direct answer to Moses question - "Strike the rock" - and the people had water.
It gets better! The people have been eating manna for quite a while and chafed under such a regular diet. They remembered the varied Egyptian produce - but not the varied persecutions - and demanded more variety, specifically meat. Moses turns to Yahweh in heartfelt honesty -
Why have you brought this trouble on your servant? What have I done to displease you that you put the burden of all these people on me? Did I conceive all these people? Did I give them birth? Why do you tell me to carry them in my arms, as a nurse carries an infant, to the land you promised on oath to their forefathers?
Where can I get meat for all these people? They keep wailing to me, 'Give us meat to eat!' I cannot carry all these people by myself; the burden is too heavy for me. If this is how you are going to treat me, put me to death right now - if I have found favor in your eyes - and do not let me face my own ruin!" (Numbers 11:10-15)
Did you catch the implied criticism of Yahweh in the first paragraph? I read it as "Come on, God! You made the promise and I have to do the work! If that's how things are, get me outta here, if you like me!"
I don't know that I've ever been that open with God!
Debates with God
At least twice Moses when one-on-one with Yahweh in an all-out confrontation. I don't know about you, but I do not like confrontation. I'll do everything I can, and sometimes more than I should, to avoid it.
Few people enjoy confrontation, especially with angry people. What about confronting an angry God?
In Exodus 32 and Numbers 14 Yahweh told Moses to "step aside" so He could destroy the Israelite nation and create from Moses a new people. In the first case the people, led by Aaron, had made and were worshipping an idol while Moses was on Mount Sinai receiving Yahweh's instructions. In the second the people refused to march into and capture the land that God promised to them.
"I've had it with these rebellious creeps! Out of my way, Moses, so I can erase them from the face of the earth. When I'm done I'll create a new nation - from you!" OK, so I've updated the language a bit, but that's pretty much what happened.
In both cases Moses stood his ground, hands defiantly on his hips, and cried - "No! I will not stand aside because you can't do such a thing! You boasted to the Egyptians that you were the one almighty God. If you give up on these people Egypt and the entire world will know that you aren't "almighty," that you couldn't take it, and that you quit! Don't show your strength by destroying them - show your strength by forgiving them!"
If you aren't familiar with the story, these claims sound fantastic. But here's an excerpt from Numbers 14:11-19 -
Yahweh said to Moses, "How long will these people treat me with contempt? How long will they refuse to believe in me, in spite of all the miraculous signs I have performed among them? I will strike them down with a plague and destroy them, but I will make you into a nation greater and stronger than they!
Moses said to the Lord, "Then the Egyptians will hear about it! By your power you brought these people up from among them, and they will tell the inhabitants of this land about it. . . . If you put these people to death all at one time, the nations who have heard this report about you will say, 'Yahweh was not able to bring these people into the land he promised them on oath, so he slaughtered them in the desert.'
Now may Yahweh's strength by displayed, just as you have declared -
'Yahweh is slow to anger, abounding in love and forgiving sin and rebellion. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished. He punishes the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation'
In accordance with your great love, forgive the sin of these people, just as you have pardoned them from the time they left Egypt until now.
If you're a Star Trek fan, you can almost hear Worf, the Klingon, telling Captian Piccard, "With all due respect . . . are you crazy?!" Moses never lapses into disrespect, but he never backs down.
Talk about effective prayer!
And the Lesson Is . . . ?
Perhaps the most obvious lesson is . . . I'm not Moses! Neither, for that matter, are you. He stand unique among God's leaders, the only one whom Yahweh identifies as someone who knew Him "face to face."
Yet I see in Moses' relationship with Yahweh some principles that transcend his uniqueness and fit all of us.
First, I see honesty in his conversations with God. He expressed joy, anger, frustration, and conviction openly and without hesitation. He was emotionally honest before God.
Second, I listen to him talk to God with a delicate mixture of respect and familiarity. He's not about to slap God on the back, but he's not afraid of Him, either. He speaks much like a trusted and trusting servant would talk to a beloved Master. He doesn't flatter with "prayer-speak." He speaks his heart, but "with all due respect."
Third, I see that Yahweh respects Moses and accepts his requests and admonitions. He is not offended by Moses' frustration or respectful rebukes. In fact, I see that there is very little I cannot say to God if my heart is right before Him.
This is some of what I've learned from Moses. Has it made a difference? Yes, to a degree. I have started to voice my "darker" feelings in prayer - feelings of anger, frustration, confusion. Has it helped? To a degree, because by speaking them I've "put them out there" for God and me to look at. This has been a large step and an important one for me.
Now, what have you learned?
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