And the Lord said to Moses in Midian, “Go back to Egypt, for all the men who were seeking your life are dead.” So Moses took his wife and his sons and had them ride on a donkey, and went back to the land of Egypt. And Moses took the staff of God in his hand. (4:20)
These fourteen verses demonstrate just how involved God is in what is going on! God instructed Moses to go back to Egypt. The Lord told Moses that when he got back to Egypt, he was to do the three miracles before Pharaoh that God had put in Moses’ power to do. But God also told Moses that He would harden Pharaoh’s heart so that Pharaoh would not let the people go. God skipped to what would be His final miracle and told Moses that he was to say to Pharaoh: “Thus says the Lord, Israel is my firstborn son, and I say to you, ‘Let my son go that he may serve me.’ If you refuse to let him go, behold, I will kill your firstborn son.” (Exodus 4:21)
Then, at a lodging place on the way to Egypt, the Lord went after Moses to put him to death. It is commonly thought this is because he has not circumcised his son. God had established his covenant with Abraham and his descendants (Genesis 17) – God would be their God and Abraham and all his descendants would be circumcised. Moses had not fulfilled his part of the covenant yet was on the way to bring God’s words to his people. Moses’ wife, Zipporah, quickly circumcises the lad and all is well.
If you recall back in verse fourteen of chapter four, the Lord tells Moses that his brother Aaron is coming out to meet him. But in verse twenty-seven we read that it is the Lord who told Aaron to go into the wilderness to meet Moses. Did I mention that the Lord is very involved?
When Moses and Aaron meet, Moses told Aaron all the words of the Lord with which he had sent him to speak, and all the signs that he had commanded him to do. Then Moses and Aaron went and gathered together all the elders of the people of Israel. Aaron spoke all the words that the Lord had spoken to Moses and did the signs in the sight of the people. And the people believed, and when they heard that the Lord had visited the people of Israel and that he had seen their affliction, they bowed their heads and worshiped. (Exodus 28-31)
So far things were going well – Aaron was the one speaking the words and doing the signs that Moses was telling him to do and the elders believed and worshiped God, grateful that He was going to deliver them. We will see in the next chapters that things don’t go smoothly, but that God is absolutely involved and in control.
Often when we are in a situation, we just see what is before us. We don’t see that God is in control and just how involved He is. It’s often a lot easier to see God’s involvement in retrospect. Having walked with Him for many decades, I have many examples that I can look back on and see Him at work, and yet in the moment it wasn’t as apparent. One example is that as newlyweds, my husband, Alan, got fired from a job due to his faith. It was devastating at the time, but later we realized how that particular job would have impacted us very badly as newlyweds. We didn’t know, but God did, and I believe that in His love he removed us from that situation.
Prayer: Thank You, God for Your involvement in my life. Thank You for (name a particular situation if you have one, in my case) how You kept us from that situation when we were newlyweds. Thank You for other hardships I have gone through in life that have equipped me to help others in similar situations. Open my eyes to see Your involvement in my life. Amen.
