Pray For The Peace of Jerusalem

A New Study For A New Year: Personalities

Exodus 4:1-23

4 And Moses answered and said, But, behold, they will not believe me, nor hearken unto my voice: for they will say, The Lord hath not appeared unto thee.

2 And the Lord said unto him, What is that in thine hand? And he said, A rod.

3 And he said, Cast it on the ground. And he cast it on the ground, and it became a serpent; and Moses fled from before it.

4 And the Lord said unto Moses, Put forth thine hand, and take it by the tail. And he put forth his hand, and caught it, and it became a rod in his hand:

5 That they may believe that the Lord God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath appeared unto thee.

6 And the Lord said furthermore unto him, Put now thine hand into thy bosom. And he put his hand into his bosom: and when he took it out, behold, his hand was leprous as snow.

7 And he said, Put thine hand into thy bosom again. And he put his hand into his bosom again; and plucked it out of his bosom, and, behold, it was turned again as his other flesh.

8 And it shall come to pass, if they will not believe thee, neither hearken to the voice of the first sign, that they will believe the voice of the latter sign.

9 And it shall come to pass, if they will not believe also these two signs, neither hearken unto thy voice, that thou shalt take of the water of the river, and pour it upon the dry land: and the water which thou takest out of the river shall become blood upon the dry land.

10 And Moses said unto the Lord, O my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither heretofore, nor since thou hast spoken unto thy servant: but I am slow of speech, and of a slow tongue.

11 And the Lord said unto him, Who hath made man's mouth? or who maketh the dumb, or deaf, or the seeing, or the blind? have not I the Lord?

12 Now therefore go, and I will be with thy mouth, and teach thee what thou shalt say.

13 And he said, O my Lord, send, I pray thee, by the hand of him whom thou wilt send.

14 And the anger of the Lord was kindled against Moses, and he said, Is not Aaron the Levite thy brother? I know that he can speak well. And also, behold, he cometh forth to meet thee: and when he seeth thee, he will be glad in his heart.

15 And thou shalt speak unto him, and put words in his mouth: and I will be with thy mouth, and with his mouth, and will teach you what ye shall do.

16 And he shall be thy spokesman unto the people: and he shall be, even he shall be to thee instead of a mouth, and thou shalt be to him instead of God.

17 And thou shalt take this rod in thine hand, wherewith thou shalt do signs.

18 And Moses went and returned to Jethro his father in law, and said unto him, Let me go, I pray thee, and return unto my brethren which are in Egypt, and see whether they be yet alive. And Jethro said to Moses, Go in peace.

19 And the Lord said unto Moses in Midian, Go, return into Egypt: for all the men are dead which sought thy life.

20 And Moses took his wife and his sons, and set them upon an ass, and he returned to the land of Egypt: and Moses took the rod of God in his hand.

21 And the Lord said unto Moses, When thou goest to return into Egypt, see that thou do all those wonders before Pharaoh, which I have put in thine hand: but I will harden his heart, that he shall not let the people go.

22 And thou shalt say unto Pharaoh, Thus saith the Lord, Israel is my son, even my firstborn:

23 And I say unto thee, Let my son go, that he may serve me: and if thou refuse to let him go, behold, I will slay thy son, even thy firstborn.

The King James Version

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In today's reading, we see a part of Moses's personality that we hadn't seen before. He expresses fear, equivocation, and the fine art of making excuses. Although we've never heard of this before, he says that he has a "speech impediment" that prevents him from being a spokesperson, that nobody will believe him (even though he once held a position of high authority in Egypt), and so on. It could be that Moses really believed that he was inadequate for the task ahead, because, in truth, he WAS. God was asking a huge thing of him.

I realize, looking back, that I was a Master-Excuse-Maker in my life, but sometimes the excuses were based on reality. Here's something I shared about an incident long ago, in the mid 1960s:

Oh man, did I hate Algebra! I didn't mind Geometry, because it involved drawing shapes, but I could not see how my life could possible be improved by finding the value of "x". I started to neglect my Algebra homework, and focus more on drawing. In a normal Jr. High School, I would have been been advised to pursue the Arts, but this was an Exam School focused upon a "Classical" Education. Since nearly all the graduates of this school continued on to College, candidates from all over Boston took the Exam to get in. It was an all-girl school, free of charge, and run by the Boston Public School System. It was located in Dorchester, and accessible by Public Transportation that snaked around the toughest sections of the Inner City on the way. I rode for hours on the "El" and several buses every day to get to school, and I hated it. My one consolation was Art Class once a week. Then I was told that if I did not pass Algebra, I would be dropped from the Art Class. I argued that, although Math was important, Civilization was nurtured by The Arts. Some people were good at Math, others were good at Art. But NO. That Algebra Homework had to be completed and turned in every day or NO ART CLASS FOR YOU!

And so, I buckled down and studied. It took me hours to do the Algebra homework, and I wasn't even sure it was correct, so, somewhere between Dudley Station and Codman Square, in a hot, stifling MBTA Bus (no A/C), I opened up my Algebra book at the top of the stack of books, to recheck my homework. Suddenly, a gust of hot wind from a passing garbage truck picked up my Algebra Homework and blew it right out the window! I saw it, skipping down the street, being smashed and torn by traffic. I was devastated. I couldn't remember anything about the paper and could not reconstruct it even if I tried.

In front of the whole class, the intimidating male Algebra teacher asked for my homework, and I told him what happened. He accused me of lying, and said;

"What, you don't have a dog? Usually the excuse is 'The Dog Ate My Homework'. At least YOUR excuse is ORIGINAL! HA HA!"

I was devastated. That night, I fell weeping into my mother's arms, saying that I couldn't go to that school anymore. She understood! Even though she was to endure criticism for allowing me to quit the free, exclusive, all-girl's high school, I was enrolled in a "normal" Jr. High the following year. I had Art five times a week, was able to assemble a portfolio, and won a scholarship to a High School Art Program at the Museum of Fine Arts.

Some excuses are like "The Dog Ate My Homework." they are presented as a cover-up of a sin. Other excuses, like my elaborate tale of the MBTA Bus, are genuine, but really don't address the underlying problem. The excuses of Moses were like that. Moses knew that he was not qualified to speak for God in his own power. He didn't understand that, if God was giving him an impossible task to do, He would also provide the means to do it. It takes four miracles to convince Moses to lead his own People out of Bondage: the staff becomes a snake, Moses's hand becomes leprous, Moses's hand is healed, and water turns to blood. All of these signs would mean a lot to the Egyptians. They were scrupulously clean, shaved their heads and bodies and bathed several times a day. The Snake was one of their gods, as was the River Nile. These were powerful signs that God gave Moses and should have convinced even the most stubborn Egyptian to "Let The People Go."

Fifty years after the bus incident, I was sitting in Real-Estate School, figuring out closing costs on a sale of property. The figure, which would include "doc-stamps", commissions, and attorney's fees, were calculated by using an equation. And then I realized how important it could be to find the value of "x".

Come and Pray For the Peace of Jerusalem, For Our FRiends in Need, For Persecuted Believers, and For Our Beloved Nation.

Blessings To All Who Visit This Garden of Prayer.

!עם ישראל חי
(The Spirit of Israel Lives!)

☔️🌸”Let us acknowledge the LORD; let us press on to acknowledge him. As surely as the sun rises, he will appear; he will come to us like the winter rains, like the spring rains that water the earth.” (Hosea 6:3 NIV)🌸☔️

ML/LTOS

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Pray For The Peace of Jerusalem

Pray For The Peace of Jerusalem