Insight for Today
A Daily Devotional by Pastor Chuck Swindoll

The instruction Moses gave was to be passed along from generation to generation. After he finished with these specific instructions, Scripture says, "And the people bowed low and worshiped."

The main point, the central ingredient of Exodus 11 and 12, is obedience. God spoke, some people heard and did what God said. As a result, God used them in His plan at that time in history.

I'm convinced this dreadful display of judgment in Egypt, this battle between a righteous, holy God and the stubborn heart of Pharaoh, has at least two major truths to teach us. First, when God judges, He does a thorough job of it.

Right after God told Moses what He would do, He said to him, "You must believe it. I command you to do this thing." "Now the LORD spoke to Moses and Aaron about the Israelites and Pharaoh king of Egypt, and he commanded them to bring the Israelites out of Egypt" (v. 13 NIV).

So many times you and I miss the opportunity to watch the Lord work in mighty and miraculous ways. Why? Because instead of "standing still" and watching Him pull off our deliverance, we seek out the carnal alternative.

Moses felt as low as a slug's belly. Way down there. He still hadn't rid himself of the idea that he was supposed to be the deliverer, and that he was somehow failing. How many times had God explained it to him?

A bad day just got worse! Moses couldn't believe it. Disappointment turned to disillusionment. Where had he gone wrong? He had taken God at His word, stood before Pharaoh, and repeated—almost word perfectly—what God had told him to say.

God knew Moses felt lonely in that moment. God knew His man needed some human companionship. Perhaps before Moses felt his first pang of loneliness, God was already moving to meet his need. Aaron was Moses' big brother, his senior by three years.

God was saying to his servant, "Moses, you simply go before Pharaoh and deliver the goods. He won't like it. He won't want it. Just bear in mind that even his stubborn, hardened heart is not outside My will."

Isn't God gracious? We have a Lord who knows our hearts, knows our thoughts, and knows our fears. When Moses had left Egypt forty years before there were those who sought his life. He was probably featured at the top of the Egyptian version of The Ten Most Wanted list.

Moses, you'll remember, approached his father-in-law Jethro and asked permission to return to Egypt. He certainly didn't tell Jethro everything at that point, but he let the man know there was something stirring in his heart.

Verse 18 features a glimpse into Moses' humanity and God's patience. "Then Moses departed and returned to Jethro his father-in-law and said to him, 'Please, let me go, that I may return to my brethren who are in Egypt, and see if they are still alive.'"

Do you know what God did? He accommodated Moses' desire. But the compromise was less than the best; brother Aaron proved to be an albatross around his neck. It was Aaron who got impatient while Moses was on the mountain and created a golden calf for the people to worship.

"But Lord," Moses was saying, "I can't be Your spokesman in this situation. Why, I wouldn't have any answers when those guys started firing questions at me." Before we consider the Lord's response, stop and think about that lame excuse for a moment.

Moses had been resistant for forty years, telling himself all that time that his was a lost cause. Now, when God came with a direct, simple call, the old shepherd couldn't handle it. In fact, he wouldn't let himself believe he might still be useful to God.

What was God's larger message to Moses in that moment? Release your imagination for a few moments. It might have included some thoughts such as these: "Moses, forty years ago you were a fine looking bush, impressed with all your own foliage."

I think one of the most important words in this verse is the very first one. When. The Hebrew word means "at the same time." That goes back to verse 3, where Moses said, "I must turn aside." When did God speak to Moses? At the same moment when Moses turned aside.

This was the day when God decided to break a forty-year silence. Pause and let that sink in! Through four decades in Midian, we have no record of God's speaking to Moses. Not even once. The day that was going to shatter that silence, however, dawned like every other day in the wilderness.

Notice carefully how the process took place through those years of desert learning, because it is the same with you and me. God must break through several hard, exterior barriers in our lives before He can renovate our souls. His persistent goal is to break through to the inner person.

The desert is a place of obscurity. Moses had to cope with being a nobody. All his adolescent and adult life, he had been a big-time somebody. The spotlight followed his every move, much as the contemporary spotlight follows Britain's Prince William and Prince Harry.