June 2, 2006

(Part Three:  adapted from Exodus 4:1-18)

Although caught inextricably between terror and adoration, Moses yet found within himself holdouts of doubt and self-reproach that refused to completely surrender to God’s invitation to join Him in delivering His people from their Egyptian slave masters.  He remained rooted to the same spot on which this curious conversation began, completely oblivious to anything but the flames within the bush which continued to leap up but still did not damage leaf or twig.  There was a moment of quiet as if the Lord were giving him opportunity to voice his fears.

“But,” Moses finally said, “what if they don’t believe me?  What if they won’t listen to me? What if they think I made it all up and say, ‘The LORD didn’t really appear to you’?  I’m not exactly a shining example of credibility.”

The Voice spoke, resonating not only in the air and settling in his ears, but also in the ground on which the man stood.  As that amazing Voice again turned Its focus to him, Moses was once again struck by Its “other-worldliness”, shedding into Moses’ dark mind and heart a glow of holiness and glory.

“Moses,” said the Lord.  “What is that in your hand?”

Moses glanced down at his hand and saw nothing particularly interesting.  It was just a wooden staff, well worn from its years of use as a shepherd’s tool.  “A staff,” he replied.

“Throw it on the ground,” God said, as the flames writhed in the branches of the bush.  Moses only paused an instant as he wondered over this strange command.  Why was God telling him to throw his stick to the ground?  Why wasn’t God answering his question?  Nevertheless, he raised his arm and cast to the ground the stout wooden staff that he’d been carrying for years.  The rod clattered to the ground, but even before it had come to a complete rest, it began to writhe and coil.  Cold shivers ran up and down Moses’ spine and he began to step backwards, away from his staff.  What had once been his staff lifted one of its sinuous ends and stared at him with cold, glittering eyes.  It unrolled its coils and began to slither towards Moses as it spread its fanlike hood.

Moses backpedaled and instinctively ran to other side of the burning bush, his heart thumping like an earthquake in his chest.

The Voice of the Lord came to him again.  “Moses, everything is all right.  Reach out and take the serpent by the tail.” 

“The tail?” Moses thought.  “I can think of ways to pick up snakes and ways to not do it.  This is one of the ways to NOT do it.  I can’t see anything that will keep it from coiling up around my arm and biting me… more than once!”  But the Lord’s voice prevailed and Moses cringingly found himself approaching its tail.  The viper attentively followed his movement, its head turning to face him, but otherwise didn’t react to his approach.  Moses’ hand, beset with tremors of fear, reached slowly out.  “Well, now or never,” he thought.  His hand quickly grasped the snake by the tail, but instead of cold scales, his hand closed upon the familiar texture of the wood of his staff.  He glanced towards the snake’s head and all he saw was the staff that he had always carried to care for his sheep.

“This is so that they may believe that the LORD, the God of their fathers – the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob – has appeared to you,” said the Lord.  “In this same way, I will fill your life with My power and authority, Moses, and you will seize hold of the destiny that I have crafted for you.  It’s time now for you to care for My sheep.”

Moses stood numbly staring at the staff in his hand.  “I’m so unworthy,” he thought.  “I’m a rebel and a murderer.  I’m even a deserter.  I can’t be the one to send.”

But once again, the Voice spoke and spoke even to the deepest torments afflicting Moses’ heart.  “Put your hand inside your cloak, Moses.”  The man slowly slid his hand beneath the layers of his cloak until it rested against his chest.   An icy chill began to creep into his fingers and the skin of his hand tingled and then settled into a strange numbness.  He became acutely aware that he could no longer feel the cloth of his cloak pressing against his hand.  He drew it out with a start and gasped in horror:  the skin on his hand had turned completely white, pale as corpse’s flesh.  “Put your hand back in your cloak,” said the Lord to the trembling man.  Moses complied and then withdrew it once more.  This time it was normal… as if nothing had happened.

“Unworthy?” he mused.  “My past had left me as dead as the flesh on my hand a moment ago.  I was mottled and diseased with selfishness, impatience, and murderous thoughts.  Can the Lord heal my heart also?  Can He cleanse my soul like He did my hand?”  The flames in the bush danced and Moses understood that God could indeed heal his heart and restore his soul.

“These miracles will signal for My people that I am with you, Moses,” said the Lord.  “They will strengthen them so that they will listen to you.  And if these two signs aren’t enough, don’t worry:  I will even do greater things than these.”

Moses then voiced his last objection… the only thing he could think of that might still excuse his going back to Egypt.  “O Lord,” he said.  “I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since you started speaking to me.  I just don’t talk very well.”

The Voice of God spoke again, but there was a subtle change in Its tone, a sternness that unnerved Moses.  “Who gave man his mouth?  Who makes him deaf or mute?  Who gives him sight or makes him blind?  Is it not I, the LORD?  Now go; I will help you speak and will teach you what to say.”

A stubborn persistence welled up inside of Moses .  “O Lord,” he mumbled.  “Please send someone else to do it.”

With that, the fires in the bush whirled up and crackled angrily in the branches of the bush.  “I have sent Aaron to meet you, Moses.  I have prepared him to help you in this assignment that I’m giving you.  I will help you both to speak and will teach you what you are to do.”  The Lord spoke with such insistence and majesty that Moses could simply refuse no longer… nor did he want to.  After all those years of hungering for more than his marred past and lonely exile could promise him, God had met him in this unexpected encounter and changed the course of his life. 

“Moses, take that staff in your hand and go.  You’re going to be using it to demonstrate My power and My love to the world.”  Moses walked away from the bush, but not away from God.  As his feet carried him to the top of the hill, he marveled over his confidence in the Lord’s presence.  As he crested the hill, he paused a moment.  He took a deep breath and then stepped into destiny that God had waiting for him.

(Thom Mollohan and his family have ministered in southern Ohio the past ten and a half years.  He is the pastor of Pathway Community Church, which meets on Sunday mornings at the Ariel Theatre.  He may be reached for comments or questions by email at pastorthom@pathwaygallipolis.com).