Exodus by James Rochford (2022)

The Exodus narrative of Moses being rescued from the Nile River to become second in command of Egypt is the story of the God who is faithful. Biblical faith is trusting the God who is trustworthy even through suffering and persecution, with our plans, with our doubts, when we cannot see the full picture, and for the future. Moses' mother demonstrated biblical faith when she placed Moses in the basket and entrusted him to God.

The story of God calling Moses from the burning bush teaches us that God doesn't choose people based on their abilities and in fact He chooses people who are failures by the world's standards. In spite of all of Moses' doubts, fears, past failures and present shortcomings, God had a plan for Moses that was not hindered by his issues. At eighty years of age, Moses' story wasn't over yet, and neither is yours!

We often think like Moses did that God's ability to use us in His plans is limited by our shortcomings, but God doesn't need us or our pitiful capabilities to accomplish His work. Moses learned through failure that he must follow God before he can teach others how to follow God. Moses learned not to improve upon God's words. He learned to to follow God despite rejection by Pharaoh and even his own people. Moses learned to follow God in spite of all his problems and limitations.

The plagues God inflicts upon Egypt were designed to demonstrate the reality that Egypt's gods were no gods at all. Pharaoh's main problem was absence of humility. Pharaoh refused to humble himself before God in spite of the numerous demonstrations of God's superiority. God is a just god. He will not tolerate sin forever, but He is merciful and gives numerous opportunities to repent.

Some argue that the God of the Bible is an unforgiving and judgmental god, but the Exodus tells of a God who hates sin and will judge it and yet loves the sinner and offers a way to come out from under that judgment. This God of the Bible prefigures the work of Jesus on the cross through the Passover event where Jews and even Egyptians could paint their doorframes with the blood of the sacrificial lamb and death would pass over their household, sparing their first-born sons.

When God led His people out of the land of Egypt, the people could not see everything God was doing. The people were only thinking of fleeing slavery but God was accomplishing multiple goals. He was guarding the Israelites but not removing all threats, judging the Egyptians, blocking re-enslavement, and bringing His people to faith.

As God leads the Israelites through the desert, they they become thirsty, so God tests them. They fail! They put God on trial and brings accusations against Him. Yet, He responds by pouring out water from a rock to quench their thirst.

Even though God is all-powerful, He chooses to accomplish His work through human agency. He works through our weaknesses and through training others. Moses learned to delegate the less weighty problems to other worthy men. He did not over delegate and walk away from his responsibilities. He learned leadership requires humility to receive input from others to ask for help.

Humans compare themselves to each other when evaluating their relative morality. They tend to put themselves half way between Hitler and Mother Teresa, but when we compare ourselves to God's standard of morality, we are all on the same level. No one can come to God on their own merits. The question is whether you want to have Moses of the Law (fear and trembling) or Jesus (forgiveness, security) as your mediator ?

The Ten Commandments teach us that we need God to exist in order for objective morality to exist. God's moral design for us is good. We don't break God's laws;They break us! God wants us to begin by focusing on Him, focusing on what he has done, and then resting while repeating the first two.

The Law was given to us for our good. God knows much better than we do about what is good for us. The Law was designed to teach us how far short we fall from God's moral standard and lead us to Christ to receive mercy.

The tabernacle from the Israelite's desert wandering was a picture of how God resolves the dilemma of how a perfect divine being, God, can dwell among morally flawed people, us. He sent Jesus to live with us as the perfect, sinless priest who offered Himself up as the perfect sacrifice.

As the Israelites grew impatient, waiting for Moses to come down from the mountain, they demanded Aaron make them a golden calf to worship. God often makes us wait to hear from Him. The pressure of waiting can lead to spiritual growth or it can lead to idolatry.