Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Moses' "If Only"

Today we read the passage in Exodus about Moses' encounter with the LORD and his reluctance to obey.  Several times, after God outlines what He wants Moses to do, Moses responds with basically a "but, Lord!"
In Exodus 4:13, Moses even is so bold as to say, "O Lord, please send someone else to do it."
This after God just finished telling him that He would be the one telling Moses what to say and that God Himself would be with him.
In verse 14, God's Word tells us that the Lord's anger burned against Moses - yet His grace as well, as He offers Aaron as Moses' "prophet" (Exodus 7:1), to go with him and speak for him.  Because for Moses, it just wasn't enough that God Himself promised to do those very things.
It's interesting that Aaron followed through in front of Pharaoh, but out in the wilderness, it was Aaron who gave Moses so much trouble by building the golden calf for the people to worship in place of the One True God.
Aaron failed to lead the people in Truth.
I wonder, if Moses had obediently accepted what God was telling him to do, would Aaron have entered into the picture in this manner at all?  Was Aaron's disobedience a result of Moses' disobedience?
We see Moses with the Law in his hands, written by the hand of God Himself, coming down the mountain to the scene of adultery against the LORD, and he is filled with righteous anger.  Resulting in him smashing the original Law to bits.

Sin has far-reaching effects.
Praise the Lord for the covering of Jesus' blood, our atonement.

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