Bill Waite

Pastor, you answered each part of this question in the study paragraphs that preceeded this question much more succinctly and eloquently than I ever could. This being the first of your studies I've participated in, I am very much enjoying every aspect of the study. I like the interactive nature that allows me to see how God speaks to the other participants through your efforts to bring us closer to Him. I appreciate how much you have worked to bring this study to us; I especially appreciate the footnotes you provide that enable me to better see the verses in the context of the original language and the times that these events occurred.

You raise some deep, deep questions for us here Pastor Ralph! First, an answer to the relatively easy question: Obedience in the deliverance from Egypt was important in that the pass over itself was conditioned upon the people putting the blood on the door jambs and door posts to prevent the first born of their households from being stricken down by the destroyer. Failure to be obedient would have caused their households to suffer the same fate as the Egyptians that night. Why is obedience so important to our deliverance from "sin, the flesh, and the devil"? As believers, we're first delivered from the consequence of our sin when we follow the Holy Spirit's tug on our heart and trust Jesus as our Savior. From that point forward in our lives, we are forever changed. The extent of that change and the depth of our relationship with God however are dependent upon our obedience to His leading in our lives. In the almost 38 years that I have been a Christian, I can report lamentably that when I have failed to be obedient there have been consequences - I missed the blessing God intended for me in this situation or that. I have no heinous transgressions to confess here from the world's standpoint but rather those small, generally unseen kinds of failings that the Holy Spirit uses to show us we've not yet reached the level of fellowship with Him that He wants for us. When we're obedient, we can see God work in miraculous ways to deliver us. Is there any discipleship without obedience? On some level I suppose their is discipleship without obedience because God is very patient with us. That said however, we'll never grow in grace to anywhere near the extent that He wants for us if we're not obedient. My view of the doctrine of sanctification is that each day we walk in obedience (listening to God through His word, through fellow believers and through the circumstances of life), we become just a little bit more sanctified - more "set apart" for the life He wants for us. For newer believers, it's important to understand that discipleship is altogether different from salvation; what God did for us that we could never do for ourselves - God did for us. How much we enjoy His fellowship from that point forward however is a function of our obedience to Him. Does a person who says he believes in Jesus but doesn

Christ is our Passover Lamb quite literally because the Bible tells us that He who knew no sin became the very embodiment of sin in our stead that we, in our hopelessly fallen state, could be reconciled to our holy and blameless Creator who desires fellowship with us. How incredible is that! Praise God! Jesus was (more correctly, is) the lamb without spot or blemish whose blood tells God to "pass over" our transgressions. We are marked with His blood in the sense that when He died in our place for our sins (past, present and future), we became consecrated for higher purpose. Just as the priests would dab a little blood on their earlobes (mental picture - that had to be really attractive...), Jesus' blood marks us as one of His redeemed. Because of Christ's blood, God's rightful judgement of our sins has already been paid for by the sacrificial death of our blameless Lamb, God's very own son.

I like the responses of IvoryEagle, QueenEsther and charisbarak above. When we're afraid to obey God as He lays something on our hearts, it's because while we may see the call, we can only see its accomplishment (or not) as a function of our abilities - not God's. When we feel fear we need to trust further in the Lord. Fear itself is not necessarily bad unless it prevents us from action altogether. I think courage is action in the presence (at least some level) of fear. Courage is required of leaders and disciples because without it, we shrink from accomplishing all He has for us.

God's anger toward Moses is kindled when, in spite of what He has just told and shown him (unconsumed burning bush, staff-to-serpent and back to staff, leprous hand/clean hand), Moses fails to be adequately convinced that God can work through him. I think it's the exact opposite of Jesus' response to His question in Matthew 16, "...but who do you say I am?" Peter responded, "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God." Jesus said "blessed are you (sic) because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but my Father who is in heaven." In the same sense, God has just revealed to Moses who He truly is and yet Moses is not sufficiently convinced to be obedient (yet). Moses' basic sin is a level of unbelief. Yes, I'm certain God has been angry with me... probably many more times than I could count... Moses agreed to go after God disclosed to him more of His plan; Aaron will be Moses' mouthpiece. I think it's important to keep in mind that God didn't change His plans because of Moses' initial recalcitrance. God's plan was always God's plan; what we see in this passage is God disclosing more details to Moses about how he would lead the Israelites out of captivity.

Moses' response to God's call is I think is a opinion on his part that "his time had past" to be anything other than a humble shepherd. From his formerly priviledged position as quasi-royalty in Egyptian society, he had lived the next forty years in humble circumstance. I can tell from some experience that living in humble circumstances can lead to a lower sense of self esteem. That's not necessarily a bad thing however because I think it helps us to develop a spirit of humility - this is the case for Moses I believe at the time God appointed him for higher service. As far as Moses' faith is concerned, I don't see it being a strong influence one way or the other prior to his experience with God speaking to him from the burning bush. He grew up in Pharaoh's house and he knew he was a Hebrew by birth but did he had a strong understanding of God's covenant with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob? He had lived the past forty years with the Midianites; they were descendants of Abraham but does that mean they followed Yahweh? I don't know too much about the Midianites but I know that later on in the Bible they incur God's wrath for following Baal at some level... The great news in this passage is that God reassures Moses with the promise that He will be with him; that He is not calling upon Moses to act alone to deliver His chosen. This is great news because here, and in many other parts of the Bible, we learn that God will be with us as well when we endeavor to walk with Him in our lives. This is the beginning of Moses becoming a leader. Perhaps as we learn (and re-learn) that God is (always) with us, we become more empowered to be the leaders God wants us to be - whether that means something in Christian service or in secular (business) activities.

This passage of Scripture indicates to me that at this point in Moses' life, he is not necessarily cognizant of God's hand in his life. He is clearly no leader here but rather a brash deliverer of "vigilante justice." His attempt the following day to intervene with the two quarreling Hebrews was not well received because he had no moral authority; they had witnessed (or heard from others who witnessed) that just one day prior, he had murdered the offending Egyptian and "buried the body" to cover his crime. On the positive side, there are at least two qualities that will subsequently contribute to Moses becoming the leader of his people. First, he has a strong sense of right & wrong coupled with a sensitivity to injustice. Second, he displays a strong bias toward action (albeit brash action); leaders are men (and women) of action, not of inaction. On the negative side, we see an individual who, while acting decisively, doesn't yet have the ability to temper his actions with discretion and discernment. He acted impetuously without first "counting the costs" associated with his chosen course of action. Failure to consider the consequences lead him to shortly become a fugitive in Midian. It's always interesting to me that God uses even our shortcomings and failures to accomplish His purpose in our lives. Moses' actions lead him to be removed for a season (a 40 year season!) to a place where God could shape him into the leader he would eventually become.

Hello, My name is Bill and I'm in Central California. I've been a Christian for about 38 years but this is my first time participating in an on-line Bible study. I'm looking forward to the days and weeks ahead.