God Wants to Be Close to Us

Moses knew Pharaoh wasn’t going to listen to him. He expected that. What he didn’t expect was that things would get worse for the people of Israel before they got better. Moses thought that if he obeyed God, then everything would be good. God would deliver the people and protect them from Pharaoh until He made good on His promise. But the plan backfires. Remember the whole change in the brick-making quota thing? And the Israelite foremen get beaten by their Egyptian taskmasters? Moses is disappointed. And disillusioned. And he complains to God.

Then Moses turned to the Lord and said, “O Lord, why have you done evil to this people? Why did you ever send me? For since I came to Pharaoh to speak in your name, he has done evil to this people, and you have not delivered your people at all.”—Exodus 5:22–23

Fear and Unexpected Turns of Events

Nothing escalates our fear of inadequacy like unexpected circumstances. When we finally muster up enough courage to take a step forward and the ground falls out beneath us, we reel backward, vowing never to be so foolish again. Moses finally obeyed God and returned to Egypt. He announced—well, Aaron announced— his arrival to the people of Israel. He appeared before Pharaoh in a heated confrontation. But it all backfires. The people reject him. Pharaoh worsens their condition, and Moses wonders why he was dumb enough to attempt Operation Deliverance a second time.

“Nothing escalates our fear of inadequacy like unexpected circumstances.”

What Moses didn’t see was how this seeming setback actually worked to help mobilize the people and facilitate their communication. Think about it. Previously, each Israelite is located in one place, either making their bricks or assembling the building with an Egyptian overseer watching and listening at all times. But now the Israelites are scattered. And they are supposed to be! Think of how greatly this would aid their communication with one another. Those straw-gatherers could serve as messengers to disseminate Moses’ directions to them. And warn them of what plagues would come and when.

The straw gathering debacle also undoubtedly became a catalyst for them to heed Moses’ directions with greater urgency, wishing to escape their current oppressors. Their difficult labor escalated to oppressive and impossible, possibly increasing their excitement over God’s promised deliverance from their circumstances. But Moses did not see any of this. Instead he saw evil flourishing and freedom fading away for the Israelites.

Look to God Amid the Unexpected

One thing Moses got right in his disappointment, however, was his choice to turn to God. Look at how God answers Moses in the opening of Exodus 6 concerning His plans for the Israelites in the middle of this mess:

“Now you shall see what I will do to Pharaoh; for with a strong hand he will send them out, and with a strong hand he will drive them out of his land.”—Exodus 6:1

God reminded Moses of the covenant He had made with his ancestors, promising them a new land of their own. He also reminded Moses that “I have heard the groaning of the people of Israel whom the Egyptians hold as slaves.”

God sums up with unambiguous statements:

“I am the Lord.”
“I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians.”
“I will deliver you from slavery to them.”

The Egyptians among whom the Hebrews were living worshiped a whole array of gods as did the Canaanites, Babylonians, and other polytheistic cultures. A god’s name explained his or her purpose or function. They had gods in charge of the weather, the crops, the sun, war, diseases, and even Geb, the god of dust! The gods in these cultures were motivated to aid humans so that humans in turn would help them. It was not for a relationship between Creator and created.

God Will Be God in Our Lives

God explains to Moses in this exchange that as Lord, He is the Creator God, or the God who enters relationship. This function of Yahweh remained unique to Him. No other god existed for the sole purpose of having relationship with humans. God would function as Israel’s deliverer for the purpose of building relationship with them.

Second, God explains to Moses a bit more clearly how Operation Deliverance will go down. Initially God told Moses back in Exodus 3:20 that He would deliver Israel through “all the wonders that I will do.” This Hebrew word for wonders is pala. It means wondrous things, miracles, to separate, to consecrate, to make extraordinary, to act miraculously, to act marvelously, to sanctify.[1] Now I don’t know what you imagine when you read those descriptors, but I certainly would not have envisioned the straw-gathering debacle and the beating of the Israelite slaves. I have a feeling that Moses thought he would return to Egypt and God would put on a spectacular show, releasing them from Pharaoh’s grip. I don’t think Moses thought it was going to be hard, especially on the Israelites who already were suffering.

After all, wasn’t that the whole reason Moses was being sent in the first place? To deliver God’s people out of difficult circumstances?

Our fear of inadequacy erupts when circumstances spin out of control. We can, like Moses, think that if a situation is hard, that means God is not really in it. When those around us feel the same way, our feelings of inadequacy escalate. Look at how the people responded to this message from God: “Moses spoke thus to the people of Israel, but they did not listen to Moses, because of their broken spirit and harsh slavery” (Ex. 6:9).

Instead of spurring the people to jump onboard the Operation Deliverance train, they too became defeated. They were overwhelmed by their circumstances just like Moses. But God explains to Moses what he had misunderstood regarding God’s plans. Instead of God describing His acts as “wonders” as He did in Exodus 3, this time God said, “great acts of judgment” (Ex. 6:6).

This Hebrew word is shaphat and means to condemn, to contend with the notion of punishing, to punish the guilty, to give justice or equality.[2] Yes, Moses, I am going to perform miracles, but they will be miracles of judgment against Pharaoh for his wicked treatment of my people. This isn’t going to be a cakewalk, Moses. This is going to be tough. Don’t expect all this to make sense to you. Keep running to Me with your questions!

Trusting God Doesn’t Always Bring Clarity

Handing over our fears to God means learning to accept what we cannot comprehend. It means we stop striving to make sense out of it and surrender in trust that God knows what He’s doing. In Moses’ fear of inadequacy, he falsely concluded that he was failing at his mission, yet again. Sometimes God’s ways don’t make sense to us, but as we grow in relationship with Him we begin to understand that what is mysterious often opens the door to the majestic. Just because we cannot see where God is headed doesn’t mean He has stopped leading. And when God appears to be taking us backward, this doesn’t mean we aren’t ready to go forward.

Again, Moses’ fear appears to be rooted in the circumstances, but a careful examination of his words to God reveal the real source of his insecurity. “The people of Israel have not listened to me. How then shall Pharaoh listen to me, for I am of uncircumcised lips?” (Ex. 6:12). Here we go again with the circumcision thing! Circumcision marked your identification as a true Israelite—a true chosen child of God. Moses’ fear of inadequacy remains rooted in his lack of identity. Moses makes this argument twice before God. I’m not really an Israelite. I’m not really one of Your chosen children.

Usually our fear of inadequacy does not derive from difficulty. The stress of circumstances merely causes fear to surface. Our motivation behind endless striving roots itself in the hope that if we control our world, keeping it smooth and stable, our fear will cool. But in actuality fear remains and kindles hotter due to our frenetic activity. Eventually, given the right circumstances, that fear erupts, and because it usually took a tremendous amount of heat and stress to come to that point, we falsely assume the disappointment or the disaster caused the fear.

Moses’ fear remains rooted in his imperception of God’s power and lack of intimacy with His character. God is Lord—the God of relationship. Moses is His chosen child, and disappointing circumstances do not signify His displeasure, but rather depict the brokenness of life on this shattered planet. Sometimes God’s plans unfold in ways we cannot comprehend, sending us reeling backward in confusion over His ways.

Intimacy With God Is the Goal

What seems like moving backward is actually a shortcut to the path we were meant to travel all along. Moses learned one of life’s most valuable lessons regarding a relationship with God: being honest with God about his feelings. Notice how brutally honest Moses’ words are to God! He does not circumvent his confusion or his frustration toward God over his circumstances. He tells God plainly how he feels.

This intimacy with our Father allows us to unload our doubts, questions, frustrations, and insecurities and provides the pathway to peace with our circumstances. Moses was able to come to a place of acceptance that God’s plans were sometimes beyond his comprehension. He then began to develop a lifelong habit of turning to God in his disappointment.

Again, God promises to right this current wrong the people of Israel are experiencing.

“I will take you to be my people, and I will be your God, and you shall know that I am the Lord your God, who has brought you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. I will bring you into the land that I swore to give to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. I will give it to you for a possession. I am the Lord.”— Exodus 6:7–8

God repeats the purpose, His win of the game: that His people are delivered, brought out of Egypt, and into the promised land where they experience, for the first time, true relationship with Him. Their identity will be rooted in Him—they are His chosen children. He will be their God and dwell in their midst, guiding, directing, and protecting them. Moses does not need to fix these disappointing circumstances. Moses needs to remember his God is the Lord and Moses is His child. I AM is unfolding His plans. But Moses does not grasp this yet. And if we’re honest, when most of us experience confusing or disappointing circumstances, we do not see what I AM is doing either.

And here is the reason. Moses does not fully embrace his identity, calling himself “uncircumcised.” Each one of us must come to our own place of decision. Will we believe what God says about Himself—that He is the Lord and desires intimacy with us?

Will You Turn to the Lord?

Until we fully embrace these two truths—that we are created by and deeply loved by our Father and that we are designed to be in an eternal loving relationship with Him—we will continue to falter. Influenced by our circumstances and reeling in the winds of change, we will:

• default into self-doubt,
• debase our giftedness and value,
• declare our inability to carry out assignments God places upon us,
• distrust God’s plan to demonstrate His kindness and goodness in our lives,
• disassociate from our primary identity as a chosen child of God,
• decide disappointing circumstances reflect God’s displeasure over us, and
• define ourselves with roles, responsibilities, and relationships apart from God.

Will you turn to the Lord with your disappointments today, friend? Your Father longs for you to rest in His power and revel in His goodness. He knows what He’s doing in your life.

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[1] Spiro Zodhiates, The Hebrew–Greek Key Study Bible (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1984), 1628.

[2] Ibid., 1650.