November 26 Daily Discovery - Read Exodus Chapter 6

When it is Hard to Hear

Then the LORD said unto Moses, Now shalt thou see what I will do to Pharaoh: for with a strong hand shall he let them go, and with a strong hand shall he drive them out of his land.

And God spake unto Moses, and said unto him, I am the LORD:

And I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, by the name of God Almighty, but by my name JEHOVAH was I not known to them.

And I have also established my covenant with them, to give them the land of Canaan, the land of their pilgrimage, wherein they were strangers.

And I have also heard the groaning of the children of Israel, whom the Egyptians keep in bondage; and I have remembered my covenant.

Wherefore say unto the children of Israel, I am the LORD, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will rid you out of their bondage, and I will redeem you with a stretched out arm, and with great judgments:

And I will take you to me for a people, and I will be to you a God: and ye shall know that I am the LORD your God, which bringeth you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians.

And I will bring you in unto the land, concerning the which I did swear to give it to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob; and I will give it you for an heritage: I am the LORD.

And Moses spake so unto the children of Israel: but they hearkened not unto Moses for anguish of spirit, and for cruel bondage.

Exodus 6:1-9

The people did not hear Moses because of anguish of spirit and cruel bondage.

God Had Decided to Deliver

God had made a covenant with the children of Israel to give them the land of Canaan as their possession.  A great famine had spread across the earth and they were suffering badly.

God intervened in human affairs and used Joseph to become second to Pharaoh in order to preserve the life of the people.  His brothers had cruelly sold Joseph into slavery, but Joseph was a godly young man. 

He arranged for his family to immigrate to Egypt and be nourished in the prime husbandry land of Goshen in the Nile river valley.

Now they had been there for 430 years and the blessing of God upon Egypt and Pharaoh because of Joseph had been forgotten and they were under slavery.

God saw their misery and heard their cries to Him.

God answers prayer. God remembered His covenant. God decided to raise up a deliverer for them and his name was Moses.

First Family Meeting Success

Remember that the first time Moses and Aaron spoke to the children of Israel in Egypt and gave them the good news of their coming deliverance with the two signs God had given Moses (the rod that would become a snake and leprous hand), they responded with belief.

They believed God was going to deliver them as Aaron told them in behalf of Moses.

They worshipped God.

It can Hurt to Hope

We are told that they gave the people ALL the words that God had given them, so it seems that the children of Israel should have expected the contest that was to follow.  Pharaoh was NOT going to immediately let them go; God was going to magnify Himself greatly in Egypt as Pharaoh would continue to refuse to let the children of Israel go, but eventually he would release them.

Perhaps we fail as well when we do not stress enough the difficulty that followers of the Way are sure to experience and they are not well prepared for it.

First Pharaoh Meeting Fail

After Moses' first meeting with Pharaoh, he not only said "no" but decided they weren't working had enough in the brick factory, so he punished them by not providing the straw any longer.

They would have to gather their own straw but were expected to keep up with the previous level of production regardless.

When you've had hopes (especially to the level of assured expectations) and those hopes are crushed, it can damage your heart in such a way that your heart refuses to hope as a device to protect itself.

Proverbs 13:12 says "hope deferred makes the heart sick."

Second Family Meeting Fail

Moses was instructed by God to REPEAT the message of His deliverance of His people, but upon this second message that was intended to be an encouragement to them, they were instead discouraged.

Since they first heard that message of blessing that had only met with a curse.

Were things going to continue to get worse for them as their messenger was pronouncing liberty to them?

Prov. 25:20 says "As he that taketh away a garment in cold weather, and as vinegar upon nitre, so is he that singeth songs to an heavy heart."

When someone is emotionally down, a happy message to his hurting heart can make things emotionally worse.

To the Hebrews, Moses seemed to be neither empathetic nor sympathetic.  

We cannot always be empathetic with others, because we must have experienced that they are experiencing to do so, however, we can always be sympathetic.  We can still identify and acknowledge their pain.

If they can see our sympathy or feel our empathy for them, a message of encouragement can be received more fully.

We are taught to match the emotional state of our audience: "weep with them that weep" and "rejoice with them that rejoice".

The shortest verse in the scriptures is John 11:35: "Jesus wept."  Why?  He knew that he was going to raise Lazarus, His friend from the dead.  Why did He weep?  Because His other friends were weeping.

Let's try to do better to demonstrate and communicate God's love (our love) to people when we bring them a message from God.

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Continue Your Search

Do you see any: Commands to Obey, Warnings to Heed, Promises to Claim, Examples to Follow, Vices to Avoid, Praises to Emulate, Prayers to Use, Principles by which to Live, Questions to Ask or Actions to Take?

See: Berean Fellowship Bible Study Method

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Continue Your Search

From this chapter, do you see any: Commands to Obey, Warnings to Heed, Promises to Claim, Examples to Follow, Vices to Avoid, Praises to Emulate, Prayers to Use, Principles by which to Live, Questions to Ask or Actions to Take?

See: Berean Fellowship Bible Study Method