Exodus 6:1-13

¹ So the LORD responded to Moses, “Now you shall see what I will do to Pharaoh; because with a strong hand he will send them off, and with a strong hand he will throw them out of his land.” ² God spoke to Moses and he said to him, “I am the LORD. ³ I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, as God Almighty, but my name the LORD I did not make known to them. ⁴ I also set my covenant with them to give them the land of Canaan, the land in which they lived as temporary residents. ⁵ I also have heard the groaning of the people of Israel whom the Egyptians hold as slaves, and I have remembered my covenant. ⁶ Therefore say to the sons of Israel, ‘I am the LORD, and I will bring you out from under the labors of the Egyptians, and I will deliver you from serving them, and I will redeem you by an outstretched arm and with great acts of judgment. ⁷ I will take you to me for a people, and I will be to you for a God, and you will know that I am the LORD your God, bringing you out from under the labors of the Egyptians. ⁸ I will bring you into the land that I lifted my hand to give to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. I will give it to you for a possession. I am the LORD.'” ⁹ Moses said this to the sons of Israel, but they did not listen to Moses, because of their shortness of spirit and severe slavery. ¹⁰ So the LORD spoke to Moses, saying ¹¹ “Come in, tell Pharaoh king of Egypt to let the sons of Israel go out of his land.” ¹² But Moses said to the LORD, “See, the sons of Israel have not listened to me. Why then should Pharaoh listen to me, for I am of uncircumcised lips?” ¹³ But the LORD spoke to Moses and Aaron and commanded them about the sons of Israel and about Pharaoh king of Egypt: to bring the sons of Israel out of the land of Egypt.

the impossible commission

Moses and Aaron were given an impossible task to perform. They were to persuade an unwilling people to go where they had never been, and an unwilling king to send them out. Moses complained to the LORD that even the people were not listening to him. He had serious doubts that Pharaoh would agree with the deliverance. Moses was right. He did not have what it would take to accomplish this mission. Welcome to serving God. He always gives us more than we can do. He does this because everything he commands us to do is something he plans to do through us. His is the mission, his is the plan, his is the power. It can be discouraging when we try and try and keep failing. But it is an amazing thing when he steps in and accomplishes deliverance. The life of faith is mostly about taking on those impossible tasks, and trusting the LORD in the process, regardless of the outcome. If he wanted to make us super-beings who always succeeded, he could. But he wants us to be trusting beings, who rely on him.

LORD, you are doing a number of impossible things today. Give us the courage to take on your impossible commission, and to step back and watch you work.