Exodus 7:20,21

Exodus 7:20,21 And Moses and Aaron did so, as the LORD commanded; and he lifted up the rod, and smote the waters that were in the river, in the sight of Pharaoh, and in the sight of his servants; and all the waters that were in the river were turned to blood. And the fish that was in the river died; and the river stank, and the Egyptians could not drink of the water of the river; and there was blood throughout all the land of Egypt. God commanded Moses and his brother, Aaron to use the rod which God had given them. Aaron stretched out the rod over the Nile river and it turned into blood! Gross! But Pharaoh’s magicians were able to do the same thing – only their water-to-blood was only a trick. Soon, all the fish in the Nile River died and everything began to stink. But even then, Pharaoh would not let the Children of Israel go. God had ten plagues for Moses to put onto Egypt to show Pharaoh that He was the God of the universe. But Pharaoh never learned his lesson. Plague after plague, Pharaoh would ask Moses to stop the punishment, but when the plague was over, Pharaoh would get tough again and not let the Children of Israel go. The next plague was the plague of frogs. The Egyptians woke up the next morning to find frogs everywhere! They were in their beds; they were in their ovens; they were in their kneading troughs where they made bread! Everywhere they stepped, they stepped on a frog! And when Pharaoh howled to Moses and the plague stopped, the Egyptians had to rake up all of those dead frog bodies. The piles of frogs began to stink. Can you imagine the stench? God was teaching Pharaoh and the Egyptians a lesson!

Exodus 5:22

Exodus 5:22 And Moses returned unto the LORD, and said, Lord, wherefore hast thou so evil entreated this people? why is it that thou hast sent me? When Moses first went to Pharaoh, Moses thought that Pharaoh would listen to him and obey God. But God had other plans. God hardened Pharaoh’s heart so that Pharaoh wouldn’t obey. Then Pharaoh would learn his lesson. So when Moses told Pharaoh to let the Children of Israel go, Pharaoh accused them of being idle. So he stopped giving them straw to make the mud bricks with, but they still had the same number of bricks to make each day. They had to go into empty wheat fields and gather left-over straw and then go home and make their daily number of bricks. Because of Moses, they had to work harder! So now Pharaoh was mad at Moses and the Children of Israel were mad at Moses. God was really testing Moses! Sometimes we are caught in the middle, like Moses. Sometimes people don’t understand that you are trying to do God’s will. They may get mad at you while you are trying to do the right thing. But don’t be discouraged. Keep on serving God. Don’t fear what people say. Do the right thing and go right ahead. God will be with you and bless your work for Him.

Exodus 4:11,12

Exodus 4:11,12 And the LORD said unto him, Who hath made man's mouth? or who maketh the dumb, or deaf, or the seeing, or the blind? have not I the LORD? Now therefore go, and I will be with thy mouth, and teach thee what thou shalt say. Moses was afraid, but he obeyed God and did what God told him to do. Have you ever been afraid to stand up in front of people? Moses was. But, the same One who made Moses’ mouth was the One who was telling him to stand up and speak to Pharaoh. And, in spite of his fears, he did what God said. God was with Moses, and God will be with you too. Don’t be afraid; stand up and speak for God. He will be with you. You may be afraid inside, but God is with you all the time.

Exodus 3:16,18-22

Exodus 3:16,18-22 Go, and gather the elders of Israel together, and say unto them, The LORD God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, appeared unto me, saying, I have surely visited you, and seen that which is done to you in Egypt: ... and thou shalt come, thou and the elders of Israel, unto the king of Egypt, and ye shall say unto him, The LORD God of the Hebrews hath met with us: and now let us go, ... And I am sure that the king of Egypt will not let you go, no, not by a mighty hand. And I will stretch out my hand, and smite Egypt with all my wonders which I will do in the midst thereof: and after that he will let you go. And I will give this people favour in the sight of the Egyptians: and it shall come to pass, that, when ye go, ye shall not go empty: But every woman shall borrow of her neighbour, and of her that sojourneth in her house, jewels of silver, and jewels of gold, and raiment: and ye shall put them upon your sons, and upon your daughters; and ye shall spoil the Egyptians. God convinced Moses to follow Him. Now Moses had to convince the leaders of Israel to follow him. But when they would go before Pharaoh, Pharaoh would not let them go free. Interesting! God already knew that! And then God would punish Pharaoh and the Egyptians for worshiping idols and not worshiping God. And then God would give the Children of Israel favor in the eyes of the Egyptians and they would give them gold and silver and fine clothes, and then, God would lead His people out of Egypt with a strong hand. God had a plan for Moses. And God has a plan for you too!

Exodus 3:13,14

Exodus 3:13,14 And Moses said unto God, Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you; and they shall say to me, What is his name? what shall I say unto them? And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you. Moses had a bad experience the first time he tried to help his people. And so he had fled for his life. But that was forty years earlier and now God was ready to use Moses. But Moses was fearful. God could have gotten mad because Moses didn’t trust Him, but that’s just not God. God is always kind. Moses was afraid that the children of Israel would not believe him when he said that God had sent him. So God did two things. First, God gave Moses a miracle to show the people. God said, “Moses, what is that you have in your hand?” Moses said, “A stick.” It was his shepherd’s staff. God said, “Moses, throw it down on the ground.” Moses obeyed, and suddenly, the shepherd’s staff became a wriggling snake! Then God said, “Pick it up, Moses.” What do you think Moses thought? The same thing that you would have thought. And the same thing that I would have thought: “No way! I’m not going to pick up a snake!” But Moses controlled his fears and obeyed God. And when Moses grabbed the snake by the tail it became a shepherd’s staff once again. Pretty good trick, don’t you think? But God wasn’t into tricks. He was into proofs for Moses to use to convince the Children of Israel that Moses spoke for God. And then the second thing that God did was to reveal to Moses God’s secret name: I AM. God’s name isn’t I was or I will be, but I AM. God always was, is, and will be! God is eternal and outside of time. God doesn’t know what will happen tomorrow, God is in tomorrow right now! He is making the future happen right now! I can’t wrap my little brain around that! But that is God. Moses might have been timid and fearful, but with God, they were an awesome team! And you and God can be an awesome team too!

Exodus 3:1-5

Exodus 3:1-5 Now Moses kept the flock of Jethro his father in law, the priest of Midian: and he led the flock to the backside of the desert, and came to the mountain of God, even to Horeb. And the angel of the LORD appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush: and he looked, and, behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed. And Moses said, I will now turn aside, and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt. And when the LORD saw that he turned aside to see, God called unto him out of the midst of the bush, and said, Moses, Moses. And he said, Here am I. And he said, Draw not nigh hither: put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground. Moses had seen many things in the desert. He had seen dried up trees struck by lightning that had caught on fire. But this burning bush was different. It was burning, but it wasn’t burning up. It was like fake ceramic logs in a gas fireplace. So Moses thought that he would check it out. And once God had his attention, God spoke to Moses from the burning bush. God told Moses to take off his shoes, because he was standing on holy ground. We need to be reminded of the holiness of God. God can’t stand wickedness. God can’t stand sin. God is pure and good, and God wants us to be pure and good. So God commissioned Moses to go and deliver His people, the Children of Israel. Moses was fearful, but God encouraged him. He would be a great leader - if he depended on God’s leadership.