Lesson 49 - Junior

Memory Verse

"If any of you lack  wisdom, let him ask of God" (James 1:5).

Notes

Moses Encouraged

When Moses answered the Lord, "Here am I," he did not realise the great responsibility God was about to put upon him. He told God that the people would not believe he had been divinely sent. But God takes care of every little detail; and if we are willing to be used of Him, He will fulfil His plan in us. God gave Moses some signs to encourage his faith. He told him to throw upon the ground the stick he held in his hand. When he did, it became a snake, which frightened Moses, and he ran from it. But God did not want Moses to be afraid of anything, and He told him to pick up the serpent by its tail; and when he did, it became a rod again. That was a wonderful miracle, and should have given Moses all the courage he needed; but God gave him even more.

When Moses put his hand inside his robes and brought it out again in answer to God's command, "behold, his hand was leprous as snow. " We have studied before about what a terrible disease leprosy is, and how almost incurable it is unless the Lord heals it. Moses must surely have been astonished to see that disease on his hand, but God told him again to put his hand into his bosom, and when he drew it out, it was clean. Those were miracles indeed, and God promised He would repeat them before the Children of Israel and before Pharaoh, so they all might believe that the supernatural God was with Moses. If they still would not believe, Moses was to take water from the river and pour it on the land, and it would become blood. Surely no one could doubt after all that.

Obedience Necessary

But still Moses pleaded his weakness. He believed in God, but he did not seem to believe that he could do the work God wanted him to do. It is important that we be humble before the Lord; but it is also necessary to be willing to do what God wants us to do even when we think we cannot, if we want to please Him. We must be as the willing clay that the potter can mould any way he wishes to make it a useful vessel.

We learned that when Jesus was calling His disciples about Him He did not choose the men who already were wise in the letter of the Law, who had an office in the Temple, but He went among the lowly people who would be willing to preach the preaching He would give them.

Examples of Courage

When David went out to slay the giant, he did not choose the weapons that soldiers usually used, but the smooth pebbles he picked up by the river's edge for his slingshot made him a weapon great enough to defeat the enemy. Samson took the jawbone of an ass and used it for a weapon that slew one thousand men. He did not make the excuse that he was helpless because he had no firearms, but used the implement that was at hand, and God blessed it. God does not ask more of us than we can do, but wants us to use to the best advantage that which He has given to us to use. God can use little things to do a great work. Paul wrote to the Corinthians, "God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty" (I Corinthians 1:27).

The Spirit Bears Witness

Moses thought he was not an eloquent speaker, and no one would want to listen to him. The Lord thinks more of the spirit in the man than the manner in which he says it. Again we quote Paul: "Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal" (I Corinthians 13:1). If a man can sound as eloquent as an angel, and not have the Spirit of God with him, he sounds like an empty tin can to God.

God was displeased with Moses because of all his excuses. After all had not God made the mouth of Moses, and would He not give him the words to say? Nevertheless, He did relieve Moses of doing the talking, and sent his brother Aaron to be his mouthpiece. They were to work together, Aaron being the mouth for Moses, and Moses telling Aaron all the words that God would give him.

No doubt, Moses had never seen his brother since the time he left Egypt forty years before, but God told him that Aaron was on his way to meet him. Moses took leave of his father-in-law, took his family and started his return to Egypt. When he met Aaron, they greeted each other fondly, and Moses told Aaron everything that God had made known to him.

Used of God

After Moses and Aaron arrived in Goshen, Aaron told the children of Israel all that God had told Moses; and they did the miracles of changing the rod into a serpent, and of Moses' leprous hand, before the elders of the people, and they believed that God had sent them. They humbly bowed to worship God, with grateful hearts, when they heard that the Lord was taking notice of their afflictions and was going to deliver them from slavery.

Questions

1. What excuses did Moses offer the Lord when He called him?

2. Did the Lord accept these excuses?

3. Did the people believe when they saw the signs?

4. When we give a testimony, what is far more important than eloquence?

5. What spiritual weapons does God give His children?