And he said, O my Lord, send, I pray thee, by the hand of him whom thou wilt send.
The meeting belongs at the burning bush near Horeb, the mountain of God, where God called Moses by name from the flame and revealed Himself as the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the Angel of the covenant. It was the commissioning of Israel's deliverer at the appointed time of deliverance, sending him forth as a humble shepherd with only a rod in his hand, which God would make the symbol of His power so that the work would pour contempt on human pride. All who come into God's presence must come with humility and reverence, answering with trembling, hiding the face, and putting off shoes because the place is holy ground, and must not approach with presumptuous boldness as toward an equal.
In the verse Moses asks to be excused from the laborious task and asks God to send someone else, a more competent and better qualified person, in his place. He pleaded lack of ready speech, being slow of speech and of a slow tongue, because he had been so long away from the Egyptians that he no longer had as clear knowledge and ready use of their language as when he lived among them. He shrank back overwhelmed with distress and fear because the work was strange and wonderful, not expecting God to use him to stand before Pharaoh and in God's name demand that Pharaoh let Israel go, having thought deliverance would come by warfare. To all human appearance the undertaking looked most hopeless, with more than a million people depending on him and nothing ahead for his feet to tread upon.
At first his backwardness and reluctance came from humility and modest diffidence, not self-exaltation. He had lost self-confidence and had learned his utter helplessness and inefficiency without being upheld by the Lord Jesus while tending sheep for years among the mountains. He agreed to go only after God assured him that he was chosen to deliver Israel, and that lesson in humility was of great importance.
After God assured him by signs that Pharaoh and the Egyptians would fear and that a greater power was with him, and promised to remove his difficulties, to be with his mouth and teach him what to say, and to give him success, his continued shrinking back, complaining of unfitness, and refusal displeased God. It showed unbelief and criminal despondency and distrust of God Himself, as though God was unable to qualify him for the great work to which He had called him or had made a mistake in choosing and preserving his life and qualifying him for the mission. Self-distrust over his ability to speak became distrust of God when he resisted the work God assigned, though God had promised to be with him and teach him what to say.
God then removed all ground for excuse by directing him to his elder brother Aaron, who by daily use could speak the Egyptian language perfectly and was already on the way to meet him. God commanded Moses to speak to Aaron and put words in his mouth while God would be with both their mouths and teach them what to do, with Aaron as spokesman to the people, Moses as God to Aaron, and the rod in hand for signs. God did not grant his request to choose another, and Moses accepted the work, trusted God fully, obeyed wholeheartedly, and continued to bear its burdens.
He distrusted self and realized he could not complete the work in human wisdom and strength, yet confided in Him with whom all things are possible. He did not use his education to argue the unreasonableness of God's commands and the impossibility of obeying them, did not hesitate to change his way for the Lord's way even though it led in strange and untried paths, was willing to obey whether commands seemed proper to human reason or not without stopping to consider consequences, gave God credit for wisdom to know what He meant and firmness to mean what He said, and advanced step by step day by day as seeing the Invisible. God strengthened and equipped him, making him eloquent, hopeful, and self-possessed, and this implicit faith, meekness, lowliness of heart, and distrust of self made him a sanctified channel through which the Lord could work, showing that accepting God-given responsibilities and relying on divine strength develops the abilities needed to carry them out faithfully. The surrounding story of God providing a mouthpiece applies to the school's need in that God provided Elder Haskell as help, said he would be God's mouthpiece, and promised him the Spirit. The request that God send the person He chooses is also a prayer believers are to pray in faith for the harvest field, that God will raise up and send laborers to the places that need them.
The meeting belongs at the burning bush near Horeb, the mountain of God, where God called Moses by name from the flame and revealed Himself as the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the Angel of the covenant. It was the commissioning of Israel's deliverer at the appointed time of deliverance, sending him forth as a humble shepherd with only a rod in his hand, which God would make the symbol of His power so that the work would pour contempt on human pride. All who come into God's presence must come with humility and reverence, answering with trembling, hiding the face, and putting off shoes because the place is holy ground, and must not approach with presumptuous boldness as toward an equal.
In the verse Moses asks to be excused from the laborious task and asks God to send someone else, a more competent and better qualified person, in his place. He pleaded lack of ready speech, being slow of speech and of a slow tongue, because he had been so long away from the Egyptians that he no longer had as clear knowledge and ready use of their language as when he lived among them. He shrank back overwhelmed with distress and fear because the work was strange and wonderful, not expecting God to use him to stand before Pharaoh and in God's name demand that Pharaoh let Israel go, having thought deliverance would come by warfare. To all human appearance the undertaking looked most hopeless, with more than a million people depending on him and nothing ahead for his feet to tread upon.
At first his backwardness and reluctance came from humility and modest diffidence, not self-exaltation. He had lost self-confidence and had learned his utter helplessness and inefficiency without being upheld by the Lord Jesus while tending sheep for years among the mountains. He agreed to go only after God assured him that he was chosen to deliver Israel, and that lesson in humility was of great importance.
After God assured him by signs that Pharaoh and the Egyptians would fear and that a greater power was with him, and promised to remove his difficulties, to be with his mouth and teach him what to say, and to give him success, his continued shrinking back, complaining of unfitness, and refusal displeased God. It showed unbelief and criminal despondency and distrust of God Himself, as though God was unable to qualify him for the great work to which He had called him or had made a mistake in choosing and preserving his life and qualifying him for the mission. Self-distrust over his ability to speak became distrust of God when he resisted the work God assigned, though God had promised to be with him and teach him what to say.
God then removed all ground for excuse by directing him to his elder brother Aaron, who by daily use could speak the Egyptian language perfectly and was already on the way to meet him. God commanded Moses to speak to Aaron and put words in his mouth while God would be with both their mouths and teach them what to do, with Aaron as spokesman to the people, Moses as God to Aaron, and the rod in hand for signs. God did not grant his request to choose another, and Moses accepted the work, trusted God fully, obeyed wholeheartedly, and continued to bear its burdens.
He distrusted self and realized he could not complete the work in human wisdom and strength, yet confided in Him with whom all things are possible. He did not use his education to argue the unreasonableness of God's commands and the impossibility of obeying them, did not hesitate to change his way for the Lord's way even though it led in strange and untried paths, was willing to obey whether commands seemed proper to human reason or not without stopping to consider consequences, gave God credit for wisdom to know what He meant and firmness to mean what He said, and advanced step by step day by day as seeing the Invisible. God strengthened and equipped him, making him eloquent, hopeful, and self-possessed, and this implicit faith, meekness, lowliness of heart, and distrust of self made him a sanctified channel through which the Lord could work, showing that accepting God-given responsibilities and relying on divine strength develops the abilities needed to carry them out faithfully. The surrounding story of God providing a mouthpiece applies to the school's need in that God provided Elder Haskell as help, said he would be God's mouthpiece, and promised him the Spirit. The request that God send the person He chooses is also a prayer believers are to pray in faith for the harvest field, that God will raise up and send laborers to the places that need them.