January 22

Exodus 1-4 These chapters contain at least a dozen life shaping, monumental truths. Let me point out just a few of them.

1. Obey God above your government. The government said killing babies was the law. The Hebrew mid-wives were committing civil disobedience because of the unjust laws. We must do the same. When government officials tell us to kill babies and use their bodies in experiments, we must say this is wrong. Today is the 37th anniversary of Roe v. Wade. The total number of abortions since 1973 is 50,794,089 which is eight times greater than the Holocaust in Hitler’s Germany. The great tragedy in that number is that most of the women having abortions are Christians: 37.4% are Protestants, 31.3% are Catholics and 18% are born again evangelicals. If we were able to just convince Christians that God is pro-life, we would save millions of lives. By the way, there is also forgiveness for the millions of women dealing with post-abortion syndrome. God is merciful and gracious to those who turn to him for healing.
2. God uses every experience of life to prepare us for our mission. Moses was placed in a palace to learn how to be a leader. Nothing is happening in your life by accident. God is at work in all situations.
3. The anger of man never accomplishes the will of God. Nothing good comes out of acting in anger. There is a place for righteous indignation but not human anger. Know the difference between those two.
4. We all have excuses for not fulfilling our mission. Which ones are you using? Moses had some great excuses, but in the end they were all inadequate.
5. Finally, a sticky issue in these chapters. Exodus 4:24-26 At a lodging place on the way, the Lord met Moses and was about to kill him. But Zipporah took a flint knife, cut off her son's foreskin and touched Moses' feet with it. "Surely you are a bridegroom of blood to me," she said. So the Lord let him alone. (At that time she said "bridegroom of blood," referring to circumcision.)
Why was God about to kill Moses? The answer to this might just be a disagreement between Moses and his wife Zipporah. God had clearly told all Jews to circumcise children on the eight day. (Gen 17:12) Failure to do this would mean the boy would be cut off from a relationship with God. Zipporah from the Midianite culture, did this act at puberty rather than child birth. These are called Family of Origin issues. When you marry, be sure to discuss your family of origin issues. Since Moses was appointed leader of the people of Israel; he had to set the pace and show obedience to God. He was backing down from what God had clearly shown him to keep peace in his marriage. Knowing this would upset his wife, Moses decided to be disobedient to God. So God struck him with an illness. God could easily have killed him, but the illness is so severe that his wife had to do the surgery. She knows that God is behind this illness. She was so upset that she threw the results at Moses’ feet. She is angry with Moses’ God more than him.
At this point it is most likely that Zipporah and their sons go through a marriage separation and head back to Midian while Moses goes alone to Egypt. There is no mention of them until after the Exodus.
In the end, for one small area of neglect, apparently out of deference for his wife’s wishes, or perhaps to keep peace in the home, Moses almost forfeited his opportunity to serve God and waste 80 years of preparation. We must be careful to do all that God asks of us.