Exodus 4

Exodus 4:1-31

Exodus 3:1-22; Exodus 4:1-31(b) Moses’ Call and Commission (Exodus 3:1-22; Exodus 4:1-31) The call came while Moses was about his usual daily occupation. So it came to David, while he was tending his sheep; to Elisha while he was plowing; to the shepherds while they watched their flocks. So it will always come. God calls us from work to work, never from idleness. He who fills well his present position is in line of promotion for a greater. God’ s call often comes while in solitude. The mother-country of the strong is solitude. What a change this was-from a busy palace to a quiet desert, but God tests His weapons before He uses them. Solitude-that is the definition of genius. One might have thought that Moses had flung away bright prospects in forsaking Pharaoh for Jethro. So we sometimes say of many a young man who gives up a worldly prospect for the work of God. It was a deliberate choice on the part of Moses: “ By faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’ s daughter; choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season: esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt: for he had respect unto the recompense of the reward. By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king: for he endured, as seeing Him who is invisible” (Hebrews 11:24-27). A wise choice it was, as the centuries that have passed by still bear witness. God spoke to Moses out of the bush that burned yet did not consume. The bush was doubtless a symbol of God’ s holiness, the divine fire consuming sin for the purpose of consecration. Compare Hebrews 12:29 -“ For our God is a consuming fire.” Jesus drew a lesson from the burning bush in His talk with the Pharisees (Mark 12:26). Just as the bush burned but did not consume away, so, once born, the soul dies not; ’ tis an eternal thing. Those whom we call dead are alive. The soul that is united to God by faith never dies. The title “ Jehovah” lifts (God up above men. The title “ The God of your fathers” brings God down to men. That is His memorial to all generations.