Questions God Asks Week 4: What Do You Have In Your Hand ...

[Pages:3]Questions God Asks Week 4: What Do You Have In Your Hand? Scripture Focus: Exodus 3:7-10, 4:1-5

Introduction

"Life is a journey, not a destination." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

Think about the journey you have been on in your walk with Christ. We've all had ups and downs, highs and lows, and bumps and bruises along the way. But we've also shared in joys and victories, rewards, and miracles when we've trusted in God. That's the good news about the Christian life: we do not walk this journey alone. If we seek God and are obedient to Him, then He equips us and allows us to see pieces of His plan revealed along the way.

Has God ever called you to do something on this journey that was uncomfortable or you didn't feel equipped to do? Throughout Scripture, there are many times where God calls His people to something that will ultimately fulfill part of His plan, but it may not be part of their plan. Today, He does the same thing. He invites us ? His children ? to join Him in the work that He is doing.

Question to Discuss: Has God ever called you to do something that was uncomfortable or you didn't feel equipped to do? How did you respond to His call?

Examining Scripture

In today's lesson, we are going to look at the life of Moses. Remember, Moses was the son of a Levite woman and was born after the Pharaoh had commanded in Exodus 1:22 that every boy who was born must be thrown into the Nile River. As a result, Moses' mother hid him for three months, and when she couldn't hide him anymore, she placed him in a basket in the reeds along the bank of the Nile River.

When the Pharaoh's daughter went down to the Nile to bathe, she saw the basket, heard the baby crying, and decided to take him in as one of her own.

As a result, Moses grew up in the Pharaoh's house. We don't learn much about his upbringing, but we do know that Moses understood that he was a Hebrew ? a foreigner in an Egyptian world.

In Exodus 2:11, we find Moses witnessing an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of Moses' people. Moses, filled with anger, killed the Egyptian and hid his body in the sand. The next day, he discovered he had been found out and fled. Moses ended up in Midian, where he married a Midianite woman named Zipporah and tended her father's flock. One day, as Moses is tending the flock, he leads them to a far side of the desert and comes to Mt. Horeb. It is there that God appears to him in the form of a burning bush.

Let's read these passages of Scripture together.

Exodus 3:7-10 (NLT)

7 Then the Lord told him,"I have certainly seen the oppression of my people in Egypt. I have heard their cries of distress because of their harsh slave drivers.Yes, I am aware of their suffering. 8 So I have come down to rescue them from the power of the Egyptians and lead them out of Egypt into their own fertile and spacious land. It is a land flowing with milk and honey--the land where the Canaanites,

Hittites,Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites now live. 9 Look! The cry of the people of Israel has reached me, and I have seen how harshly the Egyptians abuse them. 10 Now go, for I am sending you to Pharaoh.You must lead my people Israel out of Egypt."

Exodus 4:1-5 (NLT)

1But Moses protested again, "What if they won't believe me or listen to me? What if they say, `The Lord never appeared to you'?"

2 Then the Lord asked him, "What is that in your hand?" "A shepherd's staff," Moses replied.

3 "Throw it down on the ground," the Lord told him. So Moses threw down the staff, and it turned into a snake! Moses jumped back.

4 Then the Lord told him,"Reach out and grab its tail." So Moses reached out and grabbed it, and it turned back into a shepherd's staff in his hand.

5 "Perform this sign," the Lord told him. "Then they will believe that the Lord, the God of their ancestors--the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob--really has appeared to you."

Unpacking the Scripture

God is calling Moses into His "ministry." His "ministry" is for Moses to go before the King of Egypt and demand that the king free all of the Israelite slaves. Keep in mind that Egypt is in the middle of a massive construction effort and the slaves are their "laborers." Without the slaves, the Egyptians themselves would be forced to do the back-breaking labor themselves.

Moses knows that the Pharaoh is not going to listen to him because of Moses' past and present history with the Egyptians. Remember, Moses grew up in the Pharaoh's house, knew the family as his own, and had a major conflict with his step-brother who is now sitting on the throne! Moses had been expelled from the kingdom for killing an Egyptian. He was disgraced and had fled to the desert. He was a shepherd, married, had children and adapted to the ways of the desert. He was what we would call "comfortable with his life."

God is calling Moses to leave his comfort and enter into a very dangerous "ministerial" situation. Moses makes excuses as to why God should pick someone else. God asks Moses to speak to the Israelite elders and to Pharaoh and Moses says, "Who me? They won't listen to me!"

God essentially cuts to the heart of the matter and asks,"What is that in your hand?" The Egyptians were very much into "snake magic." God understood the situation completely. He told Moses what to do with what God already knew to be in his hand. God says, "Throw your rod on the ground." Moses obeyed. The rod became a snake! God tells Moses how to turn the snake back into the rod.Then God tells Moses,"They will believe you, I will tell you what to say, you will get their attention, and by the way, I am going with you."

Questions to Discuss:

1.What gifts did Moses possess that would make God "call" Moses into this ministry?

2. How did God know of these gifts? 3. Did God have Moses in mind as the "deliverer"

when Moses was miraculously rescued from the river in the basket? 4. Why did Moses not desire to answer God's call? 5. What is the most common excuse used for not answering God's call?

Application

[Note to Teacher: This week is a great week to focus on spiritual gifts and how God equips each of us uniquely to serve Him. If your class or group hasn't studied spiritual gifts in depth, you may want to spend some time on this. See Romans 12:6-8, 1 Corinthians 12:8-10 & 28-30, and Ephesians 4:11. You can also print out spiritual gifts tests online at or encourage the members of your class or group to take them at home this week.]

God calls us all into His service. He knows our special gifts to be employed in His service.The number one gift is the seed of faith God has planted within every soul. For that reason, the best work is often performed by people who do not think they are fitted for it.The person with all of the advantages and gifts and assurances often fails because they are too sure of themselves, thus, they seldom seek God's help, guidance and vision. Oftentimes, God chooses someone who might be the least likely candidate in the eyes of the world, but is the most willing and available in the eyes of God.

So often we make excuses, though. We are unwilling to leave our comfort zones.The humble person, with the help of God, can always do more because he is solely trusting in God to guide and direct him.

Questions to Discuss:

1. What is God's call on your life? 2. Does it frighten or empower you to know that God has called

you? 3. Does God ever call someone without "equipping" them? 4. What would be different if everyone said "yes" to His call???

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