How not to be Discouraged (Exodus 6: 1-30)
People who serve the Lord get discouraged. Now you might think that’s a little unusual, imagine somebody like a pastor who’s been given the task of delivering the very word of God and yet they of all people seem to get discouraged whilst doing that. I understand that, sometimes you preach your heart out and you preach the gospel, and you pray that people might be saved, and nothing appears to happen.
They see people come in and out of this church, but they don’t trust Christ, it can get discouraging. Being discouraged in that way I suppose is understandable to some degree, but what can also be discouraging is that when you preach the scriptures to believers and they don’t respond, what I mean by that is they don’t hear because they don’t apply it. Some maybe sometimes pastor and preacher have an anticipation for numerical success, but it just doesn’t materialize, and again they can face criticism from some member of the church and get discouraged.
However, discouragement is not the sole property of pastors and ministers, Christian people can get discouraged just from the ordinary task of living the Christian life. So, what do we do when we’re discouraged, when you’re down, how can you get encouraged again, or how can you help to encourage somebody else when they are spiritually down in the dumps. Discouragement in general, is a very common thing, as a matter of fact, one of the major schools of psychology these days is headed up by a fellow named Adler and he thought that at a sort of grinding low level form of depression he deified as discouragement was one of the main problems in modern life. He said that people were discouraged, and they just needed to be encouraged. (He made it sound a bit more complicated than that , but that was his counselling principal it in a nutshell, in my estimation.
We’ve been going to the book of exodus for 7 days now and Moses of all people Moses, I think has got discouraged, but I think he probably had every right to get discouraged because the Lord said to him and I want you to go in I want you to tell the children of Israel I’m going to deliver them and then I want you to go over and see pharaoh and I want you to tell him to “Let my people go, and I will deliver them”, and that has not happened yet. Moses had all kinds of reservations and objections to that assignment, but the Lord dealt with all of those, but he went before Pharoah, instead of granting his request, Pharoah, in fact, instead of making things better for the children, he made things worse for the people. Pharoah increased their workload saying these people have too much time on their hands and they’re having all kinds of daydreams about leaving, so he issued orders to work them harder and harder. So, I’m going to suggest that at this point Moses was discouraged. In fact, at the close of the last chapter Moses said to God, “Ever since I came to pharaoh to speak in your name he has done evil to his people, and he has not delivered your people at all”.
This is Moses talking to the Lord and he says, I did what you told me to do, I went to pharaoh, and I spoke in your name and nothing, but trouble has happened ever since. You said you were going to deliver the people and you haven’t done that, I was anticipating this success and look what I got for my efforts, nothing, I have just made matters worse. I think it is not too much of a stretch to say he was discouraged. So, chapter 6 is a response to all of what has gone on up to this point and I think what we see could be called the Lord’s formula for encouragement. He’s going to encourage Moses and remind what exactly he is going to do. So, let’s pick up the story at verse one of chapter six.
1 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Now you shall see what I will do to Pharaoh. For with a strong hand, he will let them go, and with a strong hand he will drive them out of his land.” 2 And God spoke to Moses and said to him: “I am the Lord. 3 I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, as God Almighty, but by My name Lord I was not known to them. 4 I have also established My covenant with them, to give them the land of Canaan, the land of their pilgrimage, in which they were strangers. 5 And I have also heard the groaning of the children of Israel whom the Egyptians keep in bondage, and I have remembered My covenant.
(Exodus 6: 1-5)
In these opening verses the Lord is speaking Moses, and in the rest of the chapter he will speaks to/about the Israelites leadership and also to pharaoh. We’ll get to those in a minute, but I want us to concentrate for a second on what he says to Moses.
In verse one he simply reviews what he has already said to Moses, reminding him that he is going to deliver the children of Israel out of Egypt. Moses no doubt thought pharaoh was a pretty powerful man, I mean he’s probably the most powerful man on the earth at that point but notice the Lord says, “He will let you go, but with a strong hand I will drive them out.So, the Lord is saying Moses, I want to remind you I said I was gonna do this and I have the power to do it. Moses knew all of this already, at heart, so this this is nothing new he simply reminding Moses about what he already should have known. He also reminds Moses, that you know me by my personal name, reminding him he is the God of his and the nations ancestors. The mighty God who revealed himself to Abraham Isaac and Jacob is saying to Moses let me just remind you I revealed myself to you by giving you my personal name, back in chapter 3 at the burning Bush. He also reminds him of the covenant with the children of Israel, a promise to give them the land of Canaan and how he had also heard their crying out to him in slavery and it was because of that cry he remembered his promise to them. It’s not just that I have the power to do this, I am the promise keeping God who will do this for you. I just want to remind you I have the power to do it I made a covenant and put my name on the dotted line I’m telling you I’m the covenant keeping God and I will do, what I promised to do.
Moses is discouraged, and the Lord comes and reminds him what he is capable of doing. Here’s the point, when the Lord spoke to Moses, he reminded him of who he was, and reminded him of what he has promised to do. You see when we get discouraged, what we tend to do is look at circumstances. But when God wants to encourage somebody especially into keep doing his will, what he does is he reminds them of who he is. Maybe if we looked at the Lord more than at ourselves, we would not become discouraged as we often do. Put this in the context of the book of Exodus so far and we see that God previously said he was going to deliver his people and Moses went and said let my people go, yet it hadn’t happened yet. The story continues.
6 “Therefore, say to the Israelites: ‘I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians. I will free you from being slaves to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with mighty acts [plural] of judgment. 7 I will take you as my own people, and I will be your God. Then you will know that I am the Lord your God, who brought you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians. 8 And I will bring you to the land I swore with uplifted hand to give to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob. I will give it to you as a possession. I am the Lord.’” 9 Moses reported this to the Israelites, but they did not listen to him because of their discouragement and harsh labour. 10 Then the Lord said to Moses, 11 “Go, tell Pharaoh king of Egypt to let the Israelites go out of his country.” 12 But Moses said to the Lord, “If the Israelites will not listen to me, why would Pharaoh listen to me, since I speak with faltering lips?”
(Exodus 6: 6-9)
Again, God says to Moses go back and tell him the people and tell Pharoah again, but this time also tell him about the plagues to come if he doesn’t obey me. Did you notice that God never seems to move instantly or impulsively, he just says, I’ve heard, I hear, and I see.
I know you’re going through hard times, he says, you’re my children and I’m concerned about you, but just wait upon me and try and think about me and what I have promised and the power that I have rather than focusing on the problem. I want you to think about my power, my promise, and my compassion. Think about me instead of you. Nearly every person I have ever talked to who is discouraged all they talked about is themselves and that’s what’s going on. What’s is really interesting to me is the Lord now gives the people reassurance like with Moses he reviewed and reminded him and now with the children of Israel he does the same thing he also gives them reassurance.
Please note in this one passage the personal pronoun of God “I will”, is used 25 times. “I’m going to rescue you, I will bring you out from under the bondage, I will rescue you, I will take you as my people, I will be your God, etc, etc. “I will bring you to the land which I swore to give to Abraham Isaac and Jacob, and I will give it to you as a heritage, so I will rescue you. The use of the personal name of God I will/ I am means that he is saying I’m going to have a relationship with you and the people, and I am going to set you free. So, just think about that, I know you’re discouraged at the moment but just remember what I said I would do. Moses and the people couldn’t see past their situation of anguish, they were being mistreated there’s no question about that. They were being overworked, they were exhausted, all that is true , but they couldn’t get past their circumstances and what the Lord does he speaks, and he reorients there posture of heart back to him and his promises.
This is the next phase of the story; we’re going to have the Lord tell Moses what to go tell pharaoh and as you as I read this message just keep in mind that Moses is still discouraged, and all God is going to do is remind him of what he said before.
10 Then the Lord said to Moses, 11 “Go, tell Pharaoh king of Egypt to let the Israelites go out of his country.” 12 But Moses said to the Lord, “If the Israelites will not listen to me, why would Pharaoh listen to me, since I speak with faltering lips?” 13 Now the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron about the Israelites and Pharaoh king of Egypt, and he commanded them to bring the Israelites out of Egypt.
(Exodus 6: 10-13)
Again, God says to Moses, I want you to go back to pharaoh and tell him to let my people go, which is nothing more than a repetition of what’s going on before and Moses gives the same objection in essence that he's used before, and he's saying the problem is my inability to express myself clearly and powerfully. If you’ve been with me as we’ve been going through the book of exodus you know I pointed out that Moses has complained over and over and over again, as a matter of fact one Bible scholar sat down and laid out all the objections Moses gave and he wrote that there are seven distinct objections raised by Moses as reasons why he could not undertake the task for which he was called. They are.
1. Lack of fitness. Who am I that I should go (Ex 3: 11)
2. Lack of words. (Ex 3: 13)
3. Lack of authority. They will not believe me. (Ex 4: 1)
4. Lack of power of speech. I am not eloquent. (Ex 4: 10)
5. Lack of adaptability. (Ex 4: 13)
6. Lack of success. (Ex 5: 23)
7. Lack of acceptance. The children of Israel have not hearkened into me. (Ex 6:12)
All of this clack of abilities flaws are about him, so Moses is really saying it all about me, me, me. Lord I’m not fit, Lord I don’t have the authority, I don’t have the power I’m, not eloquent, Lord I tried, and it didn’t work. Even your own people won’t accept what I say. But the Lord simply reminds him of what he’s already told him he would do, as recorded in his word all the way back to Abraham and he reassures them he’s gonna do what’s he says he would do and he repeats that to Moses over and over again, and he will do that until he gets it.
I had somebody to tell me they read the gospel of John and didn’t like it because it said the same thing over and over again. Let me tell you, he was dead right. The point of that book, and it even says so itself, “So that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ the son of God by believing you might have life through his name”. That’s the whole point of that particular book, John’s Gospel, is that you believe, and the word believe appears 100 times, that the sole purpose of the gospel of John. The pattern has always been and remains, God repeats himself over and over again to get his point across. I mean he really does, just read the historical section of the Old Testament and what he is saying through those stories is, trust me, trust me, and oh, by the way did I tell you, trust me. But the people didn’t get it, they ended up in exile in Babylon because they didn’t get it. Here is what the Lord does when we get discouraged he says open his word he’s will remind you, he’s going to reassure you, and he’s gonna repeat the fact that you need to trust in him and believe, and live out your life like you believe and it will come to pass, it is as simply that.
The rest of this chapter is really kind of interesting it goes from verse 14 all the way down through verse 30, and if you look at this it’s just a long list of names. I’m not going to read the whole passage now, but there are, verse 14, these are the sons of Reuben. Verse 15 these are the sons of Simeon. Verse 16 these are the sons of Levi, and then he goes into a lot of detail from verse 16 all the way down through verse 25 naming the future sons of Levi. This is a limited, some might say, selective genealogy and it is selective in that he mentions three of the selective genealogy of Moses and Aaron and accredits these men as God’s divinely appointed messengers to the Israelites. But the record is limited to Reuben, Simeon and Levi, the first three sons born to Jacob and only traces the line to Moses and Aaron. Reuben and Simeon are quickly passed over in order to come to the priestly tribe love Levi, so we can wade through all of these names but the real point is he starts with the three sons of Jacob and he gets to Levi and he moves through them so that he can get down to verse 26, and we find the same Aaron and Moses to whom the Lord here is calling to bring out the children of Israel from the land of Egypt. In other words, the list of names are given to simply to reaffirm that Moses and Aaron are the chosen spokesman for God before pharaoh and the genealogy is inserted in order to identify the lineage of Moses and Aaron to the position as the ones newly appointed leaders of the nation the ones God will use to bring about to this present task of delivering the children of Israel into freedom. The whole point is given in verses 26-28, which says.
“These are the same Aaron and Moses to whom the Lord said, “Bring out the children of Israel from the land of Egypt according to their armies.” These are the ones who spoke to Pharaoh king of Egypt, to bring out the children of Israel from Egypt. These are the same Moses and Aaron. And it came to pass, on the day the Lord spoke to Moses in the land of Egypt, that the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “I am the Lord. Speak to Pharaoh king of Egypt all that I say to you.”
(Exodus 6: 26-29)
So, God reaffirmed that Aaron and Moses are his chosen messengers.
What do we get out of this, did you learn anything today? Have you learnt something that you could apply to yourself when you get discouraged. Well, how about this, go to the bible and just read what the Lord said he would do, and just remember he doesn’t often do it in a haste because he may want to teach you something in the process. But he will still do what he said he would do it. Sometimes he will teach us through trials, as long as we respond to them properly. Often say to people what are you learning from what you’re going through. because a trial is meant to teach you something. And if you’ve learned something, make a mental note of it, or better still, write it down.
I want to close by making two applications of all this.
Number 1. Moses is the focus in this chapter was on himself. I can’t do this, and I can’t do that. So, I think I would say when you are discouraged in the service of the Lord, don’t look at yourself simply remind yourself of what God has said he will do. Sometimes believers don’t believe and what’s even worse is sometimes the leaders doesn’t believe. Moses didn’t believe the Lord, even though the Lord personally told him what he was going to do, and the chapter ends with Moses effectively still saying, woe is me.
But Moses said before the Lord, “Behold, I am of uncircumcised lips, and how shall Pharaoh heed me?”
(Exodus 6: 30)
He is still discouraged. I think everybody gets discouraged in life at some point. Life can just not go the way you expect, and you get overwhelmed and stressed, or even, out and out anxious, and what you need to do is what I think is going on in this passage. Take a prayer breath, review what God has said, repeatedly, just need to go back and review what the Lord said in his word about protecting and providing for his children and remember that. But we don’t need to finish with Moses down in the dumps. I want to close by having you turn to another passage of script I want you to turn to Isaiah chapter 43 and look at God’s promises. This says what God has promised to do as wonderfully as any passage you might find in the bible. Not just repeated here to remind subsequent generations of Israel of what God has done for them, but also to remind us of what he will do for you today.
“But now, thus says the Lord, who created you, O Jacob,
And He who formed you, O Israel: “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by your name; [Is that encouraging or what]
You are Mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you;
And through the rivers, they shall not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned, Nor shall the flame scorch you. For I am the Lord your God, The Holy One of Israel, your Saviour”.
(Isaiah 43: 1-3a)
What had happened here is the children of Israel have been hauled off to Babylon because of their disobedience and the Lord comes and says, in spite of that don’t worry I’m gonna bring you back, which is the point of this whole chapter 43 in Isaiah. I’m gonna bring you back to the land, why, because I created you, I formed you, I redeemed you, and I called you mine. When you pass through the water, I will be with you and through the rivers they shall not overflow you when you walk through the fire you shall not be burned. God here reminds us about his relationship with us, his promises to us, his will for us, and then in verse two he gets down when a rubber meets the road. When you are going through all kinds of things, things he likens to fire and flood, the Lord tells Israel and us today, that when they pass through the water, he will be with them and that the torrent will not swallow us up and when we walk through the fire we will not be burned, in fact the flames will not even scorch us.
Water and fire are symbols of testing, and this reminds us that God has promised to protect them being overwhelmed when we undergo any type of trial. He had done this in the past, and he will do it in the future, because he will be with us, because we are his people. One author commenting on these verses said this, “In tones of tender love the Lord assures his people that they need not fear because he created formed and will redeem us. So, when you get discouraged, think on Him, above everything else. I belong to the Lord, and he has promised to be with me, through the fire and through the flood. But notice he didn’t promise to keep you from the fire, he promised to be with you through the fire, and because of that we can know that in the end all will be well and his will, will be done.