"Talking Back to God" with Pastor Kandace Zollman - June 20, 2026

One of the key attributes of any relationship is a respectful, open, and honest dialogue. It's no different when we talk with God. This week, Pastor Kandace Zollman examines the life of Moses, someone who had very direct and sometimes confrontational conversations with God on a variety of topics. As we think about our posture before God and how we address Him, we'll have an opportunity to ask ourselves whether talking back is disrespectful or part of a healthy relationship. 

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

He wasn't born with a silver spoon in his mouth. The first years of his life were spent in poverty and slavery. But did people know that he was a prince? That he had been adopted by the princess and he was only alive because of her protection? Did the other kids know? And if they did, did they treat him like he was special because of it? Or did they treat him with disdain because of it? His mother worked so hard every day to connect her son with this God who was invisible yet all-powerful. The biological mother prayed and studied and did everything she could to connect this boy to God against a backdrop of opulence, self-degradation, a world very different than the world the mother wanted her boy to know. What would it have been like to be that child being raised in kind of a moral dilemma, trying to always figure out the conflict between what mom is saying and what's going on around me? Could the little boy really hear the voice of God? When one day the stunning princess arrived, looking more like a goddess than a princess, to take her son to the palace, what did the young man think as his eyes darted from his peasant mother to his princess mother? As he looked back on the austere life he had spent in slavery and looked forward to enjoying the pleasures of sin for a season, if he so chose to. For a moment, he stood between two worlds. He was twelve years old. He was just a kid. His name was Moses. Now, all of you know stories about Moses from the time that you were this high. Moses in the basket boat. Moses going in front of Pharaoh and boldly talking to him, unintimidated, talking back to him and telling him the words of God. Moses with his staff raised above his head, parting the waters of the Red Sea. Moses going up to Sinai and coming down with stones engraved by the finger of God.

unknown 3:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 3:41

That's Moses. He's the man. But do we forget that Moses was really a man, a human, just like you and me. And the struggle to understand God for him was real, just as it is for all of us. Moses went from a refugee slave condemned to drowning to the prince of Egypt. He then became a military leader who kind of got a little bit of a messiah complex. And from there, he ends up in exile. There, he becomes a shepherd and spends all his time in the wilderness with sheep. And then finally, he becomes a spokesman for the God of the universe. As a young, arrogant man, he thought he could hear God's voice and he became a murderer. After 40 years in the wilderness by himself, he had lost all that confidence. So that when God came to him, he didn't want to hear what God had to say. And when God told him to go see Pharaoh, he told him that he couldn't do that. When God tells the people that they need to go out and worship, and Pharaoh gets mad and tells them that no, you guys have too much time on your hands. From now on, you have to get the own straw to make the bricks. Moses didn't boldly stand up and say, Children, God will provide all your needs. No! He went back whining to God and said, Where are you and why aren't you providing and what is going on? You see, Moses, he was a man, a human, just like us. But you know what? God knew that, and he still called him. He still called him. I think we have a lot to learn from the human side of Moses. You know, most of us here today aren't ever gonna part any red seas. We're not gonna talk before the greatest dignitaries of the world. But all of us here today have struggles. Struggles where we don't understand why God does what he does or why he doesn't do what he doesn't do. And we're frequently confused with what is it he wants me to do? Moses' story is long and convoluted, but today we're just going to go through it very briefly and look at a couple stopping points where Moses had the nerve to stand up and talk back to God. Will you pray with me? My Lord, how you loved that man Moses and how you love each of us here. We're not always very good listeners. And sometimes we're afraid to talk to you. Please send your spirit and impress on our hearts who you are. And I pray that we will hear your voice today. I pray in the name of Jesus.

unknown 7:38

Amen.

SPEAKER_00 7:42

Though we do know a lot about Moses, there are definite periods in his life where things, his autobiography gets a little quiet. His first 40 years, we know he is spent as the prince, right? And then we know the next 40 years he spends as the shepherd, isolated in the cruel wilderness. Several years ago, I had the privilege of traveling to Egypt and actually going and seeing the treasures of Tutankhamun, who was also a young man, a young prince. If you've ever seen them, the grandeur of it is almost more than can be believed. But after we left Egypt, we traveled to the wilderness. The stark, barren, hot, rocky nothingness. And it really brought home to me in real time what a culture shock Moses went through from one world to the next, rather rapidly. Now, it's the last 40 years of Moses' life when he was out shepherding people, which did prove a lot more difficult than shepherding sheep. Those are the stories that we have with the most fullness. The last third of his life began at a burning bush. You know the story. He's out minding his own business and minding his own sheep, and all of a sudden he sees a bush burning, but the bush is not burning up, and he goes over to check it out. Weird stuff. But the story gets weirder because God speaks to him and God starts saying to him that he wants him to go back and rescue his people in Egypt. Now, Moses was all about rescuing those people in Egypt when he was a military man back in Memphis. But since then he's lost all confidence and he is not into it. When God says go, Moses says no. You know, we read the story, it's familiar in the scripture reading. But I want you to remember this is Moses' first real encounter with God. And he is 80 years old. Many of you are way under 80 years old in this group. Can you imagine being 80 years old and then all of a sudden God speaks to you? And this is what Moses responds to God when he asks him to go. He says, Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the children of Israel out of Egypt? Oh my Lord, please, you send somebody else. Let me ask you, has God ever asked you to do something you didn't want to do? Something you felt unqualified for, an opportunity to serve him, and you backed off and refused to go. When God first speaks to Moses at the burning beach bush, Moses says, Here I am. But by the time he hears what God wants him to do, he kind of says, just kidding. You know, I know we have been in similar situations. You would never tell God no when he asks you to do something. Would you? Let's fast forward. Moses does consent to go to Egypt, but he does make his brother do the talking at first. Then he kind of warms up to the job, and he's not afraid of talking to Pharaoh, getting in his face, you know, kind of talking back to him. Pharaoh doesn't listen. God sends the plagues, the people are freed. God gets them all through the Red Sea out into the wilderness. And where the children begin whining. I'm hungry. Are we almost there? How much longer? The whining begins. And then Moses goes up on Sinai in 40 days. He's talking to God. And while he's gone, the children of Israel think they don't know if they can trust this invisible God. So maybe let's go back to one of those golden gods and they make their own. You know the story. I don't know who was more upset: God or Moses. The people have committed blasphemy and treason. And God said he is going to act on justice, not mercy. He's going to destroy the children of Israel and make the nation the children of Moses. Kind of has a nice ring to it. You'd think Moses would think that, right? But no, Moses talks back to God again. And he's kind of living a little precariously, but he tells God, cool down a minute. And then he says in Exodus 32, Remember Abraham, Isaac, Israel, your servants, to whom you swore by your own self and said to them, I will multiply your offsprings like the stars of heaven, and all this land that I've promised I will give to your offspring, and they will inherit it forever. Let me ask you, have you ever seen God on the edge of justice and begged Him for an act of grace? Moses intercedes for a bunch of undeserving people. And we may wonder why. But have any of you ever interceded for your undeserving children who have walked away from God? Or have you ever needed that grace yourself, not because you deserved it and you pled for mercy? Have you ever talked back to God and dared to ask God to go against his own law with mercy for yourself or someone you've loved? God does listen to Moses. But then God tells Moses that these people are such a mess that he still wants them to go to Canaan, but he's not going with them. God asks Moses to set up a special tent where they can go to talk. And God comes into the tent in the form of a cloud, but it is so intimate, it is so close and so special that Moses describes it as meeting face to face as a man speaks to his friend. And there the two of them talk things through. Because of their friendship, Moses can be pretty direct. And though he really isn't back talking, he certainly doesn't mince any words. In Exodus 33, he says, If your presence will not go with me, do not bring us up from here. For how shall it be known that I have found favor in your sight, I and your people? Is it not in your going with us so that we are distinct, I and your people, from every other people on the face of the earth? Moses has learned. And God says that he will do what Moses asks because Moses is special to him. And he knows him by name. Are the two of you on a first name basis? Moses actually goes one step further and he asks God to show Moses his glory. And though God cannot allow his friend to see him face to face for real, he says, I'll let you watch while I pass by. Moses cannot keep them happy. They are sick and tired of eating manna. And they are just so hungry for a piece of meat. The craving is intense, and the Bible says the people went between each other's tents weeping for just a bite of a fish from the Nile. Moses kind of loses it. He says to the Lord, Why have you dealt ill with your servant? And why have I not found favor in your sight? That you lay the burden of all these people on me? Did I conceive all these people? Did I give them birth that you should say to me, carry them in your bosom as a nurse carries a nursing child to the land that you swore to give their fathers? Where am I to get meat to give all these people? I am not able to carry all these people alone. The burden is too heavy for me. If you will treat me like this, kill me at once, if I find favor in your sight, that I may not see my wretchedness. Wow. That's pretty intense. Have you ever been so frustrated and exasperated and angry at God or at the demands that other people were putting on you? Has your burden ever gotten so heavy that you wanted to die? Have you ever told God I'm done? I'm done. And have you ever had to let God come up with a solution? Because you had nothing. We know that the struggle continues for Moses until they finally reach the promised land. And can you imagine the deep sigh of relief when they finally get there? That Moses escapes from his body. Hallelujah. He had to be so grateful to get there. But then we go back to another story that you all know that you learned when you were a kid about the 12 spies that were sent to Canaan, right? 10 were bad, two were good. They go into Canaan, they come back, and the one thing they talk about are giants. They say that the land is beautiful, it's fabulous, you will love to live there. But we can never survive. We can never fight the giants. Two of the spies come and say, no, no, God can get us through this. He is with us. And the rest of the congregation picks up stones to kill them. God himself has to calm in and calm them down. But he is deeply hurt. And again, he starts talking about disinheriting the children of Israel and making a great nation of Moses. Honestly, you would think this time Moses would say, Good call, God. We're done. But he doesn't. Moses has learned to love those children, and he stands up to God again. In Numbers 14, it is written, The Lord Moses said to the Lord, But then the Egyptians will hear of it, for you brought up this people in your might from among them, and they will tell the inhabitants of this land, They have heard that you, O Lord, are in the midst of this people. Now, if you kill this people as one man, then the nations who have heard of your fame will say, Ah, it's because the Lord was not able to bring this people into the land that he swore to give them, that he has just killed them in the wilderness. Have you ever gotten defensive for God's reputation? Have you seen him misrepresented and were offended for how people were representing him or what they were saying about him? Have you ever? Been a close enough friend to God that it really mattered, what people said. Have you ever begged God to stand up for himself? And have you found the courage to publicly defend who he is, continuing to state that he was a good God and he was still in control? We talk a lot about how the children of Israel must have been very frustrated as they had to turn around and go back into the wilderness. But have you ever thought about how hard it was for Moses? I mean, I'm kind of surprised he didn't have a mental breakdown. This had been a lot. It had been a stretch for him to endure the months of travel from the time he went to Egypt to the time they arrived in Canaan. And now God is talking about 40 years with these whiny children. Some of you don't even like road trips because your kids get so whiny, and so you don't make road tips because it's too much. Imagine Moses with a million whiny children traveling with them for 40 years. I mean, this is a lot. As you know, when Moses puts the people in reverse, there's a big rebellion, there's a challenge of authority, and then a new crisis. They run out of water. If you've ever been in the wilderness, you can see what a terrible crisis this really is. But God had handled that crisis before. Do you remember? Moses take your staff, hit the rock, it's all good. And God's gonna handle this one too. But he says to Moses, I want you to just speak to the rock. Well, you know, Moses had had has had to do a lot of speaking. First he was reluctant, then he got into it. And I think he's feeling like he is spoken out, and it's time for some action. The Bible describes what happens like this. Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly together before the rock, and he said to them, Hear now, you rebels, shall we bring water for you out of this rock? And Moses lifted up his hand, and he struck the rock with his staff twice, and water came out abundantly, and the congregation drank and their livestock. And then the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, Because you did not believe in me, to uphold me as holy in the eyes of the people of Israel, therefore you shall not bring the assembly into the land that I have given you. You see, Moses kind of took matters into his own hands. Not only does he hit the rock with his staff twice, but he takes part of the credit for making it happen. Can Moses make water come out of a rock? Seriously? What happened to his friendship with God and his dependence on God? Has he had a little bit of a relapse into that Messiah complex he suffered back in Egypt? But I think what's most painful is you can hear the pain in the voice of God. You did not believe in me, Moses? My friend, the one that we've talked face to face. I'm used to the whiny children. We've parented them together. But you didn't honor me, friend. You acted like you were the one in charge. And Moses didn't talk back. There really wasn't anything for him to say. So by the time those 40 years in the wilderness were over, and it was time to move to Canaan, Moses didn't go. He caught a view of the land from the top of Mount Nebo, but he died there. And God buried him in some unknown valley in Moab. But that's not the end of the story, right? We know in the book of Jude, the archangel Michael and the devil argue over the body of Moses. And we know who wins. Because several weeks before Jesus himself is going to go on a journey to the cross, God sends Elijah and our man Moses down to talk with Jesus and prepare him for the road that is ahead of him. Moses may not have made it to the Promised Land, but Moses, a very human, faulty, forgiven Moses, made it home. The end. What a great way to end the story. What better way could there be? You know, relationships are a lot of work. Those of you who are married here today, you know that there is no Cinderella magic in making your marriage a healthy one. Parents and kids, you don't always see eye to eye, no matter how much you love each other. And even the friendships that we choose ourselves sometimes go bad. They fizzle, or sometimes they just end in conflict. Why do we think that our relationship with God should be easier? Yes, He is perfect, and He understands us perfectly. But then there is the human element. And just like Moses, you and I are very, very human. But just like frank and honest conversation is the foundation of any healthy human relationship, so it is with our relationship with God. He already knows what you're thinking, he already knows what you're feeling. So in order to create a relationship built on trust, we have to be completely honest with him, which means we have to be completely honest with ourselves, which is sometimes a little harder. No, we are not to talk back to God in some disrespectful way, but we need to talk forward to God, forward to a solution, forward to forgiveness, forward into clarity, forward into a relationship where we love Him as much as He loves us. God is all in with every one of you. He is all in. But you have to put the same amount of effort if you're gonna have this relationship be a strong and healthy one. You know, when Moses saw that fire burning in the bush, he had no clue what was ahead of him, and it's probably a good thing. God literally called him by name because he had a very special plan for his life, in spite of his weaknesses, and it led him to an honest, meaningful relationship with God. The relationship wasn't always easy, and it didn't improve on a nice, smooth, linear plane. There were good times and there were bad times, clear to the end. But on the journey, Moses learned to dearly love the one true God. And God truly loved that human Moses deeply and wanted to get him home. And you know, Moses is one of the very few people we know for sure has made it. Over time, Moses also learned to truly care about those he was traveling with. And maybe he understood that sometimes he was just as whiny and undeserving as they were. The love he learned in those talks with God changed his life. And it showed in the way he cared about other people. You and I are called. Did you hear? Every one of us. We are also called by name to do the same. We are all just as imperfect as Moses. But each of us is called to honest talk with God that will lead not just ourselves, but the people around us to know him so that we can all journey home together. Today, each of you are on different places on the journey. Some of you may be at the burning bush, and some of you might be saying, No way. Some of you may be spending your time pleading with God for your imperfect, rebellious, whiny children. Just like Moses did. Some of you today might be at the end and saying, I'm done. I'm done. And are secretly wishing to be dead. The struggle is real for every one of us here today. The road that we travel is not really very different from the road Moses traveled. And it's not very different from the road that each of us sitting here are traveling today. We're just on different places on the same road, home. Today the one thing I want you to remember is this. Every one of you are called by name. And the one who calls you loves you more than you can imagine. He is eager to hear what you've got to say. And he really will listen. He wants you to be real with him, no games. And I know there is something that he has to say to each of you here today. If anyone here is struggling today and would like to have someone come alongside them on the journey, because sometimes you just need someone to lean on. If that would be helpful to you, I invite you to come during our closing song and sit here in the front somewhere after the postlude. I've invited some elders to join me so that we can come and pray individually with you, to walk by your side, to pray to the God who hears and knows and understands. Because all of us today, we are fellow travelers on the same road, and our God wants that road to lead each of us home just like it did for Moses.