Moses, Pt. 2

Moses is described as the most humble man on the earth in Number 12:3. I wonder what he was like before his desert experience. Forty years of lowly shepherding when coming from a position of royalty can have that effect. Even his initial rejection of God’s call for him to lead the Israelites is steeped in humility, but not the good kind. It is the prideful humility that says “I am nobody and don’t dare call me out to be somebody. I’m not good enough.” It is a prideful humility because it is focused on self, and not on others and certainly not on God. Who are you to be so bold as to tell God that you can’t do something that He says you can. God still tells Moses to obey, and he does. As you read, it is amazing how quickly Aaron drops out of the picture as the spokesperson and Moses is speaking for himself. Apparently, Moses had more ability than he thought. Truly, God had more ability with Moses than Moses thought He could.

It has been said that anything worth doing is not going to be easy to do. Any change is going to upset the status quo, even when the change is something great. Moses experienced the loneliness of leadership. He is commissioned by God, he is faithful to his call, and then he is abandoned by his people. They all want freedom, but they are not willing to pay a price for it. Pharaoh and the Israelites have the typical relationship between the oppressor and the oppressed. Moses is abandoned by both, and urged not to pursue freedom, because it is just too hard.

In Exodus 5, Moses and Aaron call for a time of festival in the desert. Pharaoh, not wanting to give up power, makes the burden on the people harsh. They now not only have to make their own brick, they have to gather their own straw, the same production in the same time with twice the amount of work. Pharaoh resorts to a power play. If the work is harder, everyone will be quiet. He calls all the Israelites “lazy!” It works. The people are distressed and they complain to Moses to just stop. Their attitude is “1at least it was better when he wasn’t around to get the Pharaoh angry.” The very people that are crying out for freedom and now asking Moses to stop crying out for it. They have joined Pharaoh’s side. It is often what happens to the oppressor. The only way to overcome is to look at the big picture and know there will be growing pains.

By standing up to Pharaoh, Moses not only makes it harder on his people, but he is then rejected by his people, angry at what they now have to do. But there is simply no other way. Those in power will fight to stay in power. The best tool they have at their discretion is intimidation and name-calling. Any good change where people decide to fight for their freedom will have to endure. Any change that is good in an organization will have to endure this stage. Moses starts his ministry by being rejected by everyone, except the Lord. The Lord tells him to keep going.

Anytime someone stands up for those that cannot fend for themselves, they will receive criticism. They will have to endure name-calling. They will have to look ahead to what is right and what is good in order to deal with what is the difficulty of now. The change is painful and hard, but it is worth it, and it is the only way to freedom.