Moses

Hey, welcome back to the Pastor Talk podcast as we start a new series of podcasts today.
We’re calling it Real People of the Faith and the idea is over the next several weeks,
we will be highlighting a biblical character,
we’ll talk about their background,
we’ll talk about their story,
we’ll cover some of the things they got right,
some of the things
they got wrong and their place in the overall biblical narrative as well as what we think
we learned from them and today we start with Moses.
Yeah, we start with Moses and really our entire list of people Clint has been chosen not because
they’re more significant or less significant.
We looked at the cast of biblical characters for a number of things like how much background
do we have on them,
how much,
we don’t want to make just pure speculation but yet we want
to have enough content of their life that we can make some reasonable deductions and
I think Moses is a strong choice for this conversation,
the first conversation here
because Moses both historically and biblically occupies a very important place in our family of faith.
Moses is really an image of Jesus Christ in the Old Testament as what New Testament theologians
have pointed to Moses as sort of this image of the one who goes through the river is the
very same kind of images we even have the Apostle Paul making in the New Testament.
We have a lot recorded about Moses’s past and his family and the story of his leadership
with the people of Israel.
So Moses is our starting point in this long pantheon of Christian men and women and I’m
excited about it.
Yeah, and I think it probably needs said that a lot of this conversation of course
will be from the biblical material but there will be many moments where Michael and I reflect
on things that it doesn’t tell us in the scripture but points to.
What a character may have been feeling,
what the experience of their life may have been.
You know the Bible doesn’t really dwell on the emotional or what we might call the psychological
aspects of the characters very much because it is so focused on the faith story of these
men and women but they are for us jumping off points and it I think is helpful to nuance
the story by asking some of the questions about the kind of internal things that may
be going on.
So we’ll try to identify when we do that or when we’re doing that in the middle of that
so that it doesn’t get confused with biblical material.
I think the fear for some Michael would be that that weakens the character or minimizes
the faith story but I would argue it actually makes it more interesting.
I think we forget sometimes that these characters are humans that we read the stories of real
men and women in real moments where they had to choose fear or faith.
They had to choose personal safety or their task,
their role as a leader,
as a person of faith.
They had to stand up before authorities and face those who had power over them in the
name of God and yes that’s an act of faith but to me it only deepens those events and
those moments realizing that they’re not superheroes.
These are real people who end up being an extraordinary part of our story because of
what they’re able to do.
And I would just like to say as we start these conversations that our hope is that you don’t
need to have a whole lot of biblical understanding to engage in this conversation for that very reason.
These people are real people and as we try to come into their lives and to portray both
the good and the bad,
the best and the worst that you’re going to be able to find things
in this that you can relate to whether or not you have a long history of reading the Bible.
So if this goes really well you shouldn’t need to have any past biblical understanding
or certainly be a biblical scholar to really be able to engage with this material.
Yeah, so with that said let’s jump in here.
I think many people are kind of familiar with the general backstory of Moses.
Moses is born at a time that is dangerous.
It’s a time of oppression.
The Hebrew people, they’re not called Israelites yet.
The Hebrew people live under slavery.
They are controlled by the Pharaoh and the Egyptians.
They have been growing as a number,
a population, as a people and the Pharaoh and his officials
are concerned and so they do these horrible things and the result of that is an edict
that goes out to all the people of Egypt that if they encounter a male infant of the Hebrews
they’re to throw it in the river,
they’re to kill it,
to eradicate the males,
to kind of control the population and it’s into that moment that Moses is born.
His mother is a woman of some initiative and when she can no longer hide him she puts him
in a basket in the riverbed and the Pharaoh’s daughter she knows walks there often and so
she kind of engineers this plan to try and save her child’s life.
In fact the name Moses you may know means from the river or from the marsh and it works
and so after a brief time of Moses being back with his parents until he is weaned he then
moves into the Pharaoh’s palace and he grows up in the heart of Egyptian power,
strength and privilege which is a fascinating thing to think about for a Hebrew.
It is and you could not overemphasize the extreme polarities,
how different those experiences
of the world are,
right?
The Hebrew family whose babies are being eradicated,
who are being subjected,
who are as best as
we can tell being forced into forced labor,
who are restricted in their freedom of travel
and their rights and then you have on the other side this opulent lifestyle in which
you have everything that you could possibly want and more and here’s this guy who is occupying
both, one by genetic and the other by adoption and so you have what is really quite frankly in the
biblical text just a very short introduction.
I mean literally you really have a chapter and
a half here of setup to Moses’s character and yet this is the context in which he’s born
and he grows up and that is I think very much the backdrop upon which we see Moses living out his
story as it unfolds.
Yeah I think we encounter in Moses if we can allow ourselves to speculate,
right?
It would be really nice if the Bible filled in some of those gaps.
What is it like
for a Hebrew who knows he’s a Hebrew to grow up in a place of privilege and power?
To what extent is he included?
To what extent is he ostracized?
To what extent is he one or the other?
But I think what that does is set the stage to imagine Moses as a person who from the very outset
lives a life kind of between two worlds.
He’s not really either.
He’s not Hebrew.
He’s not out there making bricks.
He’s not doing forced labor.
He’s not a slave.
He’s not in danger.
On the other hand,
he’s not an Egyptian and whatever security and privilege the adoption may have gotten for him,
he’s not a son of the Pharaoh.
He’s not a grandson.
He’s in the mix but not in a way
where he’s one of them.
The biblical text is actually very clear about that.
It says here one day after Moses had grown up he went out to where his own people were and watched them
at their hard labor.
That it gives that impression right from the beginning.
He knows
this distinction.
He goes to be where his people are and this is the very beginning
of that first act,
this climactic beginning of Moses’s story where he sees an Egyptian beating
a Hebrew and the text says one of his own people,
one of Moses’s own people were being beaten
and so in response to this he kills the Egyptian and hides him in the sand and this sets off
Moses’s story.
Whatever background there was there,
that action is the commencement of a
completely new beginning of Moses’s story.
Which interestingly may have come about because of his position.
Had he grown up under the oppression of the Egyptians,
one can speculate that he would
not have had the courage to attack one of the Egyptians but having grown up over the soldiers in the place,
the palace that is above them,
perhaps it’s that very aspect of Moses’s experience
that turns his anger into action and you know it’s one of those moments Michael where the
the Bible doesn’t really give a moral opinion about what Moses does.
It just tells us the
story.
He attacks the Egyptian,
he kills him, he hides the body the next day or some short
period later he finds out that people know about it and again we see that he knows he’s not
safe.
He knows instinctively that if the Pharaoh finds out he’ll take my life.
So the fact that he’s the adopted son of the Pharaoh’s daughter,
Moses doesn’t understand as a protection for what he’s done and so he flees,
he runs off and I think probably in Moses’s mind
that’s where it was going to end.
He’s off to a third path,
he’s going to go out,
he’s going to be a shepherd,
he’s going to put both the Hebrews and the Egyptians behind him and just try to live
a life under the radar.
Yeah very much it gives this impression that he’s looking for a life
that’s his own, not the one that he was born into,
not the one that he inherited,
that he’s going to
go, he’s going to be a simple shepherd,
he’s going to make a family and a life and he’s going to drift
off of the pages of history and that’s not at all what God has in mind.
Yeah and it turns in the
story that you know the burning bush,
I suspect that many many times in his life Moses must have
thought if it wasn’t for that stupid bush I would have done just that.
But the day comes,
he sees the bush, he goes to the bush,
what he doesn’t expect and what he doesn’t know until he gets there
is it’s not the bush at all,
he has an encounter with God,
he has a moment where he stands before
the holy one, he falls before the holy one who calls him to what will be now from this moment
his life’s purpose to go set my people free.
Although I think it has to be said Michael that
initially Moses isn’t a big fan of the idea at all.
Yeah and that’s an important mark on Moses’s
character.
There are some people who when they go to the burning bush and they find out they’re
talking to God they launch into 15 questions and you know this is my God experience all right here
I am and of course that’s not Moses’s response at all.
If you’re being generous you would say that Moses is hesitant.
Maybe you could even go so far as to say that Moses is resistant.
You could say that he is actively pushing against God and saying I’m actually happy with the version of
the story that I’ve found myself in God.
I would prefer you not mess that up.
Yeah I think if you
read that text you find Moses gives excuse after excuse you know I can’t go back there.
I don’t speak very well.
They’re not going to believe me.
Moses has this ongoing list of reasons that he
can’t and shouldn’t be the one to go talk to the Pharaoh and God just undercuts each and every one
of them till finally God kind of says you know Moses this is the end of the conversation you’re
going and we get that we get that word Yahweh in the scripture and lots of people don’t know this
is where it comes from.
The moment where Moses asks well when I go tell them God sent me and
they ask who that is what am I going to say to them and God gives the answer often translated
in English I am who I am I will be tell them I am sent you.
What’s fascinating about that word
from a language standpoint is that in the Hebrew there there’s no tense it’s the word to be but
there’s no past present or future there’s no it’s not I am it’s not I was it’s not I will be it’s
simultaneously all of those so you could translate those I will be who I am I am who I was I will be
who I was I was what in other words I on one hand I just am Moses you on the other hand I don’t have
to tell you that I don’t I don’t have to give you you don’t get to define me I’m sending you to do a
thing because I am God and that’s all you need to know at this point I don’t need to give you the
explanation of anything and I think that’s a pivotal moment in the story
Moses realizes he’s out of excuses Moses realizes he’s got no chance of debating
this this being who is supreme and he reluctantly sets his face back towards Egypt
and a key linchpin at the end of this conversation is the moment in which
Moses running out of excuses tells God I’m not eloquent I’m not a good public speaker I’m not
the guy to go tell the people of Israel the stuff that you’re telling me because I can’t stumble
into it and this is now entering to the realm of speculation that this is not a thing that the
biblical text has said this is a thing that people have rumored about it but there has been
conversation what does Moses mean about I’m not eloquent I’m not going to be a good speaker
there’s some talk about that being physical yeah there’s conjecture that he may have had
some sort of speech difficulty that that it’s possible that he that some of the ideas have
been that he stuttered or that he had other kinds of problems speaking it could have been
that he was just extremely you know some people just the idea of any kind of public speaking is
terrifying to them Jerry Seinfeld used to do a joke about more people are afraid of public
speaking than death which means at a funeral you’d rather be the one in the casket than you
would the one at the microphone maybe that’s Moses but again I think that’s a moment when we can
focus on Moses and we can see some of the irony or we can see the bigger picture which is to focus
on God and say of course God picks a runaway Hebrew who killed an Egyptian and is under a death
sentence from the Pharaoh and by the way may not be able to get through three sentences to go back
and confront the same Pharaoh and tell them let my people go only God could come up with that
yeah and let’s add to that Clint and also going back to people who may not want him
they may want to repel him just as much as he left so exactly the kind of story that we see
with Moses is not one where you have the capable willing trained leader honed and groomed and then
brought up and sent out into the world not at all you have somebody who’s got this tumultuous
childhood who’s just trying to sort of make it in life who gets told you’ve got to go do this thing
who says I don’t really want to go do that thing and God says I didn’t ask you what you wanted to
this is what I’m calling you to do yeah and at the risk of digging in too deep we need to
continue to move ahead in the story I think lots of it you know Moses does seem to increasingly
live into that role his first encounter with the Pharaoh is okay but I think you can read the text
and again this this is my take on it be careful with that but I think you can read the text that
you see Moses confidence you see Moses allegiance you see Moses bravado increase with each and every
encounter with the Pharaoh as he delivers the plagues I feel like he sort of slinks in the
first time and by the end he’s walking in confidently chest out head back saying I’m
warning you Pharaoh I think he begins to live into that role ultimately bringing the plagues
and ushering in that moment in which the Egyptians devastated by the plagues particularly by the
death of the firstborn son the last plague the Passover come to that moment when they say we’ve
had enough they relent the Pharaoh relents and the people are free to go you could read the text
different ways I think one way to read Moses’s story is to say that the second major act of his
life after you have the calling of God is when he stands there by the sea and the water’s part
and the people of Israel go through it that image from Moses’s story has been told throughout
Christian history some particular groups like the African church that became a prominent theme
in their hope the idea that God will lead you through the river where there where there is
apparently visibly no way God will literally make a way that will make a road through water
and it is that very same image that gets taken up with the idea of Jesus leading us through death
even some of our ideas of baptism going through the water this image of Moses standing there with
the staff with nothing but a hope and promise in God and God showing up in a big way and making
a path for the people of Israel to go through it really initiates the next phase of his life of
leadership and ministry yeah and I and I tend to see it in that way Michael that there’s these two
chapters of Moses leadership and really the first is when he leads as a speaker a challenger he
confronts the Pharaoh he speaks on behalf of the people I think Moses leadership takes a very
distinct turn on the backside of that where he now literally functions as the leader of the Hebrews
after their escape and it’s an it’s a more interesting period I think because you would
think Moses leads the people out they’ve seen the miracles they march to the promised land
under his leadership they they hoist him on their shoulders and it’s all good but we know people
don’t work that way right none of us even easy things aren’t easy oftentimes and so
they complain they grumble in the story we waste almost no time getting to the point
literally just a matter of verses where they say oh Moses you brought us out here to die what
what’s wrong with you what why did you do this to us and this guy who had to think I did it
is now thinking why are they what is going on here why are they upset in fact he says
several times don’t quarrel with me I didn’t this one none of this was my idea and and I wonder if
it was difficult for Moses having been called to something monumentally dangerous that he didn’t
want to do and yet trusting God in it to then be hindered and hampered with these moments of
murmuring and grumbling and complaining that that dominate the rest of the story I’m sure there
were good days but the Bible isn’t to interrupt the Bible focuses on how much of the story
was hard and how often the people made it harder very personally that’s one of the reasons I trust
the Bible with my life is because of its willingness to tell absolutely unflattering
hard truths and that’s not just of Moses that’s also the people of Israel I mean they are also
the people who literally went through water right I mean it took an act of faith for every one of
them to step out to literally make that next step and yet when they get to the other side
almost instantaneously like you said Clint they’re complaining about food they’re complaining about
water they’re complaining about the lodging situation they’re complaining about how they
resolve difficulties they are in not too long they’re going to get tired of Moses going up the
mountain and they’re going to start building idols so the people of Israel aren’t portrayed
in a particularly positive light and Moses as their leader the guy who didn’t even sign up for
this in the first place is now bearing the weight of that and I think that’s a very important thing
to lift out in the conversation of Moses is he’s a guy trying to do the best with what he has
and that’s not a whole lot yeah and there’s a stunning leadership moment I would
even say transitional moment I think Michael where in the early part of the story God tells
Moses I want you to go free my people but there’s some question as to whether they’re Moses’s
people and he even sort of refers to them to the pharaoh as let God’s people go but then there’s
this moment he’s up on the mountain the people are down below they make the golden calf God is
aware of it and God tells Moses look I’m done at these people I no sooner get them out of Egypt
then they melt down the gold which by the way they left with because of me and my action
and now they build a calf and they’re worshiping it with it I’m going to take you and start over
Moses and and Moses says no Moses stands before God and says it you you brought us here and Moses
intercedes he puts himself literally between God’s anger and the people’s deserved punishment
and he says if I if you get rid of them get rid of me also in other words I think we see
Moses in that moment for the first real time claim look these are my people and I stand in the gap
between their shortcomings and their sinfulness and their relationship with the holy one and
um this man who has been obedient multiple times now with what I can only imagine is unthinkable courage says
God no I that’s not what we should do here and I don’t want to be careful with that it’s not
that Moses is giving God advice it’s that he’s he’s digging in his feet
when we turn to biblical characters I think our mistake is often to gloss over them with the
children’s bible version and the children’s bible is great to tell us their story but these men and
men were very complicated real people right and Moses here for all of his misgivings for all of
his maybe even physical disability for all of the stuff that he brings to this conversation that’s
broken there are moments in Moses’s life where he does the unbelievably courageous and right thing
and he stands in between he he literally stands between the people and their god a position that
he would have months or years ago would have never even wanted to occupy and I think what’s
critical here Clint is to who gets the glory not Moses right Moses doesn’t get the glory for that
action Moses doesn’t even get the glory for stepping up and occupying that space as leader
because throughout the entire story Moses’s entire life I think one could say God is the
principal character God is the one who calls God’s the one who sends God’s the one who equips and
and as Moses comes to this moment God is the one who is willing to to listen to this person
and that is God’s own graciousness at work yeah and then Moses does the hard task of leadership
he exacts a measure of punishment upon the people and he he doesn’t simply look the other way in
their idolatry but there is a reckoning and accountability I think several thousand according
to the text are put to death because of this thing that they’ve done and yet Moses has stood
before God and said don’t abandon them hold them accountable but do not give up on them
I have not given up on them and I think that’s a significant moment in the text it continues you
know the story they they wander somewhat they grumble there’s some food some water God does
those things they get to the promised land they have an opportunity to go in but they’re afraid
they refuse Moses is frustrated God is frustrated then the people say we’re sorry they try to go in
after that and they’re they’re devastated they’re routed by the enemy because God doesn’t
go with them Moses actually try to talk them out of that and and then they have this
period of wandering the 40 years this extended time of being out in the wilderness and they have
a tabernacle and Moses functions both here as leader somewhat at priest he’s the intermediary
he’s going up the mountain he’s talking to God he’s bringing down
edicts and commandments not the 10 commandments that happened earlier well the second version
of them happens in that time and he is interpreting for the people what it means to live with God
as their God and to be God’s people and that certainly changes his role it does and as a
leader you start to see Moses also in addition to those things as administrator if you read these
chapters in Exodus it just starts to be piling on these details about garments and tabernacles and
what you do in this circumstance and what this Sabbath rule is you start to get the sense that
Moses recognizes that there needs to be more than just charismatic leadership not that he
ever occupied that position as the most charismatic but one person couldn’t carry the
weight that there needed to be delegation there needed to be some rules there needed to be some
structure the administration and that this whole community was going to go beyond him and in fact
that becomes explicit in the story yeah if I remember correctly there’s this moment where he
meets with his father-in-law and his father-in-law tells him Moses you got to get some help and he
helps him figure out a plan to get some other another layer of leadership between him and the
people and they will kind of be people to whom Moses can delegate some of the the daily tasks
and that’s really in some ways that’s where we see the Moses story begin to fade I think Michael
we have the people they’re out in the desert there has been a moment where in frustration
we all know this the first story where Moses hits the rock and water comes out there’s been a moment
where the people were frustrated again they’re complaining again that they don’t have water and
Moses gets angry and it says that he struck the rock twice and water came out and I think it’s
lost to us you know there this is one of those things that doesn’t make sense and maybe it used
to or maybe we just don’t get it but God is angry with him either for getting angry or for hitting
the rock without instruction or for hitting the rock twice there have been lots of guesses but
but the result is God tells Moses after all of this he doesn’t get to go into the promised land
he says I’m going to let you see it Moses I’m going to take you there to the edge but you’re
not going to be the leader who leads the people in that’s going to fall on someone else’s shoulders
and there’ll be new leadership that ushers them in and lots of ways to read that lots of questions
that raises but many people I think don’t if they’ve not studied the Moses story they may not
be aware that Moses dies just on the outside edge of the promised land again a transitional
person leading the people from one place to another but Moses is the leader in the gap
he’s not the leader in Egypt he’s not the leader in the promised land he is that trail boss
that has to manage all of the stuff on the journey and his leadership has lived out almost
exclusively on the journey with the one gracious exception that he gets to stand on the cliff
he gets to look into the promised land knowing they’ve made it knowing the people will enter
but also with the awareness he’s not going to be the one that takes them there
in into the land we as part of these conversations want to be fair to these characters but to
recognize that as humans they bring lots of good and bad great choices poor choices good habits
bad habits all that comes into these conversations so I think that’s the question that I wonder here
seeing this large expanse of time and we could dig into any one of these sections and
but what are the what did Moses get right and where did Moses miss the mark
I think as we look at the story we see the developing character of Moses as one
who obeys he answers to God God calls him up the mountain he goes God calls him to say this or do
this he does it I’m not sure he starts there but I think by the end of the story largely we we see
that and and I love this you know the image of being the mediator is is fascinating there’s this
story in which every time Moses meets with God then he’ll come down off the mountain and his
face glows and the people are afraid of him glowing and so they ask him to actually cover
it up so he would veil his face in order to deal with the people and then he would
unveil his face when when he would encounter God and again that that image of being in the middle
what does it what does it mean to mediate between God and others what does it mean to to carry
something of our relationship with God to other people and I think that’s a fascinating place to
dig into Moses’s life Michael I think there’s a lot in that you know on the whole I don’t know
if you’d agree with this on the whole I think I would argue that unlike many biblical characters
that will look at that have a major failing I’m not sure that we see that in Moses I think
the Bible is pretty consistent in reporting to us Moses as a guy who did what he was supposed to do
with this one very strange exception that I’m not sure we understand yeah I’m really stepping out
here and I’m doing a lot of reading into the text and not reading from the text here Clint
so you may disagree with me very much here but I wonder if when you talk about what Moses got
wrong if he ever really did move beyond his absolute reluctance at the burning bush
you know the biblical account of Moses I agree with you this idea of obeying that Moses stepping
up to the responsibility he was given I even think you see him owning leadership throughout
the course of his story but I I hear maybe once again I’m putting this on the story but there’s
so many moments when the text seems to focus on Moses being frustrated with the people and upset
with their unwillingness to do their part you never get the sense that he as a person moved
completely beyond the reluctance that he started with yes he had faith enough in God to take the
step yes he was willing to submit to the responsibility he was given but you almost
wonder if he never really did get to a point where his heart was in it he he doesn’t seem to have had
that dynamic kind of leadership that we’ll say in a that we’ll see in say a person like David
who people just naturally follow and and they lift up and they celebrate I don’t think we see
that clearly in Moses but on the flip side Michael I think there are times where reluctant leaders
are powerful leaders because what they never do is make it about them right we we see where David
goes with that adulation he takes it as permission he he goes too far with it and we’ll talk about
that later it there’s almost no danger of that from Moses because you always have at least
that question hanging does Moses want to be here is this what Moses wants to be doing and and
that’s an interesting question but it it perhaps introduces the reason
that Moses never leads from a place of ego he never seems to make it about himself
and the the deep freedom in that is in the moments it needs to be about God it can be
because Moses keeps himself out of the way either on purpose or by default but it does have some
upside and that’s where I think I would want to move to that conversation about what we can learn
from Moses is that fundamentally we have a guy here who I think if we’re being charitable
got a lot of stuff right and and didn’t get a whole ton wrong but like you said that the text
is pretty consistent in its treatment of Moses and I think the fact that you’ve got a guy who
you wonder does he still want to be here continues to point to the main character in Moses’s story
and the main character in Moses’s story is always God it’s God’s action at every single one of those
points God saves Moses from the river God meets Moses in the bush God performs these acts of
power before the Pharaoh God carries the people of Israel through the the water God feeds and
gives water to and close these people in the wilderness God is actively working and Moses then
does occupy that position in the middle it’s never about Moses it’s always about the people
and God and Moses is sort of in that busy intersection and I wonder if that’s not a very
very helpful lesson that when we get it right to God be the glory because God is acting in that
intersection when we get it wrong God is still able to act even beyond our weaknesses and
brokenness and I think maybe Moses better than many of the other characters we’re going to cover in
our conversations really exemplifies how God shows up in our stories yeah and I think for me there’s
two lingering lessons in Moses the first is that Moses takes his stand wherever he needs to
and again maybe he gets there reluctantly but you think about Moses as a man he stands before the
most powerful person on the face of the earth at the time the Pharaoh and he does what God tells
him he stands in front of the people who are unhappy with him in fact at one point that says
they want to stone him and he speaks God to them he speaks God’s word just as he did to the Pharaoh
and then he also stands before God and speaks to God he he so the common theme I see through
Moses’s story is this idea of him standing before standing in front of and sometimes
in judgment sometimes in condemnation sometimes in opposition sometimes in encouragement
sometimes in humility but but it’s an interesting thread I think that Moses is the one ultimately
who stands stands before stands with stands against and then secondly there’s this interesting story
God tells Moses he wants to essentially reward him for his faithfulness and he says I’ll
I’ll give you what you ask and Moses says I want to see your glory
and God says you can’t see my glory if you see me face to face you’ll die but I’ll do this I’ll
put you in the rocks over there and I’ll pass by and after I pass by then you can look and you
you can see where I’ve where I’ve going where I’ve been going and essentially the the Hebrew
kind of indicates that Moses gets to take a look at God’s
backside and the beauty of that I think from a leadership perspective is that as people of faith
we never get to see the whole picture right we never get to see where God is going we never
have God explained to us we never get the full name of God at the burning bush we never get to say
I need all the answers so I can go tell that we we only get that glimpse and if we’re lucky it’s
a clear glimpse of where God has been so that we can follow because in order to lead we have to
follow and I think for me that’s just a that’s a very rich it’s a powerful image powerful story
and I think we celebrate the scripture celebrates Moses the greatest prophet that ever lives is what
he’s called it in his eulogy and never before and who walked with God as a friend and there are all
these adulations of Moses and I think rightly so the word that comes to mind in this conversation
about Moses for me is faith because Moses at every step is taking leaps and trusting God
he relies on God throughout the course of his ministry and for us as Christians
I think it is absolutely critical that we not hold ourselves to a standard of faith
that has never been seen before in other words there is no green beret Christian there’s not
someone who gets it all right all the time the story of Moses is a man who’s reluctant and yet
courageous and strong and brave and admit and God shows up in all of the right moments
Moses just has to have the faith enough to trust it so wherever you stand if you live with doubt
if you’re reluctant if you don’t feel much like a person of faith you are in great company
but the God who shows up in these moments is is the God who we need to invest our trust in that’s
what we mean by faith we need to be willing to trust that God’s going to be there when we need
God and and Moses is a living example of a person whose life was marked by that constant reinvesting
in trust and I think that is why scripture gives such a beautiful picture of this man’s life not
because he got it all right but because of that constant investment in trust yeah it’s not Moses’s
charisma it’s not his courage it’s not his bravado it’s not his military
mind it’s not his strategic thinking Moses I think is celebrated because
when God told him what needed done Moses did his best even in the moments he may not have wanted to
to do it and that is the foundation of the life of faith that’s all any of us can do to seek what
God wants us to do and then apply ourselves present ourselves to try and do it whether
we’re excited about it or not in some cases so I think Moses gives us a good place to start in
this conversation we hope there’s something in that that is interesting to you if you have
questions send them to us let us know we’re glad that you joined us we hope these conversations
would be helpful as we continue to look forward to them thanks for being with us next podcast
will continue to release on our normal schedule so we look forward to seeing you next wednesday
in just one note you might not know this this is the 25th episode of the pastor talk podcast
released and so thank you for all of you who have stuck with us in this time and one
nerd request I apologize for all of you who are listening on itunes it would be unbelievably
helpful for people trying to find the podcast if you would give us five stars maybe the people
don’t deserve five stars and maybe the content does it but for all of the people who are trying
to find us the way that itunes work it would really help us if you wouldn’t mind giving five
stars to the podcast it raises it up on people’s search bars so that they can find the podcast
easier when they look for it so thank you for joining with us 25 episodes in we look forward
to being with you again next week on the 26th episode see everybody