This morning reading through the early chapters of Exodus, I was struck by a few factors in Moses’ calling:
-God’s miraculous protection of the man before he was ever “on the scene.” He was set apart well in advance - anyone else in the story before Moses comes to the foreground might not understand why this one child was protected. But God knew, and that’s what mattered most.
-Moses’ pre-calling (and in-calling) foibles, a la his ancestors: Similar to Jacob’s earlier birthright and blessing thefts, Moses was a murderer. There is no one who God calls to His work who has a squeaky clean past. In fact, it is often the case that they’re messy people, and that’s part of why God can use them: there is an Adam-ness about them that motivates them for the last Adam’s Kingdom. Moses’ foibles also include his famous hesitation to enter into God’s labor, famously ending by saying, “Please Lord, send someone else” (4:13). Note, God isn’t calling a man with an initially strong faith. Like his ancestor Abraham (cf. Rom. 4:20) Moses’ faith was going to have to grow over time. He accepts the call and begins the trek to Egypt.
-Moses’ first—strange—test: On his way back to Egypt, he again follows his ancestor Jacob’s pattern by getting into a nighttime wrestling match with God who “sought to put him to death” (4:24). Such strong language is doubtless the text’s way of telling us how brutal the fighting was. Since Moses’ son’s foreskin getting cut off deescalates God’s pursuit (4:26), it seems clear that this is God’s way of making sure that Moses knows he’s a part of a grander story that includes his circumcised ancestors. In God’s targeting us, He teaches us. Moses and his wife Zipporah learn the lesson.
-Moses second—and much unexpected—test: When he gets to Egypt and tells Pharaoh to let the people go to the wilderness to worship, the latter doesn’t listen, and he orders heavier work on the Israelites, because how dare this Moses make such a suggestion? The Israelites understandably turn on Moses. At this point Moses cries out to God, “Why have you sent me here? You haven’t delivered the people yet, and now they want to kill me” (5:22-23 my loose paraphrase). It is only at that point that God tells Moses, “Now you’ll see what I’m about to do… Go back to Pharaoh” (Ex. 6:1ff.) What immediately follows is Moses and Aaron’s genealogy, which is the text’s way of telling us that God is about to begin working powerfully with these men.
But don’t miss what has happened in this last test: Moses the murderer, who has begged God to send someone else because of his own weaknesses, is taken through a night of wrestling with the Lord that most of us can only imagine in horror; when he survives, he obeys God by speaking with Pharaoh, only to then have God let him sit there with egg on his face while Pharaoh, instead of complying, gives the Israelite’s heavier burdens; for a time, everyone is against Moses.
This inexplicable scenario—that is, Why did God delay his fulfilling his promise one more scene, and with such disastrous and terrifying consequences?—is never explained in the text.
But we know that the testing of our faith is often “necessary” (1 Pet. 1:6), and that it is given to us for our maturation and growth in grace (Jms. 1:3-4). Without such dark nights of the soul we wouldn’t truly depend on God; we only would talk about depending on God (see 2 Corinthians 1:3-8).
The lesson is simple: If you want to follow God’s call, be ready for twists, turns, and extended times of testing that you won’t understand, maybe ever in this life. But trust the hands of the Potter who only fashions beautiful vessels. He knows not only the right temperature, materials, and time needed to make the vessel, but also the right amount of pressure. And it will be perfect in the end.
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