Daily Devotions
Exodus
"I know that whatever God does, It shall be forever. Nothing can be added to it, And nothing taken from it. God does it, that men should fear before Him." Ecclesiastes 3:14
Text: Exodus 4 : 18-20
PREPARATION TO LEAVE MIDIAN
Moses had spent forty years in Midian. He had received a call from the Lord! He knew that he had to obey the Lord! He did not dare to disobey, not after he had sensed the anger of the Lord welling up against him. It was time to say farewell to Jethro, his gracious father-in-law.
“So Moses went and returned to Jethro his father-in-law,
and said to him, ‘Please let me go and return to my brethren
who are in Egypt, and see whether they are still alive.
And Jethro said to Moses, ‘Go in peace.'”
EXODUS 4:18
Jethro did not object to Moses’ request to return to Egypt. He was a priest in the land of Midian. He was far wiser in such spiritual matters than meets the eye. He gave his blessing to Moses immediately. With this approval, Moses began to prepare his family to go to Egypt with him.
AN EXTRA WORD OF ENCOURAGEMENT
God graciously gave Moses an extra word of encouragement, even as he made his way down to Egypt.
“Now the Lord said to Moses in Midian,
‘Go, return to Egypt; for all the men who sought your life
are dead.’ Then Moses took his wife and his sons and set them
on a donkey, and he returned to the land of Egypt. And Moses
took the rod of God in his hand.”
EXODUS 4:19-20
Moses must have been most encouraged for this new word from the Lord for a number of reasons:-
1. The Continuing Presence of the Lord
Moses must have been really glad that God would continue to speak to him. His encounter with the Lord at Mount Horeb was not a one-off thing. How comforting it was to have God speaking to him all the time.
2. The Keeping of God’s Promise
The Lord had assured Moses that He would be with him! He had kept His word faithfully, and that brought such comfort to his heart!
WITH GROWING CONFIDENCE
Moses must have found extra comfort in the rod that he held in his hand! That rod was special and may indeed be called “The rod of God”. That rod held special meaning for him after the first sign God had shown Moses!