What If
Notes
Transcript
Intro:
Intro:
Last week I touched very briefly on hypotheticals. Please turn to Exodus chapter 4.
Last week we discussed the importance of knowing who God is and knowing the identity God created us to have.
We find ourselves in a very unique time. With COVID, elections, and even murder hornets. All these hard and uncertain things going on in the world around us can get us to to think in hypothetically. We find ourselves asking “what if?” This morning as we continue in our series “In Pursuit,” we will take a good hard look at hypotheticals.
Moses in chapter 3 kind of questioned with some what if questions. Moses conversation continues in Exodus chapter 4. Let's take a look.
Text
Text
1 Moses answered, “What if they do not believe me or listen to me and say, ‘The Lord did not appear to you’?”
2 Then the Lord said to him, “What is that in your hand?”
“A staff,” he replied.
3 The Lord said, “Throw it on the ground.”
Moses threw it on the ground and it became a snake, and he ran from it. 4 Then the Lord said to him, “Reach out your hand and take it by the tail.” So Moses reached out and took hold of the snake and it turned back into a staff in his hand. 5 “This,” said the Lord, “is so that they may believe that the Lord, the God of their fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob—has appeared to you.”
6 Then the Lord said, “Put your hand inside your cloak.” So Moses put his hand into his cloak, and when he took it out, the skin was leprous—it had become as white as snow.
7 “Now put it back into your cloak,” he said. So Moses put his hand back into his cloak, and when he took it out, it was restored, like the rest of his flesh.
8 Then the Lord said, “If they do not believe you or pay attention to the first sign, they may believe the second. 9 But if they do not believe these two signs or listen to you, take some water from the Nile and pour it on the dry ground. The water you take from the river will become blood on the ground.”
10 Moses said to the Lord, “Pardon your servant, Lord. I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since you have spoken to your servant. I am slow of speech and tongue.”
11 The Lord said to him, “Who gave human beings their mouths? Who makes them deaf or mute? Who gives them sight or makes them blind? Is it not I, the Lord? 12 Now go; I will help you speak and will teach you what to say.”
13 But Moses said, “Pardon your servant, Lord. Please send someone else.”
Right out of the gate in verse 1, Moses asks “what if?” Then God gives Moses some ways Moses can prove that is God who sent him.
The staff
Reaching into his cloak.
Taking water from the Nile river, turning into blood.
But then something interesting happens in verse 10.
10 Moses said to the Lord, “Pardon your servant, Lord. I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since you have spoken to your servant. I am slow of speech and tongue.”
Moses interrupts God and basically says that’s all well and good, but the real problem is I’m not a good speaker.
God tells Moses in verses 11 and 12 that it Him that gave humans mouths. He also tells Moses I will help you speak and teach what to say.
But Moses again interrupts and says please send someone else.
Hypotheticals
Hypotheticals
Hypotheticals are bad for us spiritually. They cause:
Doubt
Fear
Loss of Identity
Hypotheticals will drive you crazy and they will immobilize you.
Doubt
Doubt
Moses with his “What If?” right away begins to doubt. What if they don’t believe me or listen to me. Think about this for a moment. The Hebrews are being oppressed beyond anything we can imagine, and Moses is worried that they won’t believe or listen.
You and I will do well to leave the results up to God. Moses would have done well to leave the results up to God.
Is doubt holding you back today? Is God calling you but doubt has immobilized you?
Fear
Fear
Doubt leads to fear. Once Moses begins to doubt then fear sets in. Moses becomes afraid they won’t believe him, he also is afraid that he has inability to speak.
Think about your own life for a moment. Have there been times where you doubted and fear set in causing you delay in following God or causing you to bail out?
Loss of Identity
Loss of Identity
After the fear Moses begins to lose identity. Remember he was raised in royalty as an Egyptian. He has been away for 40 years. But he is afraid he can’t speak. This doubt and fear has blinded him of his identity.
You and I need to be very careful and aware of doubt and fear in our lives. If we allow doubt and fear to run rampant in our lives we risk losing our identity.
What If
What If
What if God wanted to use right now, right where you are? What if God started using you now to prepare you for what He has planned for you?
What if:
He used you like Paul
God used you like Ananias
God used you like Peter
God used you to lead someone to Him
God used you to stand in the gap for someone
God used you as missionary (Here or another country)
God used your pain to give someone else strength
God used your struggles to give someone else hope
God used your marriage to give life to someone else’s marriage
As we ponder on Moses’ life up to this point, we come to know that every step of the way, form birth until now, God has had a plan for the current moment and the moments to come. Moses was used right from birth to start the process of the children of Israel to Exodus Egypt. Raised as a royal Egyptian, humbled, and the son in-law of a priest. But this isn’t just a God and Moses thing.
God works in our lives as well. Your whole life God has been pursuing you, preparing you for what He has for you. The question is will you and I pursue Him? Will you and I accept what God has for us?
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