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The Beginning of the End
I am slow of speech and slow of tongue.” He had been away from the
Egyptians so long that he could not speak their language as easily as
when he was among them.
Moses asked that a more competent person be chosen, but after
the Lord had promised to remove all difficulties and give him final
success, any further complaining about his unfitness showed distrust
of God. It implied a fear that God was unable to qualify him or that
He had made a mistake in His choice of the man.
Aaron, his older brother, and been speaking the language of the
Egyptians every day, and he was able to speak it perfectly. God told
Moses that Aaron was coming to meet him, and the next words from
the Lord were an unqualified command.
“You shall speak to him and put the words in his mouth. ... So he
shall be your spokesman to the people. And he himself shall be as a
mouth for you, and you shall be to him as God. And you shall take
this rod in your hand, with which you shall do the signs.” Moses
could no longer resist, for all ground for excuse was removed.
Having once accepted the work, Moses entered into it with his
whole heart, putting all his trust in the Lord. God blessed his prompt
obedience, and he became eloquent, hopeful, confident, and well
prepared for the greatest work ever given to a human being.
A person will gain power and efficiency by accepting the re-
sponsibilities that God places on him or her. However humble the
position or how limited one’s ability, the person who seeks to per-
form the work faithfully will attain true greatness. Feeling one’s
weakness is at least some evidence of recognition that the appointed
work is great, and such a person will make God his counselor and
strength.
Moses secretly dreaded Pharaoh and the Egyptians, whose anger
had been kindled against him forty years before, and this made him
reluctant to return to Egypt. But after he had set out to obey the
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divine command, the Lord revealed to him that his enemies were
dead.
On the way from Midian, an angel appeared to Moses in a threat-
ening manner, as if to destroy him. No explanation was given, but
Moses remembered that he had disregarded one of God’s require-
ments. He had neglected to perform the rite of circumcision on their
youngest son. Such a neglect on the part of Israel’s chosen leader