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In this
study I simply want to look at the life of Moses as an example of what we can
be like when it comes to following God’s direction and leading. In short, Moses
the horse and Moses the mule! Not that I’ve got it in for Moses of course… far
from it! The horse or mule could just as easily be you! In fact, by the end of
this study I am hoping that you too will see your own horse and mule
tendencies! I know I do. It’s just that in the life of Moses both of these
tendencies are highlighted through extreme cases, so they are very easy to
spot. But before jumping right into it with guns blazing, it’s time again for…
(Drum roll…)
Ok, so I
don’t know how to make this part of the study sound any more exciting! I know
the last thing you probably want to do when you are reading someone’s Bible
study is to have to go do some of the work yourself. I know, it’s the age of
fast food, fast cars, and knowledge on demand. But I also know that you will be
better off if you do! So with that ‘encouragement’ in mind, please read the
following scriptures – start with Psalm 32:8-9 and think about God’s
instruction and leading of our lives. Most importantly, think about the warning
it gives and what it means to be like the horse or the mule. What is
characteristic of these animals? With this as the basis of our study, read
Exodus 2:11-15, and Exodus chapter 3 and 4. In these latter chapters note Moses
objections to God’s desire in using Moses to deliver His people. You just may
see something of yourself here! Note also God’s response to Moses’ objections,
as God may just want to teach us something here too!
Psalm 32:8-9 ‘I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you and watch over you. Do not be like the horse or the mule, which have no understanding but must be controlled by bit and bridle or they will not come to you.’
Now, Moses has a lot to do with the above verse, but before we get onto him lets just quickly talk about this passage. Obviously it’s speaking about the instruction and leading of God. It gives us the great promise that God will instruct us, teach us, counsel us and watch over us! Great promises indeed, especially in times that demand the guidance and direction of God. Now all of that is what God has promised to do. Our part in this sounds simple – do not be like the horse or the mule! So what is characteristic of a horse? Well, simply put, they love to run! They were born and designed to run. It’s in their veins![1] What about mules? Well, they have a characteristic that is just as true, but completely the opposite! Ever been called ‘a stubborn mule’? Well this saying didn’t stick because mules love to run! Stubbornness and a refusal to move is their great trait.
This passage tells us that a bit and brindle are needed to control these animals – but for vastly different reasons! For the horse, you are generally pulling on the reigns trying to gain control and slow them down! With the mule, you are standing in front of them pulling forward in a desperate attempt to get them to move! With their legs dug in, their neck straining, and their teeth nearly popping out, it can be a bit of a mission! Well, Moses is a great picture of both of these creatures as we shall now see.
Exodus
2:11-15 One day, after Moses had grown up, he
went out to where his own people were and watched them at their hard labor.
He saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his own people. Glancing this way and that and seeing no
one, he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand. The next day he went
out and saw two Hebrews fighting. He asked the one in the wrong, “Why are you
hitting your fellow Hebrew?” The man said, “Who made you ruler and judge over
us? Are you thinking of killing me as you killed the Egyptian?” Then Moses was
afraid and thought, “What I did must have become known.” When Pharaoh heard of
this, he tried to kill Moses, but Moses fled from Pharaoh and went to live in Midian, where he sat down by a well.
Here we
Moses, approaching the age of 40 (Acts
‘Glancing this way and that and seeing no
one, he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand.’ – Moses looked everyway
possible… left, right, and left again[3].
Everyway that is, except up! If Moses had asked God, no doubt he would have
heard those words ‘I will instruct you, and teach you in the way in which you
shall go… but do not be like the horse or the mule!’ The same goes for us
doesn’t it? We can easily be busy for God, like Martha racing around, when all
Jesus wants is for us to rest like Mary and be with Him.
God’s heart for His people
Exodus
3:7-10 ‘The LORD said, “I have indeed seen
the misery of my people in
Here we
are presented with the true character of God, and His heart for His people. He
says that He has ‘seen their misery, heard their crying, and is concerned for
their suffering.’[4]
So He is going to do something about it! But that something is going to be
through the use of a simple servant! This is always the way that God works. It
was then, and it is now. When we are available to be used in God’s service,
there will always come a time when God says to us ‘Now go, I am sending you to
bring my people out of
Exodus
The
command of God is to ‘GO!’ but Moses says ‘NO!’ This is definitely a different
Moses from what we have previously seen. Gone is the worldly confidence that
marked ‘Moses the horse’ 40 years earlier (Acts
Ex:3:11-12
But Moses said to God, “Who am I,
that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of
Objection No 1: ‘God, I’m a nobody[5], and
have nothing to offer! I can’t lead your people, or speak to someone as mighty
as Pharaoh! ’ Been there? Ever thought that you are too insignificant for
people to listen to you? Well listen to God’s response - He says ‘Too true, and
well said. You are a nobody, but I will be with you and that is all that is
needed!’
Ex:
Objection No 2: ‘God, I don’t know enough. I
barely even know your name or what you are about.’ Likewise, many believe that
they cannot be used by God because they don’t know a lot and will have nothing
to say. But God’s reply again reveals much! The God we serve is the great ‘I
AM’. The one who is everything we will ever need! If all you have is a testimony about how God
saved you, then that is enough. If God calls you to step forth, then share what
you have and He will look after the rest.
Ex 4:1
Moses answered, “What if they do not believe me or listen to me and say, ‘The
LORD did not appear to you’?”
Objection No 3: ‘What will people think of me? They may
reject what I say?’ If you are like me, then you will see yourself in Moses’
question here. No one especially enjoys being thought a fool or being rejected.
In Moses’ case the Lord was very kind to him and gave Moses specific signs
which confirmed who had sent him. But signs or no signs, it is not the result
of our obedience that should be in view, but our focus should always be on the
one who has called us. There is no getting around the fact that to some our
message will be ‘the fragrance of life’, and to others, the ‘smell of death.’
(2 Cor
Ex
Objection No 4: ‘Sorry Lord, but I’ve got this st st st
st stuttttttttttttter.
Can’t sp sp sp sp speak at all well. Ssssssorry,
I’ll have to be excused!’ Nice try Moses! Maybe you think that you’re the same
- that you are slow to think and slow to speak. Well, God loves using the weak
things to confound the wise. His promise to Moses is that He will help him
speak and will teach him what to say. God still does that! But with Moses being
the full mule, we begin to see the patience of God being tried, and I’m sure it
was with force that God says ‘Now Go!’
Ex
Objection No 5: ‘I just can’t do it! Please find someone better!’ The mule is fully digging in now! Like I said earlier, this was a totally different Moses from the one who ‘was educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and was powerful in speech and action.’ 40 years earlier he had been supremely confident in his own abilities but in doing so had not relied on the Lord and had raced like a horse ahead of God’s plan. Now, after 40 years contemplating his failure, he was a mule and very difficult to budge. You may ask, well which is better? Despite Moses stubbornness, this is the Moses which God chose to use. Humility and meekness are virtues that the Lord loves to mould into a person’s character and Moses definitely had these (Num 12:3). Although, we need to be careful that we don’t focus so much on our own weakness that we start to use it as an excuse for disobedience. This, Moses was doing here and we read that the Lord’s anger burned against Moses.[7]
Thankfully, after this slow start, we see
in the rest of Moses’ life the testimony of a humble yet obedient servant of
God and as you all know, Moses would be greatly used of the Lord in
[1] I recently went on my first ever horse trek. Loved every minute of
it! It was very interesting to see the natural tendencies of the horses to want
to bolt and run ahead. And this was on well trained, ‘beginner friendly’
horses. One of my friends’ horses bolted and sure enough, all of the other
horses made a dash for it as well. Their natural tendency is to be free and to
run ahead. There is a warning here for us, which we shall definitely see
through the life of Moses!
[2] I really agree and appreciate the comments of Ian Thomas on this passage where he states “Moses lost his sense of God, and maybe you have lost your sense of God for the same reason. You are not called upon to commit yourself to a need, or to a task, or to a field. You are called upon to commit yourself to God! It is He then that takes care of the consequences and commits you where He wants you. ‘The need’ it is all too often said, ‘constitutes the call!’. There are a thousand needs, but you are not committed to these. You are committed to Christ, and it is His business to commit you where He wants you.” – We have to believe that God can, and will, do this. It is His responsibility and His right to do this. Unfortunately, Moses the horse looked only at the need, and not to God, and the result was disastrous!
[3] I believe it was CHM that said that we look around for one of two reasons – in fear of man’s wrath or in hope of man’s favour. Neither is necessary for the one divinely sent. If we look for man’s frown or to catch his smile, then something is wrong! So true! But Moses wasn’t divinely sent here and his nervous looking to and fro testifies to that fact.
[4] Actually, this is a nice picture of God sending Jesus into the
world to deliver us. Did God not see the misery of those in the world (
[5] I have
always likes D.L Moody’s analysis of Moses’ life. He said ‘Moses spent 40 years
thinking He was a somebody, 40 years learning that he was a nobody, and 40 years
seeing what God can do with a nobody!’ This is the essence of what God was
trying to teach Moses earlier with the burning bush. In the words of Major Ian
Thomas, ‘Any old bush will do!’ God could use any old bush, or any old person
for that matter, because it was not the bush that mattered – what mattered was
that God was in the bush, and if God was there, the fire would never go out.
Moses needed to learn to look way past himself and his abilities, to God and
His adequacy.
[6] The New Bible dictionary says that Moses
question of God’s name uses a special word (mah)
which ‘invites an answer
which goes further, and gives the meaning or substance of the name.’ So Moses
was asking for more than a name to take back to
[7] Just as a side note, this is the first mention that I can find of
the Lord getting angry. I’m sure he was angry at other times but the Bible
doesn’t mention it. No doubt He was angry during the wicked times of Noah or