I Will Be With You

Moses’s first excuse, as he expressed his feeling of inadequacy, was, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and that I should bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?” (Exodus 3:11). God responded, “I will certainly be with you. And this shall be a sign to you that I have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain” (Exodus 3:12).

God’s answer at first reads like a nonanswer. Moses asked, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh?” God’s answer was, “I will certainly be with you.” What type of answer was that? God was saying that it was not about Moses, the one being sent, but about God, the One doing the sending. Moses needed to know that God was the One sending him, and he must never forget that God would be with him. Moses, therefore, had no need to worry about anything.

God then gave Moses an unmistakable sign that would remind Moses of the fact that God was the One who had sent him. God said that, when Moses had brought the children of Israel out of Egypt, they would serve Him on that mountain—Mount Sinai (also known as Mount Horeb). We read this with the benefit of hindsight, so we know that Mount Sinai would figure prominently in the wilderness wandering of the Israelites. They would spend eleven months at Mount Sinai, and that was where God would give them the Ten Commandments. You would think that Moses would have no more excuse after this, but he was not finished.

Moses saved his best excuse for last. He was sure that this excuse would clinch his argument and God would have to agree with him that he was inadequate for the mission. Moses said, “O my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither before nor since You have spoken to Your servant; but I am slow of speech and slow of tongue” (Exodus 4:10). Moses actually tried his best to convince God. This was his closing argument. He was saying that he had not been eloquent from birth, and he was stumbling all over his words even then as he was responding to God. His speech problem had not stopped even as he was talking to God, and that should show God clearly that he was the wrong person for the job. In Mathematics this would be QED (quod erat demonstrandum—which was to be demonstrated). He was resting his case. Case closed!

But Moses found out that he was outmatched by God. Indeed, anyone is outmatched by God. God gave him a classic answer that would disarm anyone. God said, “Who has made man’s mouth? Or who makes the mute, the deaf, the seeing, or the blind? Have not I, the Lord? Now therefore, go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall say” (Exodus 4:12).God meant that He was the One who had created Moses’s mouth, that He would be with his mouth and teach him what to say, so Moses had nothing to worry about.

Moses had run out of excuses. God had given him a cogent answer to each of his excuses. In frustration, Moses ranted, “O my Lord, please send by the hand of whomever else You may send” (Exodus 4:13). Moses was asking God to leave him alone and to send anyone but himself. However, God would not leave Moses alone for, although Moses did not realize it, he was the right person for the job. Settling for a compromise, God asked Moses to take his brother, Aaron, with him to assist him. God told Moses that Aaron was on his way to come to see Moses. It is quite possible that Moses had not seen Aaron during his forty-year sojourn in the land of Midian.

Here we see the difference between God’s perfect will and God’s permissive will. God’s perfect will was for Moses to go by himself on this mission to deliver the children of Israel from Egypt. God’s permissive will was to ask Moses to take Aaron with him to assist him.

God’s perfect will for us is what God wants for us. But many times, because of our stubborn will, we use the free will God has given us to kick and scream against His perfect will for us. God then settles for His permissive will, allowing us to take the route we have forged and doing the best with it. It must be noted that just because God permits something does not mean that it is His perfect will. God’s perfect will is always the best thing for us. God’s permissive will, which comes from our stubbornness, is always fraught with consequences for us and sometimes even for others. Aaron accompanying Moses was an asset in some ways, for Moses had Aaron by his side through the very difficult times in Egypt as Moses dealt with Pharaoh and with the children of Israel. But Aaron was also a liability in some ways. Aaron was the one who constructed the golden calf that the Israelites worshiped in the wilderness, one of the worst things that the Israelites did during their wilderness wandering (Exodus 32). Also, Aaron and Miriam rebelled against their own brother, Moses (Numbers 12).

Interestingly, if Moses had not complained to God that he had a speech impediment, we would never have guessed it. As the story unfolds, we see Moses speaking to Pharaoh, to the children of Israel, and to God without a problem. Later, Stephen praised Moses as Stephen preached to the Sanhedrin just before he was stoned to death for the sake of the Gospel. Stephen said, “And Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was mighty in words and deeds” (Acts 7:22). So, not only was Moses mighty in deeds, he was also mighty in words. Does that sound like someone who had a speech impediment?

The end of the Pentateuch gives a glowing tribute to Moses:

But since then there has not arisen in Israel a prophet like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face, in all the signs and wonders which the Lord sent him to do in the land of Egypt, before Pharaoh, before all his servants, and in all his land, and by all that mighty power and all the great terror which Moses performed in the sight of all Israel. (Deuteronomy 34:10-12)