Making Him Known

Making Him Known

Today’s Bible Reading: EXODUS 4:18-7:13

Exodus 5:2

But Pharaoh said, "Who is the LORD, that I should obey his voice and let Israel go? I do not know the LORD, and moreover, I will not let Israel go."  

Moses comes before Pharaoh having heard from and heeded God’s call. He stands not in his might, but in the might of the Almighty. He represents not himself, but his Lord. Moses knows Him. Pharaoh doesn’t. Moses has been with Him. Pharaoh hasn’t. Moses has heard Him. Pharaoh didn’t. Moses obeys Him. Pharaoh won’t.

When Pharaoh heard of the Lord and His request, he rejected it. His reasoning is relayed in his respond. He said, “Who is the LORD that I should obey his voice and let Israel go? (5:2). He had his gods to guide him and his idols to instruct him. He was himself a god before men. He was confident and comfortable with his life. He didn’t need anyone or anything to claim demands on him or direct him how to live. He didn’t need to enthrone this deity among his. This God was irrelevant and unnecessary.

His concern characterizes our culture. Disenfranchised and detached they don’t recognize or respond to the divine. They don’t need “religion” or want its “restrictions”. They proclaim to the Lord, “I don’t know you, so why should I follow you.” They have no concern for the Creator”.

Like Pharaoh, they claim ignorance of the Lord and are insolent at the idea of obeying Him. They detest His demands and divorce themselves from His decrees. They delight in their depravity. They see no necessity for God, they have their own. They are not acquainted with Him and willfully remain atheistic in their knowledge of Him. They are comfortable and content with their lifestyle. Theirs is the path they choose not the one the Lord commands or condones. They have no allegiance to Him and no desire to align with His desires. They don’t know God and are satisfied in their ignorance.

It is to these we are sent. As God commanded Moses, He commands us. As God sent Moses, He sends us. As God stands with Moses, He stands with us. As God used Moses, He will use us. It was not an easy path to go before Pharaoh day after day presenting the Lord to a hardened soul. It is difficult to take the truth to one how constantly denounces it. But the questions can and must be answered. “Who is the Lord?” “Why should I obey him?” We must not cower but come armed with God’s truth to answer these questions and address these concerns.

Despite resistance and rebellion, Moses persevered. Like Moses before Pharaoh, like Peter at Pentecost, like Stephen before the Freemen, like Paul before Agrippa, in the power of the Spirit, we must persist in making Him known to those who don’t know. We must show Him to those who are blinded to Him. We must tell of Him to those who are deaf to Him. We must reflect Him to those who reject Him.

And like Moses, when we are dejected and disillusioned, we must return to the one who has called us and commands us to go. There to be refreshed, renewed and refocused to stand again before the disbelieving Pharaoh’s in our life proclaiming who He is. Our hope is that they will come to know Him. Pharaoh questioned. God answered. He made Himself know to him through the proclamation of the prophet and the power He displayed in the plagues. Moses told of the Lord and trusted Him to make Himself know and He did. We must do the same, tell of Jesus and trust Jesus to make Himself know and He will.

Today Make Him Known.