The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 4:13

The Pulpit Commentary · Joseph S. Exell and contributors · Public domain

A servant's difficulties.

Observe—

I. WHAT THEY WERE. Moses' difficulties resolved themselves into three.

1. The power of Pharaoh. "Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh?" (Exodus 3:10). We may be staggered by the thought of the powers that are arrayed against us.

2. The anticipated unbelief of the people (Exodus 4:1). The preacher has to encounter hard and unbelieving hearts, and this may enfeeble and dishearten him.

3. His lack of gifts (Exodus 4:10). Humble natures are easily discouraged by the sense of their own short-comings—by the consciousness of ignorance, defective education, lack of gifts of speech, etc.

II. HOW THEY WERE MET.

1. God armed Moses with powers that made him more than a match for the mighty king of Egypt.

2. He gave him the means of overcoming the unbelief of the people.

3. He promised to endow him with power of speech; and, when that was rejected, supplied his defect by giving him a coadjutor.

From which learn:—

1. That while it is right to state our difficulties to God—to pour out all our hearts before him—it is wrong to make them an excuse for shrinking from duty.

2. That God, if relied on, will give us all sufficiency.—J.O.

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