Exodus 04: Thank You Moses

Moses is one of the most relatable people in the Bible because he does what many of us do when God calls: he argues, delays, and lists every reason he’s not the right person. As we walk through Exodus 4, we trace Moses’ shift from “I can’t do this” to the quiet courage of “but I’m gonna go,” and we see how God responds to insecurity with real support, not empty hype. If you’re wrestling with calling, fear, or obedience, this chapter puts language to your inner dialogue and points you toward your next faithful step.

We unpack the signs God gives Moses to answer doubt: the staff that becomes a snake, the hand that is healed, and the warning of the Nile. We also slow down on Moses’ anxiety about public speaking and God’s direct reminder that the Creator of the mouth can empower the messenger. Then we tackle one of the strangest and most debated moments in the Exodus story: God confronting Moses on the road and Zipporah stepping in with an urgent covenant act. It’s confusing on the surface, but it highlights a theme that keeps showing up in Scripture: covenant obedience and integrity matter, especially for spiritual leaders.

Finally, we bring it home with the practical takeaway. Simple obedience is simple but not simplistic, and you don’t have to see the end of the journey to take the next step. If this helped you, subscribe for daily Bible breakdowns, share it with a friend who feels unready, and leave a review so more people can learn to engage God’s Word with us.

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Scripture quotations taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation (NLT).
Copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation.
Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Transcript

Welcome And Daily Bible Breakdown

SPEAKER_00 0:01

Hey everyone and welcome to the Bible Breakdown Podcast. In this podcast, we will be breaking down the Bible one chapter a day. Whether you are a new believer or have been following Christ for a while, we believe that you will learn something new and fresh every single day. So thank you for joining us and let's get into breaking down the Bible together.

SPEAKER_01 0:23

Well, hello everybody. Welcome back to the Bible Breakdown Podcast with your host, Pastor Brandon. Today, Exodus chapter 4. And today's title is Thank You Moses. Thank you, Moses. Moses is, he's awesome. He has gone from the guy who is thinking he's large and in charge, if you remember from chapter two, when he goes out and thinks he's going to dispense his own justice, to where now he is begging God to send somebody else. I can't do this. I don't want to do this, whatever. And if you've ever been one of those people who struggled to do what God's calling you to do, you're going to love Moses because he has gone from Mr. Arrogant to Mr. I just, I just don't think I can do it, God. And God is having to convince Moses that he is going to do it. And it just makes me feel better to realize it ain't

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SPEAKER_01 1:12

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Burning Bush Recap And Yahweh

SPEAKER_01 2:06

Well, if you've been with us for the past couple of days, we've been going through the book of Exodus and really watching how God is taking this or going to take this slave nation and going to set them free. And not just set them free, but really set them on a path for continual freedom in their life. And when we left Moses yesterday, he saw a burning bush, and God repeated to him in that bush, and he gave him the covenant name of God, which is Yahweh. I am that I am. And he said that I want you to go tell them that I am God. In other words, I, and I am that I am means the unique one, the all-sufficient one. There's no one else like me. And you got to think in a world that was full of polytheism, there's all these other gods roaming around everywhere. That when he went and told or was going to tell the Hebrews, your God, my God, he came to me. Oh, really? Who is he? He's the only one. Okay, that's that's the one. Yahweh. And at the same time, Moses is like, but I don't think I can do this. And so we pick back up in that conversation where he is continuing to try to argue with God about what God can and can't do in his life.

Moses Doubts And God Provides Signs

SPEAKER_01 3:17

So here we go, chapter four, verse one says this. But Moses protested again. What if they won't believe me or listen to me? What if they say, the Lord? Remember, that's the covenant name of God. Every time you see Lord, capital L O R D, you are looking at Yahweh. It's just out of respect. They've put capital L O R D. Okay. All right. What if they say, What if they say the Lord never appeared to you? Then the Lord asked him, What is in your hand? A shepherd's staff, Moses replied. Throw it down on the ground, the Lord told him. And Moses threw it down the staff and it turned into a snake. Moses jumped back. Then the Lord told him, Reach out and grab its tail. So Moses reached out and grabbed it, and it turned back into a shepherd's staff in his hand. Perform this sign, the Lord told him, and they will believe that the Lord, the God of their ancestors, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, really has appeared to you. Then the Lord said to Moses, Now put your hand inside your cloak. So Moses put his hand inside his cloak, and when he took it out again, his hand was white as snow, with a severe skin disease. Now put your hand back in your cloak, the Lord said. So Moses put his hand back in, and when he took it out again, it was as healthy as the rest of his body. And the Lord said to Moses, If they do not believe you, and you are not convinced by the first miraculous sign, or they are not, they will be convinced by the second sign. And if you they won't believe you or listen to you even after these two signs, then take some water from the Nile River and pour it on the dry ground. When you do, the water from the Nile will turn to blood on the ground. But Moses pleaded with the Lord, O Lord, I am not very good with words. I had never have been, and I'm not now. Even though you have spoken to me, I get tongue tied, and my words get tangled. Then the Lord said to Moses, Who makes a person's mouth? Who decides whether people speak or do not speak, hear or do not hear, see or do not see? Is it not I, the Lord? Now go. I will be with you as you speak, and I will instruct you in what to say. But Moses again pleaded, Lord, please send someone else. And then the Lord became angry with Moses. All right. What about your brother, Aaron the Levite? I know he speaks well. That's another way of saying. I know he won't be quiet. And look, he is on his way to meet you now, and he will be delighted to see you. Talk to him and put the words and I and put the words into his mouth, and I will be with both of you as you speak, and I will instruct you both in what to do. Aaron will be your spokesman to the people, he will be your mouthpiece, and you will stand in the place of God for him, telling him what to say. And then take your staff with you and use it to perform the miraculous signs that I have shown you. So Moses went back to the home of Jethro, his father in law. Please, let me return to my relatives in Egypt, Moses said. I don't even know if they're still alive. Go in peace, Jethro replied. But Moses left before Moses left Midian, the Lord said to him, Return to Egypt, for all those who wanted to kill you have died. So Moses took his wife and his sons and put them on a donkey, and headed back to the land of Egypt. In his hand he carried the staff of God. And the Lord told Moses, When you arrive back in Egypt, go to Pharaoh and perform all the miracles I have empowered you to do. I will harden his heart so that he will refuse to let the people go. Then you will tell him, This is what the Lord says, Israel is my firstborn son. I command you, let my son go so he can worship me. But since you were refused, I will now kill your firstborn son. Now on the way to Egypt, at the place where Moses pause for a second, did you realize that already before he even got there, God is telling him what's going to happen? He's going to tell them that eventually it's going to get real. Which, by the way, first of all, when he's talking about the firstborn son thing, he's talking about these are my chosen people. But then he tells them, he tells them, hey, it's going to get real for the end. Here we go. Uh verse 24. On the way to Egypt, at the place where Moses and his family had stopped for the night, the Lord confronted him and was about to kill him. But Moses' wife, Zipporah, took a flint knife and circumcised her son. That's a bad day. And she touched his feet with the foreskin and said, Now you are a bridegroom bridegroom of blood to me. When she said bridegroom of blood, which is really hard to say, she was referring to the circumcision. And that night the Lord left him alone. We'll come back to that in just a moment. Now the Lord said to Aaron, Go out to the wilderness to meet Moses. So Aaron went out and met Moses at the mountain of God, and he embraced him. Moses then then told Aaron everything the Lord had commanded him to say, and he told him about the miraculous signs the Lord had commanded him to perform. Then Moses and Aaron returned to Egypt and called all the elders of Israel together. Aaron told them everything the Lord had told Moses, and Moses performed the miraculous signs as they watched. Then the people of Israel were convinced that the Lord had sent Moses and Aaron. And when they heard what the Lord that the Lord was concerned about them and had seen their misery, they bowed down and worshiped.

Zipporah And The Covenant Confrontation

SPEAKER_01 8:41

Well, I'm going to go back for just a moment because this is a very confusing scripture for a lot of people because of what in the world is going on. I don't know if you've ever noticed this, but for a long time I didn't notice that it said that God was really upset with Moses to the point that he thought about killing him. And there's a lot of people who have looked at this and there's a lot of different points of view on this scripture. And so, to the best of what I understand this to mean, it appears as though, even though Moses would have known about circumcision and all that kind of good stuff, he did not circumcise his children as you were supposed to do as an Israelite. And God had said, you have to circumcise your children as a form of the covenant between us. And so he was getting ready to go back to Egypt, but without having the covenant relationship with God. And because God was mad at him, it would appear as though Moses knew he was supposed to do this, yet was not doing what he was supposed to do because Zipporah knew what to do. And so it appears as though he was going to be disobedient to God. And so Zipporah actually did what she was supposed to do and then lays the foreskin, which is so gross, at the feet of Moses to say, listen, you weren't willing to do it, so I did it. You're a bridegroom of blood. In other words, you are a tr you are stressing me out, man. And then that's what God wanted. And it was okay. He was like, covenant is important. Because it doesn't make any sense that if that if Moses had absolutely no idea about this, all of a sudden he's going to get in trouble. So it seems to be that there in some way he knew to do this, but didn't do this. So Zipporah had to do this. And so the idea becomes it's important to do what God says. And when we just got through reading earlier, God kept telling Moses, just obey me. But God, it's going to be hard. I know, just obey me. But God, I don't have the tools. I know, just obey me. But God, I just straight don't want to. Obey me. Trust me. I'm enough. Me plus you is always a majority. But God, okay, listen, where's your brother? He likes to talk. Aaron, can you imagine? That is not a compliment. Okay. It's like the most backhanded compliment ever. Where's your brother? He won't be quiet for nothing. All right. And when God says you talk a lot, you talk a lot. And he said, I'll I will let him go with you. If you need training wheels, because eventually it appears as though he doesn't need Aaron anymore. He's doing it on his own. If you need that, okay, fine. But can you just trust me?

Simple Obedience And A Prayer

SPEAKER_01 11:08

And I wonder if maybe that's what God could be saying to some of us today. We read this and we get, it makes us feel so much better, doesn't it? To realize, okay, great. God used Moses to do some of the greatest things in history. And even Moses had a time when he was like, God, I know you're telling me to do this. I know you say you're going to be with me to do this. But this is hard. I don't, I don't want to do this. But you know what's amazing? He didn't want to, but he went. And can I tell you there'll be times when God tells us to honor him, to honor his word, to do the right thing, to have integrity, to trust him in a difficult season. And it's okay if we're like Moses and say, but God, I don't have the tools. God, I don't have the desire. God, I'm terrified. But I'm gonna go. I'm going to trust. And watch what happens. God ends up using Moses at the very quickly to bring comfort to these inflicted, afflicted slaves. But eventually, to set an entire nation free. The absolute miracle being used by God to set a nation free that began with simple obedience. What could my what could your simple obedience lead to today? Let's pray together right now. God, thank you so much for today. Thank you, God, that you're with us and that you're for us. Thank you, God, that you get how hard it can be sometimes. Because we get in our own way. We get in our own heads. We start thinking about all the other things rather than simple obedience. God, usually simple obedience is simple but not simplistic. Usually knowing what to do is not the hard part. It's the doing. And I pray, God, that you will give us the courage not to have to see the end of the journey, but just to see the next step. Help us, Lord, to take the next step and to trust you with every one of them after that. We celebrate you today. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. And Exodus 6, verse 6 says, I will free you from the oppression and I will rescue you from slavery. I pray that God will continue to rescue you every single day. I love you. I'll see you tomorrow for Exodus chapter 5.