Exodus 4:27 – 31 “Meanwhile, the LORD had said to Aaron, “Go and meet Moses in the wilderness.” So he went and met Moses at the mountain of God and kissed him. And Moses told Aaron everything the LORD had sent him to say, and all the signs He had commanded him to perform. Then Moses and Aaron went and assembled all the elders of the Israelites, and Aaron relayed everything that the LORD had said to Moses. And Moses performed the signs before the people, and they believed. And when they heard that the LORD had attended to the Israelites and had seen their affliction, they bowed down and worshiped.”
Throughout the story of the Exodus, Aaron’s performance is very uneven. Sometimes Aaron does the right thing and does it better than anybody else. Other times, Aaron waffles and falls to public opinion. But here at the beginning, Aaron listens to God and obeys. Remember that Aaron hasn’t even seen Moses for forty years and isn’t certain that Moses is even alive. Now God is instructing Aaron to go out into the desert to an unknown place to meet Moses. How does God speak to Aaron? Does Aaron hear an audible voice, or does God just impress something on Aaron’s spirit? Eventually Aaron’s descendants will be the priests of Israel; perhaps God gives Aaron a special ability to hear His Voice.
Aaron manages to meet Moses. How do these two men find each other out there in the wilderness? Again, this meeting has God’s fingerprints all over it; thousands of miles of scrub trees, rocks, and very little else, and Aaron succeeds in finding Moses. Why talk about this meeting when it only gets two sentences in this chapter? The story of Moses and the Exodus is full of miracles of all sizes. Consider the fact that not only Moses but also Aaron survived the Pharaoh’s attempts to kill all the Hebrew boy babies. Now Aaron, who has been living in Egypt all this time and who has never traveled outside the land of Goshen, succeeds in traveling into the wilderness and meeting Moses. And Aaron believes Moses after not seeing him for forty years – yet another miracle! God must have really said some strong stuff to Aaron.
The next miracle is no less important: the elders of Israel choose to believe Aaron and Moses. Most of those men have probably written Moses off years ago; after all, once Moses disappeared into the wilderness, nobody heard anything from him at all. And here is where the suffering the Israelites have undergone begins to be important. If the Israelites had not become slaves and had not suffered, they would never have become discontented with living in Egypt. After all, Egypt had the Nile River to keep at least part of it green in the most severe drought. Generally, there was plenty of food. But the Israelites have been suffering and crying out to the God of their fathers, and now God is answering.
The elders of Israel must have been completely dazzled! After years of misery, years of crying out to a God who has remained silent, here are Moses and Aaron coming with a definite proclamation and with signs and wonders. It’s no surprise then that the elders of Israel listen and then bow down and worship. This message has the fingerprints of a Holy God all over it and no other response will do apart from worship.
APPLICATION: Do you have a special request for which you have been begging the Lord for years? Is there something that your heart longs for above all else? This story should encourage you to keep praying, but there are some things you need to realize:
1. The desire of the Israelites to be free and to worship their God was a right desire. God can’t bless something selfish or self – serving.
2. The desire of the Israelites lined up with the Word of God as He had given it to their fathers. No matter how desperately you might cling to a desire, if it does not line up with the Word of God, God is not going to grant it.
3. Petitions must be accompanied by worship. Worship indicates that we realize that we are totally insufficient in and of ourselves to accomplish anything, that only God can help us and only God can save us.
4. Worship also indicates gratitude. The elders of Israel worshiped because they were grateful that God had indeed heard their prayers and had sent Moses and Aaron.
“But,” you say, “I don’t know how to worship.” No problem. Simply go to a quiet place. Ask God to be with you and then begin to thank Him for every good thing in your life. If you feel lost for words, open a Bible to Psalms and find one that expresses what you want to say. You can sing to the Lord, but you don’t have to. And some of the deepest worship experiences involve lots of listening and very little speaking; after all, that’s how God got Aaron to go out into the wilderness to meet Moses.
PRAYER: Father God, you know the hearts’ desires of those reading this devotional. You also know that many people feel embarrassed or inadequate when it comes to worshiping You. Please open the eyes of our hearts so that we can begin to worship you, knowing that as we do so, you will continue to guide us. And thank you for granting us the mercy to listen to us. In the mighty Name of King Jesus. Amen.
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