Moses went back to Jethro his father-in-law and said to him, “Please let me go back to my brothers in Egypt to see whether they are still alive.” And Jethro said to Moses, “Go in peace.” 19 And the Lord said to Moses in Midian, “Go back to Egypt, for all the men who were seeking your life are dead.”
Exodus 4:18-19
Pastor Shawn has been preaching through the life of Moses for a couple weeks. Last week, as he covered this scripture, God spoke something to me. If you read the text prior to verse 18, we see God giving Moses some extraordinary instructions. He’s to return to the land he fled from, after murdering the Egyptian, and demand that Pharaoh release his people from slavery. Yikes. Moses says no a few times and makes a couple excuses. God doubles down and doesn’t even give Moses the answers he seeks.
THEN, Moses begins to walk in obedience. What’s his first step in obedience? He seeks the blessing of his spiritual leader Jethro. Because of this action, we know Jethro was not just a father-in-law. He was not just the leader of the tribe Moses had been accepted into, he was Moses’ spiritual father. Moses seeks Jethro’s blessing, and THEN, we read verse 19. God doesn’t offer any peace of mind to this daunting task until after Moses takes a first step of obedience.
What is God instructing in your life? Are you still in the excuse making phase? Are you still “clarifying”? Still looking for that peace of mind? Hop to it. Get to work. Take that first step.