Exodus 4:1
"And Moses answered and said, But, behold, they will not believe me, nor hearken unto my voice: for they will say, The LORD hath not appeared unto thee."
We often remember Moses’ great feats and forget his doubts. At the burning bush, after forty years in exile as a shepherd in Midian, Moses questioned his own qualifications. He was convinced the Israelites would reject him: “They will not believe me.”
God had already promised, “I will be with thee,” and even guaranteed that the people would one day worship on this very mountain (Horeb/Sinai). Yet Moses still feared he lacked credibility. Raised in Pharaoh’s court but absent from Egypt for four decades after killing an Egyptian, he had no shared suffering with his people. To them, he was a stranger returning with a bold claim of divine authority.
His hesitation was realistic. After generations of brutal slavery, the Israelites were demoralized and hopeless. In ancient Near Eastern culture, a prophet needed clear signs to be believed, otherwise his message would be dismissed as delusion or deceit.
This pivotal calling highlights the contrast between human weakness and God’s power.
Moses doubted himself.
But God did not.
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