The Sovereignty and Power of God

​Exodus 4:11 ~ “Then the LORD said to him, ‘Who has made man’s mouth? Who makes him mute, or deaf, or seeing, or blind? Is it not I, the LORD?’”
 
Moses was quite convinced that he was the exact wrong person to go into Egypt and deliver the people of God from their enslavement. However, God had commanded Moses to go back to Egypt and deliver the nation of Israel and lead them out. The great dilemma that stood in front of the aged man was his inability, his limitations—his weakness. When Moses was younger, he tried with his own strength to be Israel’s deliverer. In Exodus 2:11-12 we read, “One day, when Moses had grown up, he went out to his people and looked on their burdens, and he saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his people. He looked this way and that, and seeing no one, he struck down the Egyptian and hid him in the sand.” Now, forty years later, Moses was reluctant to return. But the point is this: God is the One who will be the means by which His commands are fulfilled. We have the responsibility to go forth in obedience, but God does not expect that His purpose is accomplished in our power. Did not our LORD Jesus tell us this very thing in John 15:5, “I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.”
 
Our text for today comes as a conversation between Moses and the LORD God. Moses was laying out his objections to the calling to go back to Egypt. Let me encourage you to read Exodus chapters three and four in order to get the full picture of this encounter. Moses’ final objection is found in Exodus 4:10, “But Moses said to the LORD, ‘Oh, my Lord, I am not eloquent, either in the past or since you have spoken to your servant, but I am slow of speech and of tongue.’” Today’s verse is God’s response to that final objection. And it is a telling statement concerning the sovereignty and power of the LORD Almighty. God already had turned a staff into a serpent, had made Moses’ hand leprous and then restored, and had promised a sign from the waters of the Nile River to prove that the patriarch was being directed by God (see Exodus 4:1-9). Now the LORD confronts Moses with a question.
 
“Who made man’s mouth?” This rhetorical question is a direct response to Moses’ objection that he could not speak with any eloquence. Surely going back into Pharoah’s court would require an orator that was capable of proclaiming words that were exceptionally persuasive. But God dismissed the objection with this simple truth: it is God who made your mouth—it will be God who fills it with the right words. Our LORD Jesus tells His disciples something similar when He says in Mark 13:11, “And when they bring you to trial and deliver you over, do not be anxious beforehand what you are to say, but say whatever is given you in that hour, for it is not you who speak, but the Holy Spirit.” Ultimately, God told Moses that his objection was without merit for it rested upon man’s ability and not God’s power.
 
Now, you may be asking this: what does this verse have to do with the sovereignty of God? It is simply this: God is the One who makes man mute or deaf, seeing or blind. There are many who declare that the challenges faced by the human race are outside of the LORD. Much of the illnesses and struggles are attributed to God’s enemy, and yet the LORD told Moses that it was He who makes man all these things. The disciples questioned why a man was born blind and Jesus did not say that it was the devil who afflicted the man but that it was for the work of God to be displayed (see John 9:1-3). Paul recounted to the church that it was because of an illness that he first preached the gospel to them (see Galatians 4:13). There are times when the enemy does have opportunity to afflict people, to bring illness and trouble (for an example, see Matthew 9:32). But even then, God is still sovereign.
 
There is no need to try and separate God from the troubles we face. If you’ve suffered in this world, and have gone through trials and challenges that seem daunting, remember our text today and trust that the God who loves you completely, also has purposed what you face. Romans 8:28 states, “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.”
 
Moses was called upon to trust God’s sovereignty and to go forward in obedience to God’s command. And, dear Christian, we are called to do the same. We must trust that what God has put before us will be accomplished through us by the LORD’s strength and power. The God of Heaven, who has the power to put words upon the lips of Moses to speak to Pharoah, is the same God of Heaven who has the power to take your weakness and work through you too.
 
In His Grace,
Pastor Michael

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