Moses: Accepted--then Rejected

So Moses returned to the LORD and said,

"Lord, why have You brought trouble on this people?

Why is it You have sent me?

For since I came to Pharaoh to speak in Your name,

he has done evil to this people;

neither have You delivered Your people at all."

Exodus 5:22-23

It was a day 80 years in the making.  After all the education, the experience, the false starts and failures, after decades of what seemed to be wasted effort, Moses finally arrived in Egypt to tell his people the time of their deliverance had come.  With brother Aaron as his spokesman, he gathered all the elders of Israel together, gave them God's word, and performed the miraculous signs God had given him to prove that he really did have God's backing.  And those elders, the grandchildren and great-grandchildren of the sons of Jacob who had come to Egypt as refugees only to be enslaved and abused, bowed their heads and worshiped the Lord, knowing that God had heard their prayers.

Their acceptance of Moses was unanimous.  He was God's man, a man of faith of power, and they were going to follow him to the Promised Land.  "Yes!" they cried.  "We're behind you all the way!"  How inspiring and empowering that moment must have been for an unsure stutterer who had come to this moment in time with a heart full of trepidation.  In just a few short moments with these aged patriarchs, he had secured their confidence, and was certain that an audience with Pharaoh would seal God's promises to them.  All he had to do was show Pharaoh the staff-turned-snake-turned-staff-again, the hand-turned-leprous-turned-clean-again, and the water-turned-blood, and that would be enough to convince Pharaoh the best thing he could do was let God's people go.

Only things didn't quite work out that way.  When Moses appeared before Pharaoh to declare the word of the Lord, Pharaoh did not respond well to the message.

First he accused Moses of distracting his Hebrew workforce with fantastical pipe dreams.

Next he demanded more work from the Hebrews while providing less resources for them.

Finally he set his taskmasters on the Hebrews to threaten, abuse, and drive them to work harder.

This was not what the Hebrews had expected.  This was not what they had been promised by this upstart prophetic leadership team of Moses and Aaron.  Where was the deliverance?  Where were the miracles?  Where was the power of God?  And in their anger, confusion, and disappointment, they turned on God's man of faith and power with the bitter accusation, "Look what you've done to us!"

I think back on a lifetime of acceptance--and rejection--in ministry.  As a very young man, I sat with a board of deacons who 3-1 approved of my candidacy to be their pastor, and then in the actual voting process, voted 3-1 against me.  Knowing that the only no votes were them and their kin, with one abstention, and the rest of the church wanted me as the pastor, I accepted the election.  But it still hurt.  When I was reelected two years later by a unanimous vote and in the midst of tremendous growth and an atmosphere of revival, I really felt like I was on top of the world.  Until the day when three of my deacons, friends and workers all, turned on me in a board meeting, rejecting my vision for the future of our church and therefore me as their leader, and the rest of my deacons, friends and workers all, sat silently by while it happened.

I think of the man who championed my candidacy at another church, absolutely convinced that I was God's man for the hour.  I was elected there with a strong vote of confidence, and for six months carried on as if we were on our way to another outbreak of revival.  And then there was the disagreement, and the discovery that my personal champion was a Pharisee, a hypocrite, and a hard man to cross.  With what I hoped then and still believe now was the wisdom of God, I carefully navigated a treacherous path to save a church that I saw was in grave danger, and with the support of those who had the intestinal fortitude to stand with me, I opposed a brood of vipers publicly and won--but it cost me half my church to do so.

I think of the people who lovingly supported me at another church, right up until the day I left, then leveled a barrage of accusations at my departing back.  The accusations were false and quickly proven so, but the damage done to my own soul and the relationships I had shared with some of the dearest people I've ever known was almost unbearable.

I think of the people who one day were putting their arms around my shoulders in friendship, and the next were trying to throttle me when I didn't do things their way.  I think of the one who called me "son" and then betrayed my confidence in a way that could have destroyed my entire life, had wiser and more merciful minds not prevailed.  I think of the one who pastored me and promoted my ministry under his leadership, then tried to ruin me as he himself was falling.  I think of the one I defended as an upright and honest man, whose lies finally came to light when they were spoken about me.  And there have been many others.

I know what it's like to be accepted, only to be rejected later.  I know what it's like to think you are loved, only to find out it was faked.  I know what it's like to be taken in and and led on with words, only to have actions make it all a lie.  I know what it's like to be lauded in one breath, and defamed in the next.  And I know what it's like to want to give up in the moment, to facepalm myself in exasperation or throw up my hands in resignation.  I know what it's like to want to quit everything and just walk away, but for the call of God.

Because when God puts you in a place, you better stay there until God says you've finished the work He set for you to do.

Even Jesus knows what it's like.  On one day, the multitudes cried out, "Hosanna!  Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!"  But on another soon after, they were all calling, "Crucify Him!"

So on that day when Moses had his leadership accepted in the morning and rejected in the evening, he did the only thing he could do.  He went to God with his questions, and waited upon God to answer them.  And God surely did.