Difficulties Following the Will of God Ex. 3,4,5 CLICK TITLE FOR AUDIO

You will face a number of difficulties following the will of God.  We sometimes think that when we surrender to do the will of God, everything is going to immediately fall into place.  Often that’s not so.  Often you experience more difficulties following the will of God than you did before you started doing his will.  The common difficulties following the will of God are:

Your Own Disbelief – Ex 3:11 – at first you are incredulous – you want to say, “There ain’t no way you’re calling me to do this” – but look, there’s no one else in that burning bush but God – indeed this is God calling you – God’s remedy for your doubt is this, he says, “I will be with thee,” [Ex 3:12] – the Lord is saying in essence, “I’m not going to do it for you; but neither are you going to have to do it alone.”

Others’ Skepticism – Ex 3:13; 4:1 – it’s already hard enough for you to accept the will of God for your life but now you have to convince others who know you that this is what God wants you to do – your parents, spouse, children, co-workers, close friends and so forth are going to think you’ve “lost your mind,” joined a cult,” “been talked into something,” “aren’t thinking about your family,” “gone off the deep end,” or something – God’s remedy for their skepticism is this, “I AM hath sent me” – God has a specific work for you to do that is very beneficial for others.

Personal Limitations – Ex 4:10 – when you consider what God wants you to do, you know that you don’t have the ability – you can think of any number of excuses why God shouldn’t call you to this work – listen, he wouldn’t have called you if he didn’t think you could get the job done – the recognition of your inability should do nothing more than keep you humble and dependent upon the grace of God – your individual limitations shouldn’t persuade you to refuse his will.

Family Opposition – Ex 4:24-26 – it doesn’t appear that Zipporah was all that happy about God’s will for Moses – as a matter of fact Moses sent her and her two sons back to her father’s house until they passed through the Red Sea and fought off the Amalekites [Ex 18:1-5] – sometimes you may have to put up with an angry or disappointed spouse for a while when you surrender to do God’s will – but if it is really God’s will then patiently lead your family as you follow the Lord – don’t quit on account of their initial opposition.

Imposing Timidity – Ex 5:1-3 – when Pharaoh responded to Moses and Aaron, he scared them so badly that they added the last part of Ex 5:3 to what God had said in Ex 3:18 and left out Ex 4:22-23 altogether – it is easy to be “afraid of their faces” [Jer 1:8] when you are charged with doing a job like Moses and Aaron had to do – as you follow their confrontations with Pharaoh between the plagues you see them becoming bolder and bolder with each successive visit to the palace – don’t trouble yourself too much when you initially shake in your boots at the thought of doing God’s will in front of imposing people – with time, you will become more courageous.

Additional Hardships – Ex 5:9 – when you are in God’s will, you expect things to start working out – but many times they don’t – they get harder – the reason is that you and God have an adversary – and he’s going to try to stop you by hindering you, discouraging you and wearing you out – he’ll mess with you and with those you are trying to help.

Congregational Conflict – Ex 5:20-21 – here you are in the middle of God’s will and the people you are called to help are mad at you for the trouble brewing up in their lives – it’s like you stirred up a hornets nest and the problem is your fault not the adversary’s – this is a time when you need to be absolutely sure of the Lord’s direction and you need to be steadfast and unmovable in the work of the Lord.

Short Memory – Ex 5:22-23 – when you find several of these things happening at the same time [compound difficulties] it is going to be very hard for you to remember what the Lord showed you when he first called you – Moses forgot about Ex 3:19-20 and Ex 4:21 right about here – and now he was fussing with the Lord – thankfully, the Lord understands this difficulty and reminds us of his will [Ex 6:1] – it’s okay to get fussy with God, just don’t stay there and get bitter – take your concern to the Lord and get over it.

Conclusion: the will of God is the absolute best place on earth you could possibly be – but getting there and staying there are not without their difficulties – when you face these difficulties following the will of God just remember Moses – everything that God said he would do with him came to pass exactly the way God said – God’s will was done and Moses was the man that God used to get it done.