Day 85 — Weakness and Welcome
When God Meets Every Objection with Grace
However you can engage today, we’re here. Read, listen or both.
The written portion gives an overview, with verses broken down into smaller bites, and journaling/prayer prompts for reflection. In the podcast, Steve Traylor reflects on today’s passage with Scripture reading, a deeper pastoral teaching, and prayer (about 15 minutes). Perfect for morning coffee, commutes, or when your eyes need a rest.
📖 Resources: Printable Bible Book Guides (Genesis & Job) · Through the Wilderness: A Lenten Prayer Guide · Hard Questions, Honest Answers
Exodus 4
Take a slow breath and step into this day.
The burning bush was yesterday. God spoke His name. He described the suffering He sees. He issued the commission: Go. I am sending you. And now, in Exodus 4, that same conversation continues—not with triumph, not with Moses leaping to his feet—but with four objections, one after another, each one revealing a little more of what Moses actually believes about himself.
What is remarkable is not that Moses objected. What is remarkable is how God responded. He did not rebuke Moses into silence. He did not withdraw the call and choose someone braver. He answered. He provided. He gave signs. He gave a brother.
This chapter is not a cautionary tale about weak faith. It is a portrait of a God who pursues His messengers even when they argue, even when they plead to be excused, even when they say—with extraordinary directness—“Please send someone else.”
Moses feared the people wouldn’t believe. He was wrong. And the God who knew that already is the same God who knows what your fear has been telling you.
Today we see that grace does not wait for courage—it produces courage by going first.
1. Objection and Evidence
Exodus 4:1-9
Moses answered, “But, behold, they will not believe me, nor listen to my voice; for they will say, ‘Yahweh has not appeared to you.’”
2 Yahweh said to him, “What is that in your hand?”
He said, “A rod.”
3 He said, “Throw it on the ground.”
He threw it on the ground, and it became a snake; and Moses ran away from it.
4 Yahweh said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand, and take it by the tail.”
He stretched out his hand, and took hold of it, and it became a rod in his hand.
5 “This is so that they may believe that Yahweh, the God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has appeared to you.” 6 Yahweh said furthermore to him, “Now put your hand inside your cloak.”
He put his hand inside his cloak, and when he took it out, behold, his hand was leprous, as white as snow.
7 He said, “Put your hand inside your cloak again.”
He put his hand inside his cloak again, and when he took it out of his cloak, behold, it had turned again as his other flesh.
8 “It will happen, if they will not believe you or listen to the voice of the first sign, that they will believe the voice of the latter sign. 9 It will happen, if they will not believe even these two signs or listen to your voice, that you shall take of the water of the river, and pour it on the dry land. The water which you take out of the river will become blood on the dry land.”
Moses’ first objection is not about himself—it is about the people. What if they don’t believe me? And beneath that question is the memory of the last time he tried to help Israel and they rejected him. Past rejection is a powerful teacher. It teaches us, with great certainty, what will happen next—and it can be wrong.
God does not argue with the fear. He asks a question instead: “What is that in your hand?” Just a rod. A shepherd’s staff. The most ordinary object imaginable. And then He transforms it—throws it to the ground, and it becomes a serpent. Moses flees. He is then told to pick it up by the tail, the most dangerous way to grasp a snake. He obeys, and it becomes a staff again.
Often, God works through what is already in your hand.
The serpent carried powerful symbolism in Egypt—a symbol associated with life and divine authority. For God to transform Moses’ staff into a serpent and back again was a demonstration of sovereignty over the very symbols Pharaoh’s power rested on. Moses would need that knowledge before he walked into Pharaoh’s court.
The second sign—a leprous hand made whole—demonstrated sovereignty over the human body itself. Disease and healing are both in God’s hands. And the third sign, promised but not yet performed: Nile water turned to blood on dry ground. The very river Pharaoh weaponized to kill Hebrew sons would become testimony to the God those sons serve.
Journaling/Prayer: What “rod” is already in your hand right now—what ordinary thing, what simple capacity, what you carry every day without thinking—that God might want to use?
If that question feels too large today, simply hold the staff image: God did not wait for Moses to acquire something new. He transformed what was already there. If you have very little today, offer what you have. That is enough to begin.
2. Protest and Provision
Exodus 4:10-17
10 Moses said to Yahweh, “O Lord, I am not eloquent, neither before now, nor since you have spoken to your servant; for I am slow of speech, and of a slow tongue.”
11 Yahweh said to him, “Who made man’s mouth? Or who makes one mute, or deaf, or seeing, or blind? Isn’t it I, Yahweh? 12 Now therefore go, and I will be with your mouth, and teach you what you shall speak.”
13 Moses said, “Oh, Lord, please send someone else.”
14 Yahweh’s anger burned against Moses, and he said, “What about Aaron, your brother, the Levite? I know that he can speak well. Also, behold, he is coming out to meet you. When he sees you, he will be glad in his heart. 15 You shall speak to him, and put the words in his mouth. I will be with your mouth, and with his mouth, and will teach you what you shall do. 16 He will be your spokesman to the people. It will happen that he will be to you a mouth, and you will be to him as God. 17 You shall take this rod in your hand, with which you shall do the signs.”
After three signs and two rounds of reassurance, Moses makes his fourth objection: I am not a speaker. Whether this was a true speech difficulty or the loss of confidence from forty years in Midian, Moses believed he was unfit to speak. Acts 7:22 tells us he had been “mighty in words and deeds” in his Egyptian years—but whatever that eloquence had been, Moses was no longer certain it remained.
God’s answer stops Moses cold: “Who made man’s mouth?” Before Moses can claim inadequacy, God claims authorship. He is not discovering a flaw He forgot to account for.
The God who made the mouth Moses calls insufficient is not limited by what Moses believes about it.
And then Moses says, with remarkable candor, what he has been circling for the entire conversation: “Please send someone else.” It is the most honest thing he has said. And the text tells us plainly: God’s anger burned against Moses. This is not the comfortable kind of divine patience that has no reaction to our refusals. God was displeased. And then—He provided Aaron anyway.
God’s holy frustration with our reluctance does not stop His provision. He was angry, and He still gave Moses a brother. He was displeased, and He still said I will be with your mouth and with his mouth. The provision was not withheld until Moses shaped up. It came in the middle of the refusal—not as reward, but as grace.
Journaling/Prayer: Where have you said—in your heart, or out loud—“Please send someone else”? What were you afraid of?
Moses said these words and God did not cast him aside. If you can, tell God honestly what you’re afraid of—saying it is for your sake, not His. And if that’s too much today, simply notice: God’s response to Moses’ refusal was not silence. He kept providing. That pattern is not unique to Moses.
3. Departure and Danger
Exodus 4:18-26
18 Moses went and returned to Jethro his father-in-law, and said to him, “Please let me go and return to my brothers who are in Egypt, and see whether they are still alive.”
Jethro said to Moses, “Go in peace.”
19 Yahweh said to Moses in Midian, “Go, return into Egypt; for all the men who sought your life are dead.”
20 Moses took his wife and his sons, and set them on a donkey, and he returned to the land of Egypt. Moses took God’s rod in his hand. 21 Yahweh said to Moses, “When you go back into Egypt, see that you do before Pharaoh all the wonders which I have put in your hand, but I will harden his heart and he will not let the people go. 22 You shall tell Pharaoh, ‘Yahweh says, Israel is my son, my firstborn, 23 and I have said to you, “Let my son go, that he may serve me;” and you have refused to let him go. Behold, I will kill your firstborn son.’”
24 On the way at a lodging place, Yahweh met Moses and wanted to kill him. 25 Then Zipporah took a flint, and cut off the foreskin of her son, and cast it at his feet; and she said, “Surely you are a bridegroom of blood to me.”
26 So he let him alone. Then she said, “You are a bridegroom of blood,” because of the circumcision.
The conversation at the bush is over. Moses goes. He asks Jethro’s blessing, receives it, takes his family and the staff of God, and sets out for Egypt. The man who argued at length has now stopped arguing. Grace persisted long enough to move reluctant feet.
God gives him two things for the road: a reassurance that those who sought his life are dead, and a warning about what lies ahead. The king who had once sought Moses’ life was gone. A new Pharaoh now sat on Egypt’s throne. The threat that drove Moses into exile had passed. But a new test was coming: this Pharaoh would not surrender easily. His heart would harden. God tells Moses the message before that hardening begins: “Israel is my son, my firstborn.” This declaration of ownership is personal and fierce. What is done to God’s son will have consequences.
Then comes a jarring scene at a lodging place on the road—vv. 24-26. God “sought to kill” Moses. Zipporah acts immediately: she circumcises their son with a flint knife and the threat passes. The text is brief and ancient, and its precise mechanics remain uncertain.
What is clear is this: Moses had not circumcised his son—the mark of covenant belonging, the sign God gave Abraham. Before Moses could demand the release of God’s covenant people, covenant faithfulness had to be present in his own household. You cannot proclaim to an empire what you have not honored at home.
The God who sends us does not lower His standard for those He sends. The severity is not cruelty—it is consistency. Zipporah, not an Israelite by birth, understood what was at stake and acted—perhaps with bitterness, perhaps with urgency, perhaps with both. The text does not clean up her emotions. Neither should we.
Journaling/Prayer: Is there something in your own life—a practice, a faithfulness, a commitment—that you have delayed while still expecting God to use you elsewhere?
You don’t have to answer that out loud. Sit with it quietly before God. And if this passage feels too strange to engage today, rest in the larger truth: Moses went. Despite everything. He set his feet on the road, and God was with him on it.
4. Meeting and Mission
Exodus 4:27-28
27 Yahweh said to Aaron, “Go into the wilderness to meet Moses.”
He went, and met him on God’s mountain, and kissed him. 28 Moses told Aaron all Yahweh’s words with which he had sent him, and all the signs with which he had instructed him.
Two sentences. Two verses. And yet they carry enormous weight.
While Moses was arguing at the burning bush, Aaron was already being sent. God’s provision is often already in motion before we have finished raising our objections. Aaron did not need to be recruited or convinced. He simply went where God told him to go, walked into the wilderness, found his brother, and kissed him. The meeting on the mountain is not a reward for Moses’ eventual obedience—it is a picture of a God who was weaving the answer to Moses’ fear into the story before Moses knew the story had begun.
Journaling/Prayer: Who has God already placed near you—a companion, a friend, someone walking toward you—that you may not have recognized yet as His provision for your weakness or loneliness?
If someone comes to mind, thank God for them today. If no one does, ask God to show you—and to prepare you to receive the help He sends, without insisting on doing everything alone.
5. Gathering and Grace
Exodus 4:29-31
29 Moses and Aaron went and gathered together all the elders of the children of Israel. 30 Aaron spoke all the words which Yahweh had spoken to Moses, and did the signs in the sight of the people. 31 The people believed, and when they heard that Yahweh had visited the children of Israel, and that he had seen their affliction, then they bowed their heads and worshiped.
Moses feared they would not believe. He was wrong.
The elders gather. Aaron speaks. The signs are performed. And the people believe. Not because Moses finally found his eloquence. But because they heard a single piece of news: God had visited His people. He had seen their affliction.
That was enough.
When people who are suffering hear that God has truly seen them, something in the human soul bends toward worship. The bowed heads of the elders of Israel are the response of people who have been carrying something long and heavy and who have just been told: He knows. He sees. He has not forgotten you.
Journaling/Prayer: When did you last truly rest in the knowledge that God sees your affliction—not just as theological truth, but as felt reality?
If that felt reality feels far away, that is honest. The elders of Israel had been groaning for generations before that moment of worship. If you can, bow your head today and tell God: I believe you see me. If that is more than you can do today, simply stay. The door is open.
Summary
Exodus 4 is the chapter where Moses runs out of objections—not because God silenced him, but because God answered him. Patiently. Visibly. Practically. And sometimes with holy frustration. Every “but” was met with provision. The staff Moses carried every day became the rod of God. The brother Moses didn’t know was coming was already on the road. The people Moses feared would reject him fell to their faces in worship.
Grace does not wait for courage to precede it. It produces courage by going first.
Action / Attitude for Today
Walk through today holding this: God does not require courage before He provides—He provides in order to produce courage.
If you can, take the “What is in your hand?” question seriously today. Identify one ordinary thing you already carry—a skill, a relationship, a piece of your history, a capacity you consider unremarkable—and offer it consciously to God. You don’t have to do anything dramatic with it. Simply tell Him: This is what I have. It’s not much. But it’s Yours.
If that feels like more engagement than you have today, carry the image of Aaron on the road. Before Moses said yes, God was already sending help. Stay open to recognizing the person God may already have in motion toward you.
Say this prayer, as much of it as you mean: “Father, I have objections too—things I’m afraid of, things I don’t feel equipped for, things I’ve been saying ‘please send someone else’ about for too long. I’m not asking You to make me unafraid. I’m asking You to do what You did for Moses: answer the next objection, provide the next companion, put the rod back in my hand. I offer You what I have. Get me on the road. Amen.”
He has never once left an objection unanswered. He is not starting with yours.
The Bible for the Broken is published by Aurion Press LLC. © Aurion Press LLC. All rights reserved.