Dealing with Despondency
Exodus • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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· 6 viewsWhen Moses is in despair, God reminds him who He is, what He has promised, and why that matters. As we look back, we can ask 3 serious questions of our own despondency: Do you know WHO the Lord is? Do you know WHAT the Lord has promised? Do you know WHO you are?
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How many of you can remember a time when you have felt hopeless? Maybe you felt like the problem you were facing was insurmountable- no way out.
I’m reminded of Adoniram Judson, the first missionary to Burma who lived in the mid 1800’s. He faced many challenges. He was imprisoned on several occasions- only keeping alive because his wife brought food. When he was released, he found his wife almost starved to death and very ill. She had given birth to his daughter who was also emaciated in condition.
His wife survived both scarlet fever and cerebral meningitis, she died a year later while Adoniram was away. A month later, his daughter passed away from illness. Death was all around him. He was broken… He fled into the jungle and began living as a hermit. He questioned everything- his life, his calling. He gave away all his possessions, dug his own grave, and sat beside it for days.
I believe he probably prayed for God to take him out of this miserable world...
Adoniram Judson was indeed in despair. Now, God brought him out of it, but the despair he faced was as real as it gets. I wonder if you’ve ever felt like that?
As we turn back to Moses, we see a bit of despair had crept in. In chapter 5, Moses was rejected by Pharaoh and all that he was hoping for was seemingly snatched away. But God wasn’t finished yet.
As we pick up in chapter 6, we see God’s response to Moses’ despair. I believe that as we walk through this passage together, we can see 3 questions we need to ask when despondency sets in in our lives.
1 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Now you shall see what I will do to Pharaoh; for under compulsion he will let them go, and under compulsion he will drive them out of his land.”
2 God spoke further to Moses and said to him, “I am the Lord;
3 and I appeared to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, as God Almighty, but by My name, Lord, I did not make Myself known to them.
4 “I also established My covenant with them, to give them the land of Canaan, the land in which they sojourned.
5 “Furthermore I have heard the groaning of the sons of Israel, because the Egyptians are holding them in bondage, and I have remembered My covenant.
6 “Say, therefore, to the sons of Israel, ‘I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will deliver you from their bondage. I will also redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great judgments.
7 ‘Then I will take you for My people, and I will be your God; and you shall know that I am the Lord your God, who brought you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians.
8 ‘I will bring you to the land which I swore to give to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and I will give it to you for a possession; I am the Lord.’ ”
9 So Moses spoke thus to the sons of Israel, but they did not listen to Moses on account of their despondency and cruel bondage.
10 Now the Lord spoke to Moses, saying,
11 “Go, tell Pharaoh king of Egypt to let the sons of Israel go out of his land.”
12 But Moses spoke before the Lord, saying, “Behold, the sons of Israel have not listened to me; how then will Pharaoh listen to me, for I am unskilled in speech?”
13 Then the Lord spoke to Moses and to Aaron, and gave them a charge to the sons of Israel and to Pharaoh king of Egypt, to bring the sons of Israel out of the land of Egypt.
Who is the Lord? (1-4)
Who is the Lord? (1-4)
What are God’s Promises? (5-9)
What are God’s Promises? (5-9)
Who are we? (7-13)
Who are we? (7-13)
