Like me, Moses did not have much self confidence, especially in his speaking abilities. He argued with God at least three times about his mission to confront Pharaoh.
It’s encouraging to read God’s response to Moses:
“11 Then the Lord asked Moses, “Who makes a person’s mouth? Who decides whether people speak or do not speak, hear or do not hear, see or do not see? Is it not I, the Lord? 12 Now go! I will be with you as you speak, and I will instruct you in what to say.”
Then He still relented and gave Moses a “mouthpiece,” so to speak, in his brother Aaron.
I’ve often wished that God would give ME a mouthpiece when I am in a speaking confrontation as Moses would be with Pharaoh! In fact, I’ve had my husband handle difficult phone calls for me. He has the ability to use what I call “searing logic” to confound and/or convince anyone. So maybe the Lord has given me a “mouthpiece,” after all!
There is a bizarre blurb in Exodus 4 that I just don’t understand. The Bible account says that when he and his family were on the way to Egypt, God confronted Moses and almost killed him. Then Zipporah, his wife, circumcised her son and somehow touched the skin she’d removed to Moses’…um…male body part.
What on earth was that all about? Didn’t God know before Moses even started out on the journey that he had an uncircumcised son? Why confront him then and not at the burning bush? Why did Zipporah tell him that he was now a “bridegroom of blood” to her?
There must be some cultural references here that I am just not understanding.
Pharaoh did not take kindly to Moses and Aaron’s request for the Hebrews to be allowed to go worship God. He punished the Hebrews all the more, taking away the straw he used to provide to help them make the bricks and requiring the slaves to gather their own straw AND produce just as many bricks per day.
The Hebrews lost hope and faith as their backs bled from the blows of their masters. Moses was understandably confused: why was God punishing them for Moses’ obedience?
God had a master plan, that’s why.
The Lord purposefully hardened Pharaoh’s heart so he could have the opportunity to “dis” all the Egyptian gods in the form of plagues.
Is it possible that today the Lord hardens the hearts of those around us in order to give himself the opportunity to reveal His glory?
EverFaith 
LOL…I reread that same passage like five times, trying to figure out what on earth was going on! Weird. I honestly must have skimmed over that whenever I read Exodus before, because I do NOT remember that. One more thing to ask God about later, I suppose!
I spoke to a wise friend of mine today and asked her about that passage.
She told me that it seemed to her that there was a triangle between Moses, his wife, and God. God had commanded the circumcision, but apparently Zipporah, who wasn’t a Hebrew, didn’t want that done to her child. My friend said that the text makes it seem like Zipporah was angry at Moses and at God when she cut off the foreskin herself and then the “bloody bridegroom” was said in the heat of anger with Moses and with God. That makes sense, doesn’t it? Moses didn’t press the issue with her b/c she wasn’t Hebrew, but God confronted him and made it clear: circumcise your son, or die. Zipporah, the hold out, does it herself, but only after her husband’s eminent danger. Maybe God confronted Moses so that Zipporah would stop whining, complaining, or objecting to it??