Years ago, I attended a week long Law Enforcement training at the State Patrol Academy in Shelton, WA. It was a very professional and serious place and I remember feeling very out of place. I had this uncontrollable impulse to act like Larry the Cable Guy's cousin. Every answer needed a "shucky darn" or a "shor'nuff" somewhere in it.
Everyone in the class was an experienced Law Enforcement official in some capacity, so you would expect the classes to move quickly. But nope, that just would be asking too much.
To this day I remember a state employee that sat in the right front corner of every class. As soon as the instructor would say, "OK, lets take a break" or "Lets go to lunch", she would raise her hand and say, "What if.....".
She would run every scenario known to man right at break time. "What if 10,000 pideon's land on my patrol car and there is a PTEA official taking photos and I have to....."
I didn't even realize it was possible to hear someone roll their eyes. However, when a whole classroom full of people all roll their eyes at the same time, you can hear the sarcasm echoing off the walls.
But there is always one in every class I have attended. "What it....."
This morning "Steve" our Sunday School Bible teacher read Exodus 4:1-5 in the New Living Translation. In this story we discovered that Moses was one of those, "What if...." guys.
1 But Moses protested again, “What if they won’t believe me or listen to me?
What if they say, ‘The LORD never appeared to you’?”
2 Then the LORD asked him, “What is that in your hand?”
“A shepherd’s staff,” Moses replied.
3 “Throw it down on the ground,” the LORD told him. So Moses threw down the staff, and it turned into a snake! Moses jumped back.
4 Then the LORD told him, “Reach out and grab its tail.” So Moses reached out and grabbed it, and it turned back into a shepherd’s staff in his hand.
5 “Perform this sign,” the LORD told him. “Then they will believe that the LORD, the God of their ancestors—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob—really has appeared to you.”
OK, so God tells Moses to march into the throne room of the most powerful leader in the whole world, and demand that he release all the Hebrew slaves.
Moses could just feel the heat of Pharaoh's wrath, even before he got started.
So Moses in a moment of fear, asked God, "What if...." -- can you believe that?
Moses questioned God.
I would love to think that if God tapped me on the shoulder and said, "Shane, I want you to.....", that I would have the good sense to simply shut up and saddle up.
So to keep this short, God tells Moses to throw his shepherd staff on the ground.
Moses does and it immediately becomes a Cobra (at least that is the type of snake most theologians believes is most likely).
And since the mighty Moses was terrified of Cobras, he screamed -- turned and ran.
Tell me God doesn't smirk & roll His eyes?
So this next part isn't in the text, but I can hear God having a "man to man" conversation with Moses. And here is my suspected paraphrase of that conversation.
God: Moses when you throw your staff on the ground it will turn into a Cobra
Moses: God, what if....
God: Moses, if you turn and run away screaming, the miracle will lose its impact.
Moses: God, what if.....
God: Do it because I am God and I told you to do it
Moses: God, what if.....
God: (((( sigh ))))
And if you have any doubt that this took place, listen as I read Exodus 4:12:
"Now go! I will be with you as your speak, and I will instruct you on what to say."
Exodus 4:13
But Moses again pleaded, "Lord, please! Send anyone else."
Exodus 4:14
Then the Lord became angry with Moses.....
At some point, each of us must face our fears and decide, "Am I going to trust that God is good and will bring about the best solution in every circumstance?"
Or
"Am I going to look back at all the past failures in my life and refuse to leave my comfort zone?"
