Zipporah

As Pastor Rob is preaching interpretation, and pastorally shepherding us applicationally through the book of Exodus, Dave and I have been so blessed to have so much to talk about throughout the week as we’re seeking to be doers of the Word and not merely hearers, and it has also given us much to talk about with others. Exodus 4:18-31 was last week’s passage, and the section on Zipporah was very surprising to me and will be the scope of this article.

So, to back it up, Rob brought out how God revealed Himself in three ways to Moses: 

• as a Father who assuaged Moses’  fears regarding the men who has sought his life in Egypt
• as the covenant-keeper who would go with Moses as he went back to Egypt;
• and as the faithful God who would always keep His promises to His covenant people, the physical sign of circumcision being the mark God required.

God then told Moses that it would not be his ability to deliver Israel from slavery, and as a matter of fact, God would further harden Pharaoh’s heart that was already hard from birth which would cause him to not let God’s firstborn son go until God would slay his own firstborn. God further explained to Moses that the purpose of God raising up Pharaoh with his hard heart against Israel was,

“to show my power, so that my name may be proclaimed in all the earth.” (Exod. 9:16)

So God gets credit and glory and is magnified by both the righteous and the unrighteous. But the response from, and the consequences to those who willingly give God glory is worship of God and deliverance from death, vs grabbing glory now and death of the firstborn.

And then there’s this little interlude about Zipporah and circumcision that I had never heard taught as Pastor Rob did, and this is where the rest of this article is going to camp out. If we are to live increasingly faithfully according to Scripture, we must be growing in our understanding of all of Scripture by studying it diligently, even these little obscure passages tucked away in the middle of Exodus 4  (2 Tim. 3:16-17; 2:15)

The context is that God has just called Moses to go back to Egypt to lead Israel out of slavery. And knowing that all the rest of Scripture calls leaders to be leading within the context of their own homes and marriages first (1 Tim. 3:4-50) in a servant-leader kind of way as they lead their family toward loving and obeying God by faithfully (not perfectly)  loving and obeying God themselves. This kind of leadership is counter-intuitive because it leads with a Kingdom-of-God authority, agenda, and power. God chooses to reveal to us that Moses had an area of his life where this kind of living wasn’t happening – in the circumcision of one of his sons. And when you stop to consider what would have happened to this son eventually when the death angel passed by Moses’ house if that son was not marked as a child within God’s covenant with Abraham… you can see the eternal repercussions of Zipporah’s helping of Moses to obey God in this thing. What a good Father YHWH was being to Moses! What a covenant-keeper and faithful God who intervened in his life to protect him from himself by giving him a helper who helped him obey God even when it was hard and thankless.

To put a finer point on this for us women at Citizens Church.

• What is one area in which the Holy Spirit is leading you to obey Him where perhaps your husband is not living obediently? Are you willing to lead him by standing behind him in humble prayer then humble entreaty to your husband to obey God together in this thing, depending on the Holy Spirit as your helper in this? Are you willing to do this even while possibly being mistreated for it or your husband not changing as you would like or in the time-frame you would like?

when, mindful of God, one endures sorrows while suffering unjustly. For what credit is it if, when you sin and are beaten for it, you endure? But if when you do good and suffer for it you endure, this is a gracious thing in the sight of God. For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps. 1 Peter 2:19-21

• Are you willing to live with a quiet heart as you wait in humble and obedient submission to God while being respectful of your husband, without a bitter or resentful heart as you entrust yourself to the Just Judge?

He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly. He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls. 1 Peter 2:22-25

• Are you willing to do this whether your husband notices and changes or not simply because you love God and want to obey Him regardless of earthly outcomes?

Likewise, wives, be subject to your own husbands, so that even if some do not obey the word, they may be won without a word by the conduct of their wives, when they see your respectful and pure conduct. 1 Peter 3:1-2

• Are you willing to practice this patient daily lifestyle as you entrust yourself to God and bank on living for what the Holy Spirit says is precious to Him? And are you willing to do so as long as God should leave you in this season, knowing He is lovingly providing for you as your God and Father and helper as you wait and pray and live in this way?
• And as you practice living this way, are you expecting that God rewards those who diligently seek Him (Heb. 11:6) which will lead to increasingly living not under the control of the circumstances that are very fearful, but living under the control of the Spirit of God?

Do not let your adorning be external—the braiding of hair and the putting on of gold jewelry, or the clothing you wear - but let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God's sight is very precious. For this is how the holy women who hoped in God used to adorn themselves, by submitting to their own husbands, as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord. And you are her children, if you do good and do not fear anything that is frightening. 1 Peter 3:3-5

• Are you wanting with all your heart to live for God and His glory rather than some lesser goal?

And for you single gals, are you willing to practice living this way, in the contexts of difficult situations that seem to never end in your life:

• perhaps you’re waiting for a suitable husband and it’s seeming long and impossible
• Difficulties with siblings or parents who don’t know, love or walk with Jesus faithfully and perhaps they even mistreat and revile you at times, making your life difficult
• Disappointments in career or school outcomes
• health situations that seems to be shutting down all your expectations or goals or plans for your life

Are you willing to live for what God calls precious as you grow in perseverance and patience as you practice living faithfully within the boundaries of these sovereignly appointed situations for as long as the Lord deems best, resting  in His goodness and justice and ability to work all these things for your Christlikeness (Rom. 8:28-29)?

·         Are we all willing to take daily steps to live for God’s Kingdom rather than our own because we believe God’s revelation of Himself that He is our Father and is working for our good, that He is our covenant-keeper even when our husbands or other authorities don’t protect us by obeying God, and that He is faithful to always keep all His promises even when those around us don’t?

This can only happen if we actually want Christlikeness more than we want relief; if we truly want God’s Kingdom to rule in our lives rather than being ruled by all our little kingdoms here and now. Some of these little kingdoms might be:

• Being treated well and having our opinions respected by others
• Being thought right by others;
• Having to have all our agendas and plans succeed;
• Having to have complete order and control of life;
• Having to have everything turn out well;
• Having to have well-ordered, self-parenting children who don’t bother us in the middle of the night or day or interrupt our plans or image or life goals;
• Having to have a fulfilling job that exactly suits our perceived needs and all our wants;
• Having to live the American dream or our own dreams fulfilled;

The Holy Spirit is the only one who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all we could ever ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to change the core of our hearts’ desires and loves, which brings Him glory.. He calls us to turn (repent) from our own way and call upon Him for this eternal work because He is the One who has already called us to His Kingdom and glory, and He who is faithful will do it! 1 Thess. 5:24

So, God uses all the difficulties in our lives, whether single or married, to bring us closer to Himself, which is once again – Immanuel, God with us! And as we as women experience that Immanuel in increasing measure in this life, we will be leading those in our lives that we are called to submit to.