exodus 4:6-7
(6) In addition the Lord said to him, “Put your hand inside your cloak.” So he put his hand inside his cloak, and when he took it out, his hand was diseased, resembling snow.
(7) “Put your hand back inside your cloak,” he said. So he put his hand back inside his cloak, and when he took it out, it had again become like the rest of his skin.
I have been going through the Old Testament at a slower pace recently. Partially because I wanted to take more time to understand it’s purpose and message, but also because of isolation.
My eyes skimmed across this passage, but then something drew me back.
The first time I read it, I hadn’t realised what a big thing this was.
In this context, skin disease would make Moses unclean (Leviticus 13) and potentially make him an outcast in his own community.
In verse 6, Moses had no idea that God would make his hand diseased, let alone return it back to it’s normal (healthy) condition!
The Bible beautifully transitions the moment where Moses’ hand was diseased to when it was healed. In the blink of an eye and a skim of a line, Moses’ hand was restored.
But when I really begin slow down, I can’t even begin to image in the fear that Moses faced, the panic when he took his hand out of that cloak! If that were me I would’ve had so many questions: Why did God allow this to happen? He knows I can’t go to see Pharaoh like this! How can God fulfil His promise to someone like me?
But in his faithfulness, God removes the disease as quickly as he gives it. It wasn’t a punishment or a miraculous healing, but rather a sign. A sign that would be recorded for generations so that we can read it and trace God’s love back to the beginning.
Moses needed to trust God when he put his hand back in the cloak. We don’t hear God telling him that his hand will be healed, we simply hear that God tells Moses to put his hand back in the cloak. For all Moses knew, it couldn’t come back worse!
What have I learnt from two verses of the Old Testament? That I would love to have the trust and faith that Moses had.
Matthew 17:20: Because of your little faith,” he told them. “For truly I tell you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will tell this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”
Am I trusting God today?
Psalm 36:7
