MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.— Exodus 4:20
THE JOURNEY TO EGYPT
I. That a good man journeying on the service of God should take his family with him. “And Moses took his wife and sons,” &c. When a man is going on the errands of God he should always take his family with him, that they may participate in his work, its responsibility, its sorrow, and its victory. Never go on any good errand without your family; it is well to teach the youthful feet to walk in obedience to God. Many a young man has learned the art, and gathered the spirit and desire for Christian service, by being taken to it by a godly parent. Are you journeying to heaven? Take your family with you.
II. That a good man journeying on the service of God should take his rod with him. Never go on a journey of moral service without God. Especially if you are a minister of the Gospel, take the rod on your journey to Egypt.
1. It will keep you humble. It will remind you of your humble occupation in the desert, when you are tempted to pride, in the great service to which God has called you. Every Christian worker needs to have something within his soul to inspire humility.
2. It will make you happy. When you are desponding and sad, when the work does not open up to your effort as you would wish, the rod will remind you of the vision at the bush, and of the miracles wrought at the commencement of the mission. The reason why there are so many unhappy workers in the Church is because they have left the rod at home.
3. It will make you powerful. With this rod Moses was to work miracles. So if Christian workers had the rod of God in their hand, they would be able to show to the world much more effectively than they do, the holy tokens of their mission. To all the emancipators of the souls of men we would say, Never journey to Egypt without your rod. God has given it to you. He has consecrated it by His promise. He has made it the symbol of his power. You cannot afford to travel without it. No other rod can supply its place.