Things seem to come together quickly and easily for Moses. God sends Aaron to meet him. Moses tells him everything and Aaron accepts the role of spokesperson. They gather the elders together. Aaron does the talking with the words God gave Moses.
Aaron displays the signs that God gave Moses to do. God gave Moses the signs as what to do if they didn’t believe him. God said if they didn’t believe the first sign he could do the next one, even giving him a third sign.
If we put the two texts together, it would seem the elders didn’t believe at first. Then they saw multiple signs. It says, “And the people believed.” Then it says that they bowed and worshiped the Lord. Why? Because they were touched when they realized that God had seen their affliction. He was going to deliver them.
What’s wrong with that kind of belief? What’s wrong with that kind of worship? They believed because they saw the signs. They worshiped because they thought they were going to get what they wanted, deliverance, the freedom to leave and no longer take orders.
What’s wrong with that? The problem is when we don’t see. If we don’t see the sign, do we stop believing? And what about worshiping because God is doing what you want Him to do? What happens when things don’t go according to your plan? Is He still worthy of worship?
We’ll see in the story how quickly the belief and worship flounder. We worship God because we believe who He is. He is unchanging, so our belief and worship should be unchanging, unwavering.
Is God not God if He doesn’t show a sign? Is the truth not true because we don’t see it? Is God not worthy if we don’t get what we want? Are we seeking God or seeking after the flesh?
Going to God because you want things (even if you think you need them) isn’t believing and worshiping. It’s loving the flesh. We seek after Him and His righteousness believing we’ll have everything we need (Matthew 6:33). We believe that He exists and that He rewards those who seek Him, but the reward we want is God Himself! (see Heb. 11:6, Matt. 13:46)