God’s Word is perfect, holy, and without flaw, but what about the people God used to record it? Were the men chosen to be His voice worthy of our worship? The short answer is no, definitely not. 

Moses authored the first five books of the Bible. Collectively, they are called the Torah by the Jews and the Pentateuch by Christians, and they tell of the creation story, God’s covenant love for His people, and the law He gave as He led them toward the promised land. Most importantly, they foreshadow Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection. 

Moses was appointed by God to write the first pages of His holy word, but it was not because he was eloquent or confident. He was actually a reluctant and slow speaker, a man full of questions and doubt. 

Moses' own life was a testament to the power of the one true God, and his is a story unlike any other. His very first breaths were threatened by an order to kill all Hebrew boys, but he didn’t die. His mother feared Yahweh more than Pharaoh, and his life was spared in the reeds of the Nile. His first encounter with God was through a burning bush, and his face glowed when he received God’s law for His people on tablets made of stone. He watched God part deep waters and walked through them on dry ground, leading God’s children to safety.

The God who delivered Moses in the Nile used Moses to ultimately deliver Israel from slavery toward the promised land. Through it all, God revealed the depth of His covenantal love for His people.

In every stage of Moses’ life, we can trace God’s presence. Exodus 33:11 says, “the Lord used to speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend.” Yet just like us, Moses still doubted, hesitated, and lost his temper, but God was not deterred. He never needed him to be perfect; He chose him, brokenness included. God wanted him to record how He rescued and redeemed His children, and how that rescue points to the eternal rescue Jesus offers us. 

We fall short but His Word does not. It is living and active, and His Spirit guides us as we commit our lives to reading it. Through Moses’s writings, God is still speaking today, putting on full display His glorious grace as He continually rescues imperfect people.

Let’s do more than just admire these words though. As we read God’s Word, let’s truly meditate on it and take it to heart. May they be our provision in our own seasons of wilderness and our defense in temptation, as we trust the words Jesus quoted from Moses: “Man must not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.”