Exodus 4:1

"And Moses answered and said, But, behold, they will not believe me, nor hearken to my voice; for they will say, Jehovah hath not appeared unto thee."

Moses, in these verses, records his sins and weakness with the same fullness and impartiality seen in all that he wrote. That Moses was clearly at fault here lies in the fact that God had already assured him that the people would believe him (Exodus 3:18). In respect to the natural weakness of the flesh, God was not displeased with him, but gave three signs, which however discernible in later wonders, were here specifically for the purpose of establishing Moses' faith and removing his objections. The three were: (1) the rod-serpent; (2) the leprosy, and (3) the water changed to blood.

"They will not believe me ..." This is quite a human thing that Moses did here. When looked at purely from the human standpoint, what God was requiring of Moses was absolutely impossible. Only one man, without money, without troops, without military experience, or without anything else that men would have considered necessary, Moses had been commissioned to deliver 2,000,000 slaves from bondage, thus depriving their earthy lords of fantastic benefits and profits! As Ellison pointed out, however, ministers of God today are often inclined to shirk their own duties by blaming what they consider to be the shortcomings and faithlessness of the church members, "and think that this absolves (them) from their responsibilities."[1] Sure, Moses displayed a weakness of faith here, but, as Fields pointed out, "Moses finally obeyed, and because he is called a man of faith (Hebrews 11:24-29), we are reluctant to say he lacked faith."[2] "This weakness of Moses magnified the power of God, making GOD, not Moses, the Hero and Mover in the Book of Exodus."[3]