We may well question how far genuine faith, or a mortified will, dictated the "_wherefore?_" and the "_why?_" of Moses, in the above quotation. Still, the Lord does not rebuke a remonstrance drawn forth by the intense pressure of the moment. He most graciously replies, "Now shalt thou see what I will do to Pharaoh: for with a strong hand shall he let them go, and with a strong hand shall he drive them out of his land." (Chap. vi. 1.) This reply breathes peculiar grace. Instead of reproving the petulance which could presume to call in question the unsearchable ways of the great I AM, that ever-gracious One seeks to relieve the harassed spirit of His servant by unfolding to him what He was about to do. This was worthy of the blessed God--the unupbraiding Giver of every good and every perfect gift. "He knoweth our frame; He remembereth that we are dust." (Ps. ciii. 14.)
Nor is it merely in His actings that He would cause the heart to find its solace, but in Himself--in His very name and character. This is full, divine, and everlasting blessedness. When the heart can find its sweet relief in God Himself--when it can retreat into the strong tower which His name affords--when it can find, in His character, a perfect answer to all its need, then, truly, it is raised far above the region of the creature, it can turn away from earth's fair promises, it can place the proper value on man's lofty pretensions. The heart which is endowed with an experimental knowledge of God can not only look forth upon earth, and say, "All is vanity;" but it can also look straight up to Him, and say, "All my springs are in Thee."
"And God spake unto Moses, and said unto him, 'I am the Lord: and I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, by the name of God Almighty; but by My name JEHOVAH was I not known to them. And I have also established My covenant with them to give them the land of Canaan, the land of their pilgrimage, wherein they were strangers. And I have also heard the groaning of the children of Israel, whom the Egyptians keep in bondage; and I have remembered My covenant.'" "JEHOVAH" is the title which He takes as the Deliverer of His people, on the ground of His covenant of pure and sovereign grace. He reveals Himself as the great self-existing Source of redeeming love, establishing His counsels, fulfilling His promises, delivering His elect people from every enemy and every evil. It was Israel's privilege ever to abide under the safe covert of that significant title--a title which displays God acting for His own glory, and taking up His oppressed people in order to show forth in them that glory.