After having his words rejected by his own people. Moses is reluctant to go back to the king. But this is what he came to Egypt to do and the Lord gives him a pep talk to get him and Aaron back on course.
"Now when the Lord spoke to Moses in Egypt, He said to him, 'I am the Lord. Tell Pharaoh king of Egypt everything I tell you.' But Moses said to the Lord, 'Since I speak with faltering lips, why would Pharaoh listen to me?'" (Exodus 6:28-30) Moses asked the same question while he was still in Midian, before he'd ever tried any form of public speaking. Now that he's had some experience with it---and unfruitful experience at that---he's even more doubtful that he can accomplish anything for the Israelites.
But the work doesn't depend on Moses' ability. It depends on the Lord's power. The Lord needs to get Moses' mind off of himself. Besides, the Lord still intends to let Aaron do the most of the talking just as He promised Moses in Midian. The Lord would have preferred using only Moses, of the "faltering lips", to do the talking because that would have convinced Pharaoh even more (eventually) that the power behind Moses is the God of Israel. If Moses stood before the king speaking in slow and halting words, perhaps with a speech impediment as some scholars believe, Moses wouldn't have seemed very intimidating to the king. The power of the Lord in Moses would have been that much more stunning and impressive. The king would have had to acknowledge Moses wasn't working alone or in his own strength. But in His patience and mercy the Lord allows Moses to take his brother along to be the spokesperson. I am not sure whether Moses would ever have had the courage to go before the king without his brother to do the talking. His insecurities have too strong of a hold on him, so the Lord allows Aaron to be a part of this process.
"Then the Lord said to Moses, 'See, I have made you like God to Pharaoh, and your brother Aaron will be your prophet.'" (Exodus 7:1) The Lord's intention is that when Pharaoh sees Moses, by extension he sees God. Pharaoh is going to come to fear Moses because of the God behind him. Aaron, because he is the main speaker, will be like a prophet.
"You are to say everything I command you, and your brother Aaron is to tell Pharaoh to let the Israelites go out of his country. But I will harden Pharaoh's heart, and though I multiply My signs and wonders in Egypt, he will not listen to you. Then I will lay My hand on Egypt and with mighty acts of judgment I will bring out My divisions, My people the Israelites. And the Egyptians will know that I am the Lord when I stretch out My hand against Egypt and bring the Israelites out of it.'"(Exodus 7:2-5) As we discussed earlier in our study of Exodus, the Lord isn't forcing Pharaoh to be anyone he doesn't want to be. Pharaoh is already a hard-hearted man. He proved it by how he's treating the Israelites. The Lord is going to allow the king to continue resisting. The Lord isn't going to step in and miraculously change the king's heart against the king's will.
The more Pharaoh hardens his heart, the more powerful the Lord's works become in Egypt. The Lord will show Pharaoh and all the Egyptians exactly Who they are dealing with. It's not Moses and Aaron Pharaoh is rejecting; it's Almighty God.
Moses and Aaron are encouraged. They get on with the work. "Moses and Aaron did just as the Lord commanded them. Moses was eighty years old and Aaron was eighty-three when they spoke to Pharaoh." (Exodus 7:6)
These men don't use their age as an excuse to sit back and let someone else work for the Lord in their place. They don't say, "Lord, let some younger guys do it. We are past our prime. Let some of these strong, confident young men lead the people out of Egypt. The people will rally behind them better than they'd rally behind a couple of dudes who look like their grandpa." No, Moses and Aaron may have had their insecurities, but age isn't one of them. The Lord can use us at any age to do great things for Him. Think of the Apostle John, for example, who is believed to have been in his nineties when he wrote the book of Revelation. The fact is, the Lord can do great things with us if we're willing to let Him, no matter what our age and no matter what insecurities we have. The power is of Him, not of us. If God had chosen a charismatic speaker to go before Pharaoh, Pharaoh's eyes would have been on the man and not on the God behind the man. If God had chosen a young man who stood 6'5" tall and weighed 250 pounds of pure muscle to go before the king, the king might have been afraid of the man instead of the God behind the man. Instead, to stand before Pharaoh, God chose an eighty-year-old shepherd who was slow of speech and filled with doubts and insecurities so His own power and glory would be displayed. As the Lord said to the Apostle Paul when Paul prayed for an unnamed affliction to be removed from his life, "My power is made perfect in weakness." (2 Corinthians 12:9)
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