Who, Me?

Weekend Reading

Then Moses said to the LORD, “O my Lord, I am not eloquent,
neither before nor since You have spoken to Your servant;
but I am slow of speech and slow of tongue.” So the
LORD said to him, “Who has made man’s mouth?
Or who makes the mute, the deaf, the seeing,
or the blind? Have not I, the LORD? Now go,
and I will be with your mouth and teach
therefore, you what you shall say.”
(Exodus 4:10-12)

Thoughts: Like most people, Moses was a pretty insecure guy. He had lost a great job and had wandered in obscurity for 40 years before the Lord appeared to him in a burning bush with a new assignment.

Keep in mind that it was a burning bush from which God spoke! You typically wouldn’t backtalk God if he spoke to you from a burning bush. Yet Moses offered one excuse after another as to why God had come to the wrong guy!

You’d think if the Almighty showed up in such dramatic fashion Moses might have been convinced that he indeed must the right man. A God who is powerful enough to speak through a burning bush that doesn’t consume itself, and in fact, calls out your name from the bush, doesn’t tend to show up at the wrong address.

Moses’ problem was that he was more focused on his own inadequacies than on God’s adequacies. Moses was not the one who would have to do all the heavy lifting—God would. Yet God always works through human beings—men and women, by the way, who end up getting a lot of credit when God works through them. And, you know the rest of the story. Moses got more than his fair share of recognition for the mighty acts that God wrought through him.

The truth is, the weaker the vessel, the greater glory to the One who pours his presence and power into and out through that vessel. The more obvious the inadequacies, the bigger the challenge, the greater the unlikelihood, the larger the set-up for a testimony that will be passed down through generations of the power of God displayed in the life of one human being who was faithful, available and useful to the purposes of the Almighty.

You may not be called to call down plagues or part the Red Sea, but I’ve got a feeling that you are exactly the kind of person God is looking for through whom he will do some incredible stuff!

Prayer: Dear God, I understand Moses’ reluctance. Sometimes I wonder why in the world I am someone you would want to use. Yet you are the One who made me just as I am, placed me where you want me to be, and called me to represent your name. And if you called, you will provide all the resources needed to secure victory, bring greater glory and honor to your name, and leave a legacy of what God can do through simple people submitted to your purposes. Lord, help me to place greater confidence in you than I’ve ever done before. And may through my life may your name be exalted in all the land. May my life be a testimony to future generations of the power of God, that a people not yet born will gain great confidence in you and do mighty things in your name, all to your praise and glory.

One More Thing… “God does not call the qualified; He qualifies the called.”