you gotta love Moses. i can so relate to his protests. if i may, let me paraphrase the conversation between God and Moses in Exodus 3/4.
God: go tell Pharaoh that my people are done being his slaves, and they're leaving.
Moses: me? why me?
God: I will go with you
Moses: um, but what if they ask me your name? i don't even know your name...
God: I AM
Moses: ok. ok. but what if they don't believe me?
God: do this, throw your staff down. (he does so, and it becomes a snake)
Moses: aahhh!!!!
God: pick it up
Moses: WHAT??!!
God: pick it up
Moses: (he picks it up by the tail and the snake turns back into a staff) whoa!
God: do that
Moses: yeah, but...
God: stick your hand inside your coat (he does, and when he pulls it out, it's decaying and diseased)
Moses: aaahhhh!!!
God: do it again (Moses does it again and this time when he pulls his hand back out, it's restored and whole again)
Moses: whoa!
God: do that. oh, also, if they still don't believe you, take a cup full of water from the Nile and pour it on the ground. it will turn to blood. that should do the trick.
Moses: yeah, maybe, but there's something else, i'm not very good with words. i never have been, i just stammer and st-st-st-stutter all the t-t-t-time.
God: AND WHO MADE YOUR MOUTH!! WHO GIVES SIGHT TO SOME AND ALLOWS OTHERS TO BE BLIND? WHO ALLOWS SOME TO HEAR AND SOME TO SPEAK AND OTHERS TO BE MUTE OR DEAF??? IT IS I!!! now go, i will help you speak, i will tell you what to say.
Moses: uh, the truth is, i don't want the job. send someone else. please.
the Bible says that God's anger burned against Moses! and indeed, He allowed Moses' brother Aaron to come along side and help. but oh my, i would not want God burning up with anger towards me! why did it take so long for Moses to trust God? God matched every protest and excuse with something magnificent and miraculous, showing clearly his ability to follow thru and fulfill his plan. yet Moses, he just couldn't accept the fact that God had chosen him. faults and frailties and all.
i guess i like Moses so much because i've been there too. i've been in that place where trusting doesn't come easily. where my insecurities and inabilities hover just above my head, like a big dark cloud looming, and i can't see the big, bright, blue sky because of it. i love what 1 Corinthians 1:26-29 says:
"Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him."
if we were so super awesome and powerful, then what need would we have of a savior? but God chose us. the regular, normal, everyday us. he is fully aware of our short-comings, and wants us to surrender to and trust him completely, wholeheartedly abandoned to his extravagant love. i desperately need him to speak for me! to sing through me! to walk with me! to comfort, shelter, protect, inspire, restore....
i, like Moses, would just be a mumbling, bumbling idiot without Jesus!
God: go tell Pharaoh that my people are done being his slaves, and they're leaving.
Moses: me? why me?
God: I will go with you
Moses: um, but what if they ask me your name? i don't even know your name...
God: I AM
Moses: ok. ok. but what if they don't believe me?
God: do this, throw your staff down. (he does so, and it becomes a snake)
Moses: aahhh!!!!
God: pick it up
Moses: WHAT??!!
God: pick it up
Moses: (he picks it up by the tail and the snake turns back into a staff) whoa!
God: do that
Moses: yeah, but...
God: stick your hand inside your coat (he does, and when he pulls it out, it's decaying and diseased)
Moses: aaahhhh!!!
God: do it again (Moses does it again and this time when he pulls his hand back out, it's restored and whole again)
Moses: whoa!
God: do that. oh, also, if they still don't believe you, take a cup full of water from the Nile and pour it on the ground. it will turn to blood. that should do the trick.
Moses: yeah, maybe, but there's something else, i'm not very good with words. i never have been, i just stammer and st-st-st-stutter all the t-t-t-time.
God: AND WHO MADE YOUR MOUTH!! WHO GIVES SIGHT TO SOME AND ALLOWS OTHERS TO BE BLIND? WHO ALLOWS SOME TO HEAR AND SOME TO SPEAK AND OTHERS TO BE MUTE OR DEAF??? IT IS I!!! now go, i will help you speak, i will tell you what to say.
Moses: uh, the truth is, i don't want the job. send someone else. please.
the Bible says that God's anger burned against Moses! and indeed, He allowed Moses' brother Aaron to come along side and help. but oh my, i would not want God burning up with anger towards me! why did it take so long for Moses to trust God? God matched every protest and excuse with something magnificent and miraculous, showing clearly his ability to follow thru and fulfill his plan. yet Moses, he just couldn't accept the fact that God had chosen him. faults and frailties and all.
i guess i like Moses so much because i've been there too. i've been in that place where trusting doesn't come easily. where my insecurities and inabilities hover just above my head, like a big dark cloud looming, and i can't see the big, bright, blue sky because of it. i love what 1 Corinthians 1:26-29 says:
"Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him."
if we were so super awesome and powerful, then what need would we have of a savior? but God chose us. the regular, normal, everyday us. he is fully aware of our short-comings, and wants us to surrender to and trust him completely, wholeheartedly abandoned to his extravagant love. i desperately need him to speak for me! to sing through me! to walk with me! to comfort, shelter, protect, inspire, restore....
i, like Moses, would just be a mumbling, bumbling idiot without Jesus!
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