Moses will be forever known as a faithful servant and courageous messenger of God. But, he didn't start out that way. In fact, he did all he could to avoid being God's vessel because he didn't feel qualified.
Sounds a lot like some of us, doesn't it? Many of us in leadership did not necessarily seek the mantle, but it found us anyway. Furthermore, not only did we not seek out leadership, in some instances we actively avoided it with all sorts of "valid" excuses.
Moses exclaimed in Exodus 3:11, "Who am I, that I should go to Pharoah, and that I should bring the sons of Israel out of Egypt?" He experienced the same doubt and low self-esteem that has kept many of us from stepping up to what God has called us to.
After God assured Moses that He would be with him, Moses then shifted his excuse from himself to the people, worrying "What if they will not believe me, or listen to I say? For they may say, 'The Lord has not appeared to you.'" (Ex. 4:1)
God responded by demonstrating a variety of signs that would confirm for the people that the presence and power of God were at work in Moses and "... if they will not believe you or heed the witness of the first sign, they may believe the witness of the last sign." (Ex. 4:8)
Yet, even after God answered Moses' concerns and performed miraculous signs not only in front of him, but through Moses' very own hands, Moses still tried to avoid the call of God.
In a last ditch effort to avoid captaining the "Leader Ship," Moses pleaded with God, "Please, Lord. I have never been eloquent, neither recently nor in time past, nor since Thou hast spoken to Thy servant; for I am slow of speech and slow of tongue."
Oblivious to the fact that his protests were getting him nowhere, Moses foolishly continued begging, "Please, Lord, now send the message by whomever Thou wilt." He was hoping that the "whomever" would be anyone else but him.
Now, it seemed to me that God had already chosen whom He wanted the message sent through, and His choice was an insecure, doubting dodger with a criminal past and a speech impediment--named Moses!
As we reflect on Moses' story, it closely mirrors many of our own stories. Some of us are still foolishly trying to avoid the hand and the call of God. It's true, many of us are not "qualified" for any of the things we have been called to do. But that's just fine because God uses the foolish things to confound the wise. When incredible, expert-level things come from inexperienced, "unqualified" amateurs, God gets the glory because everyone knows that something supernatural must have occured!
Those of us who serve the Lord may wish our response to God's call would have been a noble, "Here am I Lord, send me!" But that's just not the case for many of us who came whining, kicking and screaming all the way.
If you're still doing any of those things now in a feeble attempt to get God to give up on you, you'd probably better give it up, instead. If you know what the rest of us know, you are Unavoidably Available--so get over it and get going!
BNcouraged!
Rev. Karen
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