Following God’s path is wonderful. It is absolutely the best decision you could ever make. But there’s something you should know. When you follow God, he sometimes asks you to do scary things. Big things. Crazy things. Things that are definitely out of your comfort zone. And when that happens, you face a fork in the road. You can either obey, or you can object.
Let’s look at the moment in the Bible when God appears to Moses in a burning bush and gives him the task of leading the Israelites out of slavery to the Egyptians. As you read the story below, I want you to notice just how many excuses Moses gives God (I’ll put them in bold).
Exodus 3
10 “So now, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt.” 11 But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?” 12 And God said, “I will be with you. And this will be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you will worship God on this mountain.”13 Moses said to God, “Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ Then what shall I tell them?” 14 God said to Moses, “I am who I am. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I am has sent me to you.’”
4 Moses answered, “What if they do not believe me or listen to me and say, ‘The Lord did not appear to you’?” 2-9: The Lord shows Moses two miracles. His staff becomes a snake and back again, and his hand becomes leprous and healed again. 10 Moses said to the Lord, “Pardon your servant, Lord. I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since you have spoken to your servant. I am slow of speech and tongue.” 11 The Lord said to him, “Who gave human beings their mouths? Who makes them deaf or mute? Who gives them sight or makes them blind? Is it not I, the Lord? 12 Now go; I will help you speak and will teach you what to say.” 13 But Moses said, “Pardon your servant, Lord. Please send someone else.”
When God calls you to action, your first reaction may be to protest like Moses did. But if you can avoid these five phrases, it will be much easier to obey rather than to object.
1. “Who am I?”
Self esteem is the first thing that can get in the way of our service to God. You may think, “Who am I? I’m not a Billy Graham or a Mother Theresa. I’m just a nobody. There’s no way God’s calling me to do that!” Self esteem can also manifest itself in the form of arrogance. “I’m too valuable to be serving in my tiny little Sunday school class in my tiny little church. God needs me to go national!”
Notice how God responds to Moses. “And God said, ‘I will be with you’” (verse 12). He doesn’t tell him, “Oh, Moses. You’ve got so much going for you. You’re such a swell guy; I’m sure you can do it.” No. He simply says, “I will be with you.” In other words, it doesn’t matter who you are because it’s not about you anyway. It’s about who God is and how he’s planning on working through you.
2. “Suppose…”
The second phrase of reluctance that escapes Moses’ lips is, “Suppose…” (verse 13). In this excuse, Moses focuses on his fears, which is something that many of us have done before. For some reason, we’re scared that God is going to send us out on a battleground with no protection, no ammunition, and no night vision goggles. We’re quick to dream up unrealistic worst-case scenarios and forget that the real worst case scenario is what could happen if we don’t act.
“God said to Moses, ‘I am who I am’” (verse 14). God calms Moses’ fears by reminding him once again who he is. It’s not about Moses; it’s about “I am.” It’s not about you; it’s about God.
3. “What if…”
The third excuse that Moses presents appears in the fourth chapter with two words that should be banned from the lips of all Christians: “What if…” (verse 1). Moses is uncertain about the future, and therefore reluctant to act in the present.
Sometimes, we can be the same way. It’s like we expect God to lay out his entire plan of action for us before we’re ever even willing to take the first step. We want him to tell us, “Okay, first we’ll begin by turning the water to blood. Then frogs, gnats, flies, livestock, boils, hail, locusts, darkness, and the killing of the firstborn. Finally, we’ll reach the climax with the splitting of the Red Sea.”
But God doesn’t work that way. He responds to Moses by showing him two miracles. First, Moses’ rod becomes a snake, then his hand turns leprous. God never directly answers Moses’ concern about the future. He simply reminds him that he is a God of miracles, and he is ready and able to reign victorious over any situation that could possibly come up in the future.
4. “I have never been…”
The next excuse Moses presents has to do with his past: “I have never been…” (verse 10). In Moses’ case, he had never been a dynamic speaker, so he didn’t think he could become one now. In our case, we often think with the same logic. If God calls us to do something we’ve never done before, we automatically assume we can’t do it at all.
I love God’s response. “Who gave man his mouth? Who makes him deaf or mute? Who gives him sight or makes him blind? Is it not I, the Lord? Now go” (verses 11-12).
5. “Please send someone else.”
Unfortunately, Moses has one last plea for the Lord, and it is the saddest plea of them all. “Please send someone else,” he says in verse 13. Let’s face it. Sometimes we, like Moses, just don’t want to do what God is calling us to do. We’re either tired or burnt out or too busy or we just don’t care.
Amazingly, God can still use us in spite of who we are. From this conversation at the burning bush, it would seem that Moses was not the best choice to guide the Israelites out of Egypt. He was unqualified, had tons of excuses, and he flat didn’t want to do it. But, God still used Moses, and he was still successful because God gave him supernatural spiritual gifts that allowed him to carry out the task at hand. By the end of Moses’ leadership, he had exhibited signs of administration, wisdom, miracles, teaching, and leadership.
Of the five excuses that Moses gives the Lord, which one are you most likely to use as your own excuse:
“Who am I?” (Your self esteem)
“Suppose…” (Your fears)
“What if…” (Your future)
“I have never been…” (Your past)
“Please send someone else.” (Your reluctance)
Mine is definitely “Suppose. . .” but I love how you brought out that our spiritual gifts are not negated even when we “argue” with God.
I’m always encouraged when I read 2 Timothy 1:7, “God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.” The Greek word for “power” in that verse is defined as “ability” or “capability.” But the best part about it is that Paul was encouraging Timothy to use his spiritual gift when he wrote that.
So we need to remember God has already given us what we need to “succeed” in what He’s telling us to do.
I love reading your posts because they are so uplifting and encouraging. I would like to see a bible study geared to the older woman who has raised her children and perhaps is having to raise her grandkids, or maybe they are living in a seniors living place. I live in a seniors apartment complex and talking with my neighbors and myself I find that we sometimes lose our hope. We are rooted and grounded in our faith but with everything going on in the world our firm foundations are being carried away by the enemy. We find our family doesn’t want to cling to what they have been taught. We have adult children who are not saved. We also have health issues but we are not ready to be put on the shelf.
Since May of 2015 I have been through one flood,3 major surgeries, plus going to UHCL and I praise God for taking me through and healing my body.i also determined that I will not be an old person sitting under a tree and do nothing. I would just like to see a bible study geared to the older woman. I find myself needing to be more reassured each day.
Just a thought.
In Christ
Linda Duke