While reading my devotional this morning, I was reminded of something important. We shouldn’t second guess God. As I am embarking on a new journey, having stopped being bi-vocational and am now doing full time ministry. I find myself praying, “Lord, please don’t let me screw this up.” Now while on one hand it is a good thing to keep in mind, let’s also not sell short the calling God has placed on our lives. Take Moses for example:

Exodus 4:10 But Moses said to the Lord, “O my Lord, I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor even now that you have spoken to your servant, but I am slow of speech and slow of tongue.” 11 Then the Lord said to him, “Who gives speech to mortals? Who makes them mute or deaf, seeing or blind? Is it not I, the Lord? 12 Now go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you are to speak.” 13 But he said, “O my Lord, please send someone else.” 14 Then the anger of the Lord was kindled against Moses, and he said, “What of your brother Aaron, the Levite? I know that he can speak well; even now he is coming out to meet you, and when he sees you his heart will be glad. 15 You shall speak to him and put the words in his mouth, and I will be with your mouth and with his mouth and will teach you what you shall do. 16 He indeed shall speak for you to the people; he shall serve as a mouth for you, and you shall serve as God for him. 17 Take in your hand this staff, with which you shall perform the signs.”

Moses Returns to Egypt

18 Moses went back to his father-in-law Jethro and said to him, “Please let me go back to my own people in Egypt and see whether they are still living.” And Jethro said to Moses, “Go in peace.” 19 The Lord said to Moses in Midian, “Go back to Egypt, for all those who were seeking your life are dead.” 20 So Moses took his wife and his sons, put them on a donkey, and went back to the land of Egypt, and Moses carried the staff of God in his hand.

21 And the Lord said to Moses, “When you go back to Egypt, see that you perform before Pharaoh all the wonders that I have put in your power, but I will harden his heart, so that he will not let the people go. 22 Then you shall say to Pharaoh, ‘Thus says the Lord: Israel is my firstborn son. 23 I said to you, “Let my son go that he may serve me.” But you refused to let him go; now I will kill your firstborn son.’  (NRSVUE from BibleGateway).”

We see Moses arguing with God about his ability to take on the  job God was calling him to, citing his inability to be an effective speaker. Does that sound familiar? We are great about thinking of our shortcomings when often asked to do some important job by others, and especially by God. Though it is a little cliché, the saying holds true, “God does not call the qualified, He qualifies the called.” To Moses,  God suggests Aaron to work as Moses’ spokesperson. If you notice , God points out , “even now he is coming out to meet you.” God knew, and was already taking care of it. It is the same way for us. God already knows our strengths and weaknesses. 

We need to change our understanding. It is faith in God, not ourselves that we boast of anyway. As Paul wrote in his letter to the Corinthians, “ but he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.”

So I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me.  Therefore I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities for the sake of Christ, for whenever I am weak, then I am strong (9-10,NRSVUE).”

See initially Moses took a backseat to his brother Aaron. That wasn’t the arrangement God intended. He pointed out to Moses, Moses was to perform the miracles as God called him (Exodus 4:21a) “When you go back to Egypt, see that you do before Pharaoh all the miracles that I have put in your power (emphasis mine).” 

God has called us to a specific purpose. He uses the analogy of the human body with Christ as the head for a reason. The hand is  not designed to do what our elbow does. Each person has influence in areas and skills that others don’t. This means there are specific callings we can accomplish that others would not be as effective in. Do you know what your calling is?

God does not want us to sit back and miss out on what He has planned for us. What opportunities, circumstances or situations do you steer clear of out of fear of rejection or feelings of inadequacy? It is time to grab the bull by the horns! Hiding will never make it go away. Go to the Lord. 1 John 4: 18 says, “18 There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear; for fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not reached perfection in love (NRSVUE).” We need to surrender to God, turn our fear over to Him so we can be set free and step into the calling He has placed on our lives. 

In the New Testament, when Stephen is speaking about Moses he states this as recorded in Acts, “ So Moses was instructed in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and was powerful in his words and deeds (22, NRSVUE).” Now this may seem a contradiction to what we read Moses saying earlier, but not really. A true contradiction has to be mutually exclusive. In other words, both cannot be true at the same time. It is very possible to be powerful in speech and deeds due to authority, and not be eloquent. However, I personally look at it a bit differently.

We often sell ourselves short, and what we read earlier was Moses who had been hiding in the desert ever since he fled Egypt giving his impression of himself. In addition, I truly believe that as Moses stepped into his God given calling, God did what He always does, brought perfection in Moses weakness. Speech is most definitely an ability that is developed, I used to teach speech classes. So My belief is that Moses grew into his ability as he gave over to God’s calling and so by Stephen’s day, and no one there disagreed with him as we know of his comments on Moses, Moses was remembered as a man who was powerful in speech and deed.

Are you ready to step into what God is calling you into?  There is no better day than today.

Be blessed, God loves you and so do I!