Concerns? Or excuses?

When God called Moses to deliver his people, Moses had no end of excuses.

“Who am I to go? For that matter, who are you?”

After God answered those questions, Moses brought up more objections to his going to Egypt.

“Nobody will believe me.”

I suppose that was a fairly legitimate concern. After all, the people weren’t exactly accepting of his leadership before.

Plus, what would you think if someone told you God was speaking to them, especially when it directly concerned your future?

So God gave Moses signs to prove to the Israelites that God had sent him.

But Moses didn’t stop there. He said,

“But I’m not very eloquent. I’m slow of speech and tongue.”

Some people believe from these words that Moses stuttered or had a speech impediment.

I’m not sure of that. It could’ve just been that he was like most people, not good at speaking in front of people.

But whatever the situation, God wasn’t buying it.

“Moses, I created you. Don’t you think I know your strengths and weaknesses? I gave you your mouth. Now go. I’ll help you speak and teach you what to say.”

And at this point, Moses finally came straight out before God.

“O God, please send someone else!”

In other words, “O Lord, send anybody but me!”

At that point God got upset with Moses.

And he said, “Okay, fine. I’ll give you your brother Aaron to help you. But you’re not going to avoid this task altogether. You’re going to work with your brother, and together you’re going to confront Pharaoh.”

What is your response to God when he asks you to do something?

Do you say, “Yes, Lord”?

Or do you say, “But Lord…”?

Sometimes we have legitimate concerns about the things God’s asking us to do.

Other times, those “legitimate concerns” are simply excuses to cover for a lack of faith.

Despite all that God had told him and shown him, Moses simply wasn’t willing to take that step of faith and obey him.

At a guess, Moses was suffering mostly from a fear of failure. He had tried once and failed.

Now he was afraid he was going to fail again, and he didn’t want to go through that again.

I certainly know that feeling. To step out in faith is the scariest thing in the world. And I hate failure. I’d rather stay on the safe and sure path.

It’s something I still struggle with.

But if we’re going to fulfill the destiny God has planned for us, we need to trust God and take that step of faith.

The good thing about it is that we don’t have to do it alone. God himself is with us.

And as God gave Moses Aaron to help him, he gives us people to support us too.

Maybe they can’t give us all the physical support that Aaron gave Moses, but they can give us their prayers and their encouragement.