Good morning,
“I can’t do it! I’m such a clumsy speaker!” Exodus 6: 30
He had an awesome background with very special leadership potential for all of his early adult years. He grew up as a favorite of a powerful princess and demonstrated unusual skills as he enjoyed the power and authority of someone in the royal family. He had real star potential until he decided it was time to put his skills to work in righting the wrongs that had overwhelmed his real parents and their suffering people. He came on a brutal fight, ended the fight with a mighty blow, buried the Egyptian bully in the sand and let his Hebrew relative go free. When Pharaoh got wind of this rebellious act, Moses found himself running for his life and ended up spending the next 40 years in the wilderness taking care of stupid sheep and regretting his stupid decision. At 80 he was an old man with a peasant wife and two boys and lots of stubborn sheep wandering around finding water and grass to keep them all alive. Now he was just a peasant with only distant memories of his glory days in the palace. Then the Lord showed up!
When the Lord had his attention, he got right down to business. After a short introduction, the Lord told Moses what he had in mind for Moses to do. “I am the Lord! Tell Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, everything I am telling you.” Moses’ attitude changed from worship to terror. His old fears pounced on him like a mighty lion. Instead of obedience, he let the old fears give him the courage to argue with his “Lord.” Instead of “Yes Sir” he declared “I can’t do it! I’m such a clumsy speaker!” Then his real fears leaked out when he added, “Why should Pharaoh listen to me?” Have we ever met anyone like this in our mirror? I think that most modern day evangelicals find ourselves in the same condition that Moses faced there by the burning bush. The glory days of being a Christian have come and gone. Our standing and authority has eroded until we find ourselves being the peasants of our cultures and our power base is only a distant memory. We are being surrounded by powerful, angry people who enjoy their gods and their authority over our culture. It’s true that we have the Word of the Living God, but who are we to tell these powerful people what God has said? Our fears and our weakness have made us forget that it is God’s Holy Spirit who wants to speak through us. The world doesn’t need our voices or our authority. What God longs for us to do is to say what he wants us to say, and go where he wants us to go, so that his Holy Spirit can speak his powerful words into the hearts and minds of those who need to be set free. Dear Lord, please help us to say“Yes Sir” instead of “I can’t do it.” God gave us our lives so that he could use us this way.
Exodus 6:28 When the Lord spoke to Moses in the land of Egypt, 29 he said to him, “I am the Lord! Tell Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, everything I am telling you.” 30 But Moses argued with the Lord, saying, “I can’t do it! I’m such a clumsy speaker! Why should Pharaoh listen to me?”
Roy Wisner
