Moses said, “I have never been eloquent,…I am slow of speech and tongue.” The Lord said to him,”…go; I will help you speak and will teach you what to say.”
Exodus 4: 10-12 (NIV)
This verse has never been one that was hard for me to grasp, because I, like Moses, have never been blessed with the gift of expressing myself in speaking!
However, this verse to me is about far more than the Lord giving me words to speak when I don’t have the ability in myself to do so.
It is about any time and every time that I have been put into a situation or a position where I have felt inadequate in my own strength or just plain afraid of the possible outcome.
As an example: I will never forget the first move Tim and I made to the Yukon in the dead of Winter. We were driving the largest U-Haul one could rent, and also pulling our car behind that!
The roads were snow packed and in many places slick. Every time we would be coming down a steep mountain pass I would be gripped with fear just knowing that we were going to slide off of the road and disappear into the abbess of trees below never to be found, seen or heard of again.
Then there was that moment just before being wheeled into surgery; I remember wanting to jump right off of the table and say, “Forget it, I can’t do this.” “I’m too afraid of the pain I’m going to encounter when this is all over.”
You’ve been there, you know what I’m talking about..
There were those times when I found myself in job positions where I thought certain some of my employees had to be the devil incarnate! Honestly, how else could a person be so ugly, hateful and just plain disrespectful?
But looking back on all of these instances and so many more, I see where the Lord’ hand was in it all.
When I was frightened on that mountain or in that surgery room, he saw me through and he gave me courage.
When I was overwhelmed by the ugliness and what felt like the evilness of others, he empowered me with the strength and the wisdom to deal with it. And he gave me the victory!
I don’t know about you, but I don’t like being put in situations where I am stretched beyond my abilities. I like living in my own comfortable skin. I like doing what I’m good at and not being asked by God or anyone else to have to deal with what’s uncomfortable for me, or scary, or hard.
I realize that as adults we become less daring; maybe even less confident.
But think about it…..How is it that we were ever able to walk? Well, I suppose it’s because we stood up, we fell a few times and decided that walking was so much better than crawling was. It was the same when learning to ride a bike….We wrecked, we got cuts and bruises, but in the end the joy and the freedom that pedaling that bike brought to us made it all well worth it.
I personally need to quit letting age, fear and inadequacy become an excuse for not stepping out in faith and allowing the Lord to bring something new into my life.
I know that many of us have memorized the verse Philippians 4: 13
I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me.
Maybe NOW is the time to really put this verse into action in our lives and truly trust the Lord to do just exactly what he promises he will do in us, and for us!
