And the Lord said unto
Moses, “what is that in thine hand?” And he said a rod.
And He said, “Cast it on
the ground”. And he cast it on the ground, and it became a serpent;
Exodus 4:2-3
When Pharaoh
heard of the killing of an Egyptian by Moses, he sought to kill Moses; fearing
for his life, Moses ran off to Midian where he made acquaintances at the local
well with the daughters of Reuel, the priest of Midian, who took him in and
gave Moses one of his daughters, Zipporah, in marriage. The bible said: and
Moses was content to dwell with the
man (Exodus 2:21).
This
contentment lasted long enough until Moses’ encounter with God in the burning
bush in Horeb; one that will change his life forever, even against his will. As
the bible tells us, though Moses had fled Egypt, his kinsmen were still there
suffering under Pharaoh; they were still groaning and calling on God for
deliverance daily, but to no avail – at least, in their own thinking. In Moses,
God saw an instrument with which to use to deliver His people from Egypt.
However, as far as he was concerned, Moses did not see himself as a good or the
right instrument for the job God had in mind, and he did his possible best to
extricate himself from the assignment. Listen to his many excuses:
1.
“Who am I that I should go unto
Pharaoh, and that I should bring forth the children of Israel out of Egypt”
(Exodus 3:11)
Here, Moses
must have inspected himself from head to toe; inspected his hands, legs, chest,
biceps and triceps, gluteal muscles, and even stood next to a tree to measure
his height, and realized that he was not quite the right build; looked around
the area to see if there was someone else standing nearby also named Moses that
God may be talking to; and even wondered if he was listening to a false god.
Convinced in himself that he lacked the height, strength, and the courage – all
the outward qualities that humans consider - to qualify to lead Israel out of
Egypt, he wondered if God had his head screwed on straight that He even thought
of him for such assignment. “Why in God’s green earth will you choose me of all
people for such a difficult task?” he must have wondered in exasperation. “I am
here minding my own business, raising my father in-law’s flock of livestock,
taking care of my family, and tending to other needs of the community as they
present themselves, and you want me to go back to a land where I am a wanted
man to save the people that betrayed me in the first place. God, this time, you
got it really wrong”. Clearly, Moses was not expecting to be called by God, or
any other person of authority, for any assignment either in Egypt or anywhere
else; he was very comfortable with his job as a shepherd. Even if something was
to develop in the pipeline, he did not expect it to be back in Egypt; an
assignment hundreds of miles further from Egypt would have been acceptable to
him.
2.
And Moses said unto God, behold, when I come unto the children of
Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you;
and they shall say unto me, what is his name? What shall I say unto them?
(verse 13)
From Moses’
second excuse we could deduct that he had lost with the first one. Also the
word “when”, as used by him confirms
that he may have realized that arguing with God might be a lost cause. Since
the first attempt had failed, Moses tried a second time. This time, it was not
about his physical attributes, or lack thereof; instead, it was how to convince
the Israelites to believe that God, their real God, sent him. “God, let’s say
that I agree to go, you know these people are stubborn and very hard-headed; if
I go there all by myself and just tell them to believe me that you sent me,
they will laugh their heads off and even attempt to commit me to a nut house. I
need something to show them as proof that you sent me, because they will not
believe a simple shepherd like me who still lives and works for his father
in-law”, Moses must have said to God; anything to make Him decide that Moses
may not be the right person for the job after all. Moses may have either been
expecting a sign – some kind of magic he can perform before the gathering of
the people, or an angel to accompany him on this journey; some kind of support
mechanism that will make his task easier – if he could not wiggle his way out
of it.
3.
And Moses said unto the Lord, O my
Lord, I am not eloquent, neither heretofore, nor since thou hast spoken unto
thy servant: but I am slow of speech, and of a slow tongue. (Exodus 4:10)
If at first
you don’t succeed, keep trying. Since God dismissed his first excuse and gave
him a “sign” in the second one, Moses decided to try a third one: his
stammering problem. “God, you know very well that before our meeting at this
burning bush, and since afterwards, I was, and still remain, slow of speech;
how do you expect me to appear before Pharaoh in this condition and convince
him to set your people free? He may not have the patience to sit there and wait
for me to blabber all day just to make one sentence. This is not going to work,
Lord, it just won’t. Just imagine the fun the people will make of me; even the
children will fall over themselves in jest of me. Please, Lord, just send
someone who is not just eloquent in speech but very commanding of the spoken
word. Someone that Pharaoh will respect”. Who knows, there may even be a law
against stammering in Egypt after Moses had left.
4.
And he said, O my Lord, send, I pray
thee, by the hand of him whom thou will send (verse 13)
Even at some
point, we get tired of giving excuses. Moses had given every excuse or reason
that could have convinced God that he was not the right person to go to Egypt,
and God had countered every one of those excuses; so, the only option left was
to come out and just say it: “please, Lord, just send someone who is
physically, mentally, and oratorically qualified to confront Pharaoh, I am not
that person. Just leave me let me tend to my in-law’s livestock and, in due
course, he will set me up as an independent man. I am not cut out for all of
this bravado and drama, just find someone else from another tribe, if you
wish”.
All these sound
familiar to you? They should. We all have a bit of Moses in all of us, whether
in answering the call to spread the gospel: “oh, I am not spiritually equipped
enough yet”, or “I am too shy”; lead a project team at our jobs: “there are
others who have been here longer and more experienced, or better educated than
me”; represent our community in public office: “Ah, those people?. Will they
even bother to listen to my message let alone vote for me”, or “nope! I am not
the political type”; or venture into a new business: “the money is not quite
enough for that at this time”, or “I have not actually decided on what kind of
business to invest in”. We also look for excuses to refrain from being in a
relationship: “I am not old enough or ready yet”; “I do not enough experience”;
“I don’t have the right job yet”; “I am not making enough money at my current
job”; “I am not psychologically prepared”; “I just cannot handle all that
nagging”; “I love my peace”; or “I want to be a graduate first”. The list goes
on forever.
However,
just like God dismissed all the many excuses Moses proffered for not being the
right person for the task at hand, we can, and are well equipped to look beyond
our physique, our age, intelligence and academic level, our financial
readiness, spiritual maturity, and social status in our community before taking
up a task. Many times, all that stands between us and our life goals and
assignments is fear of the unknown. Yes, the task may be daunting when looking
at it from the outside, and we may feel, like Moses, that we are not equipped
or cut out for it; but, upon further review, we might discover that, just like
God provided Moses with all the tools he needed for the assignment in Egypt, He
will also do the same for us; He will provide our needs according to “His
riches in heaven”. All that he requires of us is a little faith and trust in
His ability to equip us for any task He assigns to us.
To be
successful in life, we must not let our fears and concerns impede our attempt
at trying our hands on God’s assignment for us. Our height, weight, speech
impediment, preference for an obscure life, or fear of what is along the way,
or at the end of the tunnel, must not stop us. Where those concerns exist,
either from the beginning or along the way, we must always remember that God is
with us; His promise of never leaving us unattended or forsaken is not a bogus
one. What is it that you hold in your hand? A staff? A faith as small as a
mustard seed? A love for community service? Desire to spread the word of God? A
friendly smile? The gift of gab? Whatever it is, think of how best you can use
it to do God’s work when the call comes. No more excuses!
Felix Oti
Arlington,
Texas
(All Rights
Reserved)
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