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Intensity causes us to run before we are sent. Insecurity causes us to retreat when we haven’t met our standard. And that brings us to a third mistake: We resist when God actually does call us.
brought about by the feeling of inferiority, which is definitely not the same thing as humility.
Yet all God asks of any of us is that we be available and burnable. He doesn’t ask us to be spectacular, just ready to yield.
I speak to so many who are waiting for some kind of curious sign in the heavens, some engraved invitation hand delivered by an angel, some wondrous, mystical moment.
And all God is waiting for is to hear you say, “I’m here, Lord. I’m Yours, thorns and all. Just set me afire.”
God wants to use you in His service, thorns and
all. Your past doesn’t matter. Your resumé isn’t the issue. Your training and education, in the long run, won’t tell the story. God is looking for someone with ears to hear His voice, hands ready to do His work, and a heart that is willing to respond.
Any old bush will do, but He must fuel the fire. Moses, after forty long years—no, make that eighty!—was finally ready and wil...
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Don’t be stubborn when God speaks. Don’t continually fight and resist Him. Don’t keep running away from Him so that He can’t speak to you. Don’t force Him to lasso you before you’ll let Him draw near.
we often turn away from His call because we feel so inferior.
We’ve failed again and again, and we can’t imagine His wanting to use us. We nurse our broken piñions and refuse to risk soaring across the skies once again. When the Lord says, “My son, My daughter, you are My choice for this task,” we turn away. We tell ourselves that since we made such a mess of it before, we simply can’t go through the disappointment and shame all over again.
That’s what God wanted to do with Moses. His life had been one great knot of self-effort—hard, sincere labor in the energy of the
flesh. And when it became so tangled and complicated, he finally retreated into the desert, where he stayed for forty years. Then came the great day when God spoke to Moses and said, in effect, “Moses, I want to use you again. I have a job for you.”
Moses, I believe, thought God intended him to be the deliverer of Israel, and that blew all his circuit breakers.
But God didn’t tell him that! God told him that he would be an instrument in the deliverance, but God Himself would be the deliverer.
In God’s calling, He has a plan; but He never expects you to carry out that plan. He’s going to pull it off. He simply wants you to be the instrument of action. After all, it is His reputation that’s at stake, not yours. All He asks is that you ...
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You didn’t get the plan. That’s not what I said! All you have to do is be in the right place at the right time and watch Me work. It will be great! You just keep your heart prepared, make sure you’re walking in obedience, and then watch Me as I deliver those Israelites out of Egypt.”
Would you have singled out a sun-withered, eighty-year-old shepherd to face down one of the mightiest kings in the world? Moses had been out to pasture for forty years. He had completely lost touch with his people.
Admit it, doesn’t he seem like a highly unlikely prospect for the job of delivering an entire people group from the clutches of a mighty nation?
“For the eyes of the LORD move to and fro throughout the earth that He may strongly support those whose heart is completely His” (2 Chronicles 16:9).
Why do we feel we have to have all the answers at our fingertips? Straight answer: Pride. Pride says, “If I don’t have
a ready comeback, if I say ‘I don’t know,’ they’ll laugh at me.” But that’s not true at all. Intelligent, thoughtful people won’t laugh; they will realize that no one has all the answers.
Probing a little deeper into the original language, we discover that these words, “I AM WHO I AM,” are the very characters in Hebrew that spell out the name Yahweh. Here is what God was saying, “The only self-existent, infinite Being in all of the universe has dispatched you, Moses. You represent Him. I AM has sent you. You tell them that.”
“Lord, I’ve been to Egypt. I know what it’s like there. And You say I’m going to come waltzing back into the capital city— an old, run-down-at-the-heels shepherd out of the backside of the desert? What kind of reception do you think I’ll get? Look at these clothes! Look at this wrinkled mug of mine. And You say I’m going to walk right into the core of sophistication and culture—stroll up to the golden throne of Pharaoh holding this knobby old staff of mine? And I’m going to talk that stubborn monarch into
letting me lead all of his slaves out the back door like a flock of sheep? Who would believe it, Lord?
His mind was filled with imaginary scenarios. He pictured himself back in the lush, Nile-watered lands of Egypt. He visualized the opulence and splendor of the Egyptian court and all those well-dressed, sophisticated, worldly men and women. They won’t respect me. How could they? They’ll stare at me like some curious old relic, and laugh me off. Obviously, Moses was preoccupied with himself.
“Look, Moses, I’m able to turn a wooden staff into a live snake, then back into a wooden staff again. That’s something right there in your hand you can make use of. I’m not sending you before the king like a silly clown with little rings or boxes or a bag of cheap tricks. I’m the Lord of heaven and earth. I’m sending you with mighty signs to perform.”
When had God ever placed such power into the hands of one man? Surely, he was now convinced.
Back in the first century, why didn’t God choose a more powerful, eloquent spokesman? He had a good reason for that. He didn’t want people hung up on the man’s speaking style and craft. The Lord knew what He was doing. He didn’t want men and women walking away from Paul’s meetings saying, “Am I impressed! What a communicator. What an awesome speaker!”
the podium, men and women had heard from the living Savior. When Paul penned a letter to a church, it was as if God’s own hand had written it. Their faith became anchored to the solid rock of God’s power, not the shifting sand of human personality. Paul, himself, was never the attraction. In public speaking skills he couldn’t hold a candle to a man like Apollos.
You couldn’t have planned for it, you couldn’t have prepared for it; but when the moment came, the Lord gave you the wisdom and the words you required.
“Oh Lord, I’m just not qualified. That land of Egypt is shot through with capable people who know the culture and the lingo like the back of their hands. I used to, but no longer. I’m out of touch. You just haven’t looked very far, Lord. There are all kinds of people who could move in and handle this job with ease and efficiency. Have You considered taking out an ad? There’s probably some young buck in Egypt who’s wonderfully qualified. Use him! Why come out here to this forsaken patch of wilderness and speak to
a sun-baked, leather-skinned old desert-dweller? I haven’t set foot in Egypt for forty long years. I don’t even know my way around Goshen anymore. Everything’s probably changed. Don’t you get it, Lord? There are so many others more qualified than I.”
She has led a women’s Bible study for eighteen years. His family has all grown up and gone. She’s been in this church twenty-three years. Look at her ability! Me? I’ve got kids at home . . . I’ve got debt . . . I’ve got high blood pressure . . . I’ve got crooked teeth . . . I’m overweight . . . never been to seminary . . . I don’t have anything decent to wear . . . I don’t do well in front of people.”
And the Lord comes back and says to us, “I know every one of those things. But you are still My choice. My call is clear and final.”
He doesn’t give up on us. (Thank goodness!)
Somehow, that touches my heart. God is full of grace. Moses was packing his bags for Egypt, and God let it go at that. All He asks of us is a willing heart. He doesn’t expect perfection. He doesn’t expect you to have all the answers, all the ability, or all the courage. He doesn’t even require you to spell out each detail of His call. He just asks you to be available, and take that first step of faith in the direction He’s pointing.
He sometimes shouts through our pain, whispers to us while we’re relaxing on vacation, occasionally He sings to us in a song, and warns us through the sixty-six books of His written Word. It’s right there, ink on paper. Count on it—that book will never lead you astray.
In addition to His unfailing source of wisdom, He has given you wise counselors, friends, acquaintances, parents, teachers, and mentors who have earned your love and respect through
long years. Screen what you believe to be the will of God through their thoug...
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You’re a common, earthenware jar made to contain His power. He doesn’t ask you to be cute, clever, lucid, or persuasive. He doesn’t expect you to be mighty in word and deed. He just asks that you place your confidence in Him.
As good King Jehoshaphat prayed, “O our God . . . we have no power to face this vast army that is attacking us. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are upon you” (2 Chronicles 20:6, NIV). Third, Be comfortable with
Bring Him your failures, your false starts, and your well-intentioned crusades that landed you on the backside of a lonely desert. Let Him sort through the details of your life, and give you fresh direction.
“Trust in the LORD with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight” (Proverbs 3:5–6).
The before part, in verse 5, urges us to “trust in the Lord.” That suggests relying on Him, letting Him take the lead, and yielding the steering wheel of our lives. The verse also notes that we are to do this with all of our hearts. This is not something done half-heartedly, reluctantly, or with reservations. It’s an all-out, go-for-broke proposition.
“Be careful not to lean on your own understanding.” In other words, don’t rely on crutches of your own making. Don’t attempt to limp along on your own strength. Instead, lean hard. And while leaning, fully “acknowledge Him.” That word “acknowledge” includes the meaning “to recognize.” In all your ways recognize Him.
That’s the before part. Our part. Trust Him whole-heartedly, in every corner of your life, recognizing that He is the One in charge.
He’ll take care of each of those obstacles on the trail ahead of you.
In the days that followed, Moses began to experience what it was to trust in the Lord with
all his heart, refusing to lean any longer on his own manmade crutches. And as he did, he began to see God smooth the way before him.
