Word of Encouragement (07/05/2022)

But Moses said to the LORD, “Behold, the people of Israel have not listened to me. How then shall Pharaoh listen to me, for I am of uncircumcised lips?” (Ex. 6:12)

Moses and Israel experienced a setback. When Moses told Pharaoh to let Israel go, he not only rejected the request but also made Israel’s life more miserable by not providing the straw to make bricks. So, Moses came back to the LORD and complained. God assured him that He would deliver Israel out of Egypt and bring the people into the promised land. Yet, this was how Moses responded to God’s assurance. He had his own logic and it made sense (at least to him!). If the people of Israel, who were his people, would not listen to him, why would Pharaoh, his and Israel’s enemy, listen to him, especially when he was asked to give up all the labor his Hebrew slaves provided for free all these years? It simply didn’t make sense!

Moses reinforced his impeccable logic with another important point: “I am of uncircumcised lips!” He spoke of this already when the LORD called him at Mount Sinai: “Oh, my Lord, I am not eloquent, either in the past or since you have spoken to your servant, but I am slow of speech and of tongue” (4:10). The LORD told him at that time, “Who has made man's mouth? Who makes him mute, or deaf, or seeing, or blind? Is it not I, the LORD? Now therefore go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall speak” (4:11-12). When Moses still hesitated to go, the LORD promised to send Aaron with him. Yet, here was Moses, again giving the same excuse! Maybe he expected God to make him speak better, and he was deeply disappointed when it didn’t happen.

But we can see how Moses still thought that God needed his abilities to accomplish the task. We can understand this, right? For whatever reason, we may become painfully aware that we don’t have what it takes to do the job. We become discouraged, feeling sorry for ourselves. Since we are inadequate and incompetent, we despair that the work obviously will not get done.

But is God limited by our limitations? Can He not accomplish His purpose because we are not able? Do we not understand that He calls us, fully knowing our inadequacy? “God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong... so that no human being might boast in the presence of God” (1 Cor. 1:27, 29).

Is there anything in your life, about which you feel as Moses felt about the work God had given him to do? What should we do when we feel unqualified to do the work? Instead of making excuses for our weaknesses, we should pray that He, who called us, would also enable us to do the work and provide us with what we need to do the job. It can be through the Aarons in our lives, through certain changes in our circumstances, or by filling us with the Holy Spirit. As long as we have God, as long as we can pray to Him, we cannot despair. “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope” (Rom. 15:13).

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