We are almost finished with our study of Moses’ comments during his encounter with the burning bush. We now come to Moses’ fifth excuse, which was:
“Moses said to the Lord, 'O Lord, I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since you have spoken to your servant. I am slow of speech and tongue'” (Exodus 4:10).
With this fifth excuse, Moses had moved from honest questioning to procrastination. He was laboring to come up with some excuse, any excuse, so he wouldn’t have to go to Egypt. If we look hard enough, we are confident we can always find a reason to exempt us from fulfilling our purpose. Some of these reasons are: “I’m too young; I’m too old; I don’t have the education; I don’t like to speak in front of people; I don’t have the money; My spouse/pastor/leader/supervisor/children/siblings/neighbor doesn’t feel good about me doing that or going there; I’m not sure it’s God’s will; I’m waiting on the Lord’s timing.”
Consider the last excuse: “I’m waiting on the Lord’s timing.” A leader once said, “The need that you see is your call; once you see it, you must move to meet that need.” He meant that seeing an existing need is often the only “call” from God you are going to receive. While you may assume everyone sees what you see if they just pay attention, in most cases they cannot see what you see. Who God made you to be and your values qualify you to see certain things that no one else can see like you do, no matter how obvious you think it is.
The good news is that God, who has given you the ability to see the need, will also equip you to address the need. The Lord responded to Moses: “Who gave man his mouth? Who makes him deaf or mute? Who gives him sight or makes him blind? Is it not I, the Lord? Now go; I will help you speak and will teach you what to say” (Exodus 4:11-12). God is saying the same thing to you as He told Moses and that is to “go” and do. As you go, He will help you speak or accomplish whatever it is He wants you to do. Stop procrastinating and finding excuses to justify your delay.
If you have passed on your "call" in the past, it's not too late to do something now. The God of your purpose is extending to you another opportunity to do His will as only you can do it. Don’t disappoint Him or make Him find someone else. If you see it, you can do it. What’s more, you must do it if you are to be a person of purpose. The good news is that you don't have to do it alone; He goes with you wherever you go—even to the ends of the earth.
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