S211P3 – Lessons from captivity: The lowly will be used by God
Exo. 3:10-12
“So now, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt.” But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?” And God said, “I will be with you. And this will be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you will worship God on this mountain.”
I recall the first time I was asked to deliver the message at a Sunday service. Several of us had just returned from a missions trip, and I should have had a lot to share, but I felt dry and ill-equipped. I was a baby Christian by anyone’s standards and dreaded public speaking. As the big day approached, God brought to my mind something I had seen on that trip that seemed to have nothing to do with our mission there. That vision would inspire a message that I did not even know was inside me. Armed with just a few notes and trembling hands, what I thought would be a 10-minute word of encouragement became a full-fledged sermon. Years later, I would stumble upon that recording on my phone, and it was like hearing someone else speak those words for the first time. I could give credit only to God for that message.
As we go through this process of sanctification, God will challenge us with many requests. Whether the issue is ability or authority, we can rest assured that we will have reasons why God’s requests of us sometimes seem too big. Often times, those reasons are completely founded in fact. God will ask us to do things that we simply cannot do, that we are no equipped to do, but that is no issue because He is not leaving us to bear the responsibility of completion. He only wants us to respond by accepting the challenge and moving forward. God will work through us to complete the things that we honestly cannot complete. Moses learned this. On his own, he had no power or authority to deliver Israel from the hands of Egypt or to request that Pharaoh do so. God working through him, however, had all the power and authority necessary to bring that deliverance to completion. Moses only needed to accept the call.
God only calls us to that which is possible through him. He is simply looking for people who are willing to move when He asks despite what they think of their own abilities. We cannot, but He always can. Sometimes these are singular requests, and other times God is preparing us for development in a certain area we never thought we could develop. It can be a simple matter of forgetting who and what we are, and focusing on who and what He is. Moses, a man self-professed as slow of speech and tongue, was God’s mouthpiece against one of the most formidable rulers of that time. He only had to open his mouth, and God provided the words and the result. Father, increase our confidence in You to say yes to the work You have asked of us, knowing that You are glorified by working through the lowly.