January 19 - Exodus 4-6: Incompetence May Be Essential

"I will do whatever it takes to carry out My plan!" 66 LL

That's becoming more clear in these chapters. God's going to have to be the One who makes the way because Moses is a mess.  In some ways it's alarming and in other ways it's comforting that he's the kind of person that God chooses to use.

Each time God asks him to do something, Moses is filled with doubt, fear, excuses, and a whole lot of whining.  Case in point:

• "They won't trust me. They won't listen to a word I say." (4:1)
• "Master, please, I don't talk well. I've never been good with words...I stutter and stammer." (4:10)
• "Oh Master, please! Send somebody else!" (4:13)
• "Why did you ever send me?  Things have only gotten worse for this people." (5:23)
• "Look - the Israelites won't even listen to me. How do you expect Pharaoh to? And, besides, I stutter." (6:12)
• "Look at me. I stutter. Why would Pharaoh listen to me?" (6:30)

It's almost painful to read.  Moses is practically begging God to let him off the hook.  And frankly, if I stuttered, I wouldn't want to speak to a nation of people or to a king either!  Moses doesn't feel qualified and desperately wants out of the assignment, but God has other plans.

In fact, God gets angry with Moses early on when he objects to God's instructions.  God tries to reassure him by telling him, "I'll be right there with you as you speak and with him as he [Aaron] speaks, teaching you step by step." (4:14-17)  God says that He'll do everything, but Moses just continues to whine and object.

I'm rather convicted right now because as I look at Moses' pattern, it doesn't look drastically different than my internal pattern with God.  For example:

• I realize what God is asking of me
• If it's too _______ (hard, humiliating, time-consuming, potentially inflammatory, or something else uncomfortable or inconvenient) I vigorously object and give all sorts of reasons for why that's not a great idea
• God keeps nudging me
• I keep objecting
• When He doesn't let off the hook, I resort to whining, "Please, no, not that, anything else, puh-lease!"

Yet in a similar way to Moses, God has made promises that He'll be with me in the midst of whatever He's asking me to do:

• "I'll never let you down, never walk off and leave you" Hebrews 13:5
• "Don't panic.  I'm with you. There's no need to fear for I'm your God. I'll give you strength. I'll help you. I'll hold you steady, keep a firm grip on you." Isaiah 41:10
• "I've never quit loving you and never will." Jeremiah 31:3

Funny how it's always easier to see the patterns in other people's lives, huh?  That's what I appreciate about God's Word.  I see flawed people used by God, but when I stop to look closely, I also see that I'm not so very different from them after all.  God can choose to use imperfect me if I will only stop the whining and humbly trust and obey.

"Moses is presented as singularly ill equipped for the task he is called to do. He stands before us not as a finished sculpture, modeling leadership qualities for us to follow, but rather as a rough-cut stone...Which raises a question: Why was the work of salvation entrusted to someone like that? Or why has it been entrusted to someone like us, for that matter?

But maybe that's the point.  Salvation is God's work, not ours. Incompetence may be the essential qualification lest we presumptuously start taking over something we have no way of comprehending, let alone controlling. Our sight is limited, our steps tentative. That is how we best traverse the landscape of faith - humbly rather than capably."  Conversations, p. 101