January 27

 January 27, 2013

 

We live in a world of excuses. Insurance companies require forms to be filled out when an accident occurs. Here are a few funny quotes taken from these forms:

-In my attempt to kill a fly, I drove into a telephone pole.

-The indirect cause of this accident was a little guy in a small car with a big mouth.

-An invisible car came out of nowhere, struck my vehicle, and vanished.

-The guy was all over the road. I had to swerve a number of times before I hit him.

-I pulled away from the side of the road, glanced at my mother-in-law and headed over the embankment.

 

These are not the first excuses used. Three millenniums ago Moses came up with some good ones for not following God's will. The mission given to Moses was clear.

Exodus 3:10   So now, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt.

 

The mission is not complicated. It was spoken in a language Moses could understand. The problem was Moses thought this mission was crazy and he had no intension of doing it. So he came up with three common excuses.  Perhaps they will be familiar to you.

1. I am afraid. Moses had been on the FBI most wanted list in Egypt for the past 40 years. To go back would be suicide and facing his greatest fear. Fear always starts with the hypothetical, "what if."

2. I'm not qualified. Moses says he isn't a good speaker. He might be asked to do public speaking and what if people ask him a question that he might not be able to answer?

3. Someone else can do it. There are other people who can do that job much better than me. Why not send some pastors or missionaries to do your work?

In the end Moses must have felt pretty good about his excuses and the chances of being taken off the hook. But God is not looking for qualified people; He is looking for available people.

 

Exodus 4:11-12  The LORD said to him, "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."

 

I want to pause and say something that needs to be said. Some of us are being led by God to step out in faith and do something that seems impossible. It is easy to come up with excuses. But excuses don't work with an all-powerful God. God is looking for people who are willing. He doesn't expect us to have all the answers, all the ability and all the power. He is asking us to be available for his power and wisdom to flow through us.

Are you willing?