In his book, Something Else to Smile About, Zig Ziglar writes about his brother, the late Judge Ziglar, who loved to tell the story of a man who went next door to borrow his neighbor’s lawnmower. The neighbor explained that he could not let him use the mower because all the flights had been canceled from New York to Los Angeles.
The borrower asked him, “What do canceled flights from New York to Los Angeles had to do with borrowing you lawnmower.”
“It doesn’t have anything to do with it,” the neighbor replied, but if I don’t want to let you use my lawnmower, one excuse is as good as another.” (Zig Ziglar, Something Else to Smile About, Thomas Nelson, 1999; www.PreachingToday.com)
Excuses: they’re not real reasons; they’re just ways of avoiding what we really don’t want to do. I like the way Vance Havner once put it: “An excuse is the skin of a reason stuffed with a lie.” In other words, it looks like a reason on the outside, but at heart it’s really a lie.
That’s why what Benjamin Franklin said is very true: “He that is good at making excuses is seldom good for anything else.”
So stop making excuses! If you want to be all that God has called you to be, stop coming up with so-called “reasons” why you can’t do what God has asked you to do. Stop telling Him, “It’s too hard” or “What if…” or “I’m not qualified.” If you want to be used of God to advance His eternal purposes on this planet, then stop trying to justify your inactivity.
That’s a lesson Moses had to learn before God could use Him in any significant way. God told Moses to lead the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt, but Moses has all kinds of “reasons” why He couldn’t do that. If you have your Bibles, I invite you to turn with me to Exodus 4, Exodus 4, where we see what God does with our excuses in the way He interacts with Moses.
Exodus 4:1 Moses answered, “What if they do not believe me or listen to me and say, ‘The Lord did not appear to you’?” (NIV)
Moses ask the question many of us ask when faced with a real challenge: “What if? What if they don’t believe me? What if something goes wrong? What if it doesn’t work?” Well, how does God respond to that excuse?
Exodus 4:2-5 Then the Lord said to him, “What is that in your hand?” “A staff,” he replied. The Lord said, “Throw it on the ground.” Moses threw it on the ground and it became a snake, and he ran from it. Then the Lord said to him, “Reach out your hand and take it by the tail.” So Moses reached out and took hold of the snake and it turned back into a staff in his hand. “This,” said the Lord, “is so that they may believe that the Lord, the God of their fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob—has appeared to you.” (NIV)
God took what Moses had in his hand and demonstrated His power through it. You see, Moses already had everything he needed to do what God called him to do. He didn’t need newer and better equipment. He didn’t need more money or more of this or that. He just needed the Lord who would use what Moses already had to overcome the forces of evil. The snake was a symbol of power to the Egyptians, so God was declaring to Moses that he would be able to overcome the powers of Egypt.
Also, I find it very interesting that the word used for “snake” here in Exodus 4 is the same word used of the “serpent” in Genesis 3. There, the serpent tempted Eve to eat of the forbidden fruit and brought down the entire human race. That snake is none other than the devil himself, but God has given His people the power to overcome the devil and the very forces of evil.
In Moses’ hand, his staff was nothing, but in God’s hand it became power as Moses learned to trust God. You see, God takes what we have in our hands and uses it to overcome the forces of evil if we learn to trust Him.
Exodus 4:6-9 Then the Lord said, “Put your hand inside your cloak.” So Moses put his hand into his cloak, and when he took it out, it was leprous, like snow. “Now put it back into your cloak,” he said. So Moses put his hand back into his cloak, and when he took it out, it was restored, like the rest of his flesh. Then the Lord said, “If they do not believe you or pay attention to the first miraculous sign, they may believe the second. But if they do not believe these two signs or listen to you, take some water from the Nile and pour it on the dry ground. The water you take from the river will become blood on the ground.” (NIV)
God gives Moses two more signs to demonstrate His power: an incurable disease, leprosy, is cured, and the very life of Egypt, the Nile River, is turned into blood. When Moses doubts whether or not anybody will listen to him, God gives him miracles to perform. God gives him signs, which demonstrate God’s power to overcome any opposition, whether it’d be Israel’s unbelief, Egypt’s power, or the forces of Satan himself.
All Moses has to do is trust in God’s power, and that’s all we need to do if we’re going to be all that God has called us to be. We need to stop making excuses and…
TRUST IN GOD’S POWER.
We need to depend on God’s ability to use whatever He places in our hands. We need to rely on His strength to accomplish through us what He asks us to do.
Dawson Trotman, founder of the Navigators, a world-wide missions organization, was in Europe for three days in 1948 during the devastating aftermath of World War II. He was meeting with a group of 25 German fellow believers. He talked to them every evening for three hours, challenging them with the Great Commission and the idea that not only did Germany need to hear the gospel, but that Germans themselves needed to obey the Great Commission by sending out missionaries.
Every once in a while a hand would go up. One of them said, “But Mr. Trotman, you don’t understand. Some of us right in this room don’t even own an Old Testament. We only have a New Testament.” But Trotman pointed out, “When Jesus Christ gave these commands, they didn’t have even a New Testament.”
Later another spoke up. “But Mr. Trotman, we have few good evangelical books in this country like you have in America.” Trotman asked, “How many books did the disciples have?”
Scattered through their nine hours together were other protests: “In America you have money.” “You have automobiles; we have bicycles.” “In America you can hear the gospel any day.” Every excuse was brought up and each time Trotman replied, “But the 12 apostles didn’t have that either, and Jesus sent them out.”
Finally, near the end, one man who was a little older than the rest, with a bitter expression on his face, said, “Mr. Trotman, you in America have never had an occupation force in your land. You don’t know what it is to have soldiers of another country roaming your streets. Our souls are not our own.” Trotman responded by reminding him of the Roman soldiers who occupied Palestine at the time Jesus Christ and his disciples lived.
“Then it dawned on me,” Trotman said, “that when Christ sent out his men, they were in a situation so bad that there could never be a worse one: no printing presses, no automobiles, no radios or television, no telephones, no church buildings. He left them with nothing except a job to do. But with it he said, ‘All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore…’” (Dawson Trotman, “The Need of the Hour,” Discipleship Journal, Jan/Feb 1982; www.PreachingToday.com)
The first disciples had much less than what we have today; and yet, in the power of Christ they turned their world upside down. What excuse do we have for not impacting our world with the good news of Jesus Christ? We have none! So let’s stop making excuses, and like God instructs Moses, let’s trust in His power to accomplish all that He asks us to do. More than that, Let’s…
TRUST IN GOD’S PLAN.
Let’s depend on God’s design. Let’s rely on His wisdom in the way He made us. That’s what God tells Moses to do.
Exodus 4:10 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.” (NIV)
Literally, “I am heavy of mouth and tongue.” Now, Stephen in Acts 7 says Moses was “powerful in speech” (Acts 7:22), but at this point Moses feels absolutely helpless. He’s a simple shepherd being asked to speak to a powerful king, and he doesn’t think he can do it. Moses may have had a speech impediment; but even so, that doesn’t matter with God.
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.” (NIV)
Not only did God give Moses miracles to perform. God gave Moses his mouth with a message to proclaim. You see, God asks Moses to trust in His design.
And that’s what we need to do if we’re going to be all that God calls us to be. We need to trust that God knew what He was doing when He made us the way He did.
An African proverb says, “If you think you are too small to make a difference, try spending the night in a closed room with a mosquito.” (Robert Dawson, Lake Park, Georgia; www.PreachingToday.com)
God knew what He was doing when He made us the way He did – heavy mouth, big feet, and all! So a lack of ability is no excuse with God. We just need to trust in His power, trust in His plan, and #3, We need to…
TRUST IN GOD’S PROVISION.
We need to depend on God’s supply. We need to rely on God’s resources to accomplish all He asks us to do. That’s what Moses learned to do.
Exodus 4:13 But Moses said, “O Lord, please send someone else to do it.” (NIV)
Moses is out of excuses, so he finally gets honest with God. Moses simply doesn’t want to do what God asks Him to do, so he tells God, “send someone else.”
Exodus 4:14-17 Then the Lord’s anger burned against Moses and he said, “What about your brother, Aaron the Levite? I know he can speak well. He is already on his way to meet you, and his heart will be glad when he sees you. You shall speak to him and put words in his mouth; I will help both of you speak and will teach you what to do. He will speak to the people for you, and it will be as if he were your mouth and as if you were God to him. But take this staff in your hand so you can perform miraculous signs with it.” (NIV)
God simply won’t take “no” for an answer. His anger burns against Moses because of his unbelief. God had said, “I AM,” but all Moses could say was, “I am not! They won’t believe me. I can’t talk.” So God gives him miracles to perform, a mouth to proclaim, and now God gives him a man to prepare for the task ahead.
Now, Moses really didn’t need Aaron’s help. In fact, Aaron turned out to be a hindrance later on. In Exodus 32, he led the Israelites into idolatry; and in Numbers 12, he became critical of Moses’ leadership. But God gives Moses such help, because he has been so stubborn.
Now, Moses has no more excuses. God has promised him everything he needs (and more) to lead his people out of Egypt. Moses just needs to step out in faith trusting God to supply all those needs. Notice in verse 27, Aaron doesn’t join Moses until AFTER Moses begins his journey to Egypt (vs.27).
Moses had to take a step of faith first. Then God supplied him with a companion, and that’s what we need to do if we’re going to be all that God has called us to be. We must step out in faith, trusting God to supply all our needs as we go.
Philippians 4:19 says, “My God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.”
E. V. (Ed) Hill, who pastored Mt. Zion Missionary Baptist Church in Los Angeles for many years, grew up in the little country town of Sweet Home, Alabama. His birth mother, during the height of the Depression, couldn’t afford to raise her five children. So she sent four-year-old Ed to live with a friend of hers in Sweet Home. Ed just called his mother’s friend “Mama,” whose remarkable faith led her to have big plans for him. In fact, against insurmountable obstacles, Mama helped Ed graduate from high school (the only student to graduate that year from the country school) and even insisted that he go to college.
She took Ed to the bus station, handed him the ticket and five dollars and said, “Now, go off to Prairie View College, and Mama is going to be praying for you.” Hill says he didn’t know much about prayer, but he knew Mama did. When he arrived at the college with a dollar and ninety cents in his pocket, they told him he needed eighty dollars in cash in order to register.
Even so, Hill got in line on Mama’s prayer. As the line proceeded, he began to get nervous, but he stayed in line anyway. Then when the student ahead of him got all her stuff and turned away, Hill felt a tap on his shoulder. It was Dr. Drew, who asked him, “Are you Ed Hill?” When E. V. Hill acknowledged that he was, Dr. Drew asked him, “Have you paid yet?” And Hill replied, “Not quite.”
Dr. Drew told him, “We’ve been looking for you all morning… We have a four-year scholarship that will pay your room and board, your tuition, and give you thirty dollars a month to spend.”
And Hill says, “I heard Mama say, ‘I will be praying for you!’” (Martha Simmons & Frank A. Thomas, editors, Preaching with Sacred Fire, W. W. Norton & Company, 2010, pp. 707-708; www.PreachingToday.com)
God supplied his need, but he had to get on that bus and get in line in order to receive that supply. He had to step out in faith first.
And that’s what we need to do if we want God to supply our needs, as well. We need to step out in faith first. We need to begin the journey and start doing what God told us to do. Then, and only then, will God start giving us what we need for the journey.
Martin Luther King put it this way: “Faith is taking the first step even when you don’t see the whole staircase.”
So if you want to be all that God has called you to be, stop making excuses and take that step of faith. Trust in God’s power. Trust in God’s plan. Trust in God’s provision. And finally…
TRUST IN GOD’S PRECEPTS.
Depend on God’s instructions. Rely on God’s directions and do exactly what He tells you to do. That’s what Moses did. God had given him miracles to perform, a mouth to proclaim, a man to prepare, and now a mandate to pursue. And that’s exactly what Moses does.
Exodus 4:18-20 Then Moses went back to Jethro his father-in-law and said to him, “Let me go back to my own people in Egypt to see if any of them are still alive.” Jethro said, “Go, and I wish you well.” Now the Lord had said to Moses in Midian, “Go back to Egypt, for all the men who wanted to kill you are dead.” So Moses took his wife and sons, put them on a donkey and started back to Egypt. And he took the staff of God in his hand. (NIV) – just as God had said.
Exodus 4:21-23 The Lord said to Moses, “When you return to Egypt, see that you perform before Pharaoh all the wonders I have given you the power to do. But I will harden his heart so that he will not let the people go. Then say to Pharaoh, ‘This is what the Lord says: Israel is my firstborn son, and I told you, “Let my son go, so he may worship me.” But you refused to let him go; so I will kill your firstborn son.’” (NIV)
Now, that’s a tough thing to say to a stubborn, powerful king, but Moses will do it anyway, because God told him to.
Exodus 4:24-26 At a lodging place on the way, the Lord met Moses and was about to kill him. But Zipporah took a flint knife, cut off her son’s foreskin and touched Moses’ feet with it. “Surely you are a bridegroom of blood to me,” she said. So the Lord let him alone. (At that time she said “bridegroom of blood,” referring to circumcision.) (NIV)
Circumcision was the sign of the covenant God gave to the Israelites more than 400 years previous to this, uniquely identifying them as God’s holy people. But Moses had neglected to circumcise one or both of his sons. It was a serious matter, because Moses could not lead God’s people in obedience to God if he himself was not obedient.
That’s why God nearly struck him dead, probably by making him very sick. Zipporah, his Gentile wife, is a little perturbed, but she performs the surgery, shedding a little of her son’s blood to save her husband’s life and calls him a “bridegroom of blood.” Then, and only then, is Moses able to move on and complete the task God gave Him to do. His past sin had to be removed before he could realize God’s present call on his life.
Exodus 4:27-31 The Lord said to Aaron, “Go into the desert to meet Moses.” So he met Moses at the mountain of God and kissed him. Then Moses told Aaron everything the Lord had sent him to say, and also about all the miraculous signs he had commanded him to perform. Moses and Aaron brought together all the elders of the Israelites, and Aaron told them everything the Lord had said to Moses. He also performed the signs before the people, and they believed. And when they heard that the Lord was concerned about them and had seen their misery, they bowed down and worshiped. (NIV)
Moses did everything God told him to do, and the people responded with worship. The “What if they don’t believe me” in verse 1 became “They believed…and worshipped” in verse 31, but only after Moses stepped out in faith and did what God told him to do.
He relied on God’s directions, and that’s what we must do if we’re going to be all that God has called us to be. We must depend on God’s Word, doing what He has said, if we’re going to fulfill His call on our life.
And if we’ve failed to obey God, there is a remedy for us just like there was for Moses. His life and his calling were saved through the shedding of his son’s blood. Even so, our life and our calling are saved through the shedding of God’s Son’s blood on the cross. Jesus died on a cross and rose again to remove our sins from us as far as the east is from the west. All we need to do is depend on what He has done for us on the cross. Then God will not only save our souls, he will use us to save the souls of many others and fulfill His calling on our lives.
I urge you, if you haven’t done it already, trust Christ with your life. Call upon Him and ask Him to save you from your sins. Then you too will be able to go on and fulfill all that God has called you to do.
In his book, When a Nation Forgets God, Erwin Lutzer retells the story of a Christian living in Hitler’s Germany. The man wrote:
I lived in Germany during the Nazi Holocaust. I considered myself a Christian. We heard stories of what was happening to the Jews, but we tried to distance ourselves from it, because what could anyone do to stop it?
A railroad track ran behind our small church, and each Sunday morning we could hear the whistle in the distance and then the wheels coming over the tracks. We became disturbed when we heard the cries coming from the train as it passed by. We realized that it was carrying Jews like cattle in the cars!
Week after week the whistle would blow. We dreaded to hear the sound of those wheels because we knew that we would hear the cries of the Jews en route to a death camp. Their screams tormented us.
We knew the time the train was coming, and when we heard the whistle blow we began singing hymns. By the time the train came past our church, we were singing at the top of our voices. If we heard the screams, we sang more loudly and soon we heard them no more.
Years have passed, and no one talks about it anymore. But I still hear that train whistle in my sleep. God forgive me; forgive all of us who called ourselves Christians yet did nothing to intervene. (Erwin W. Lutzer, When a Nation Forgets God, Moody Press, 2010, p. 22; www.PreachingToday.com)
My dear friends, we cannot sit in our churches singing hymns, trying to drown out the needs of those around us, and expect God to use us in any significant way. No! God is not impressed with that kind of worship. Instead, we must be obedient to God’s clear command to love our neighbor as ourselves.
If we want to be all that God has called us to be as a church and as individual believers, we must stop making excuses and take that step of faith in obedience to God. Like Moses, trust in His power. Trust in His plan. Trust in His provision. And trust in His precepts. Then, and only then, will God use us to influence a nation to believe and worship Him again. Otherwise, we are just wasting our time in our comfortable little churches no matter how loud we sing.
