Are you in a position where you feel your abilities are not sufficient, your past learning don’t match, your capabilities are limited, and people don’t accept you?
When God chose Moses to lead the people of Israel, he knew will not be able to do so with the capabilities he had. Probably, he was trained to sit as a king and rule the nation from the palace.
Acts 7:22 says, “Moses was educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and was powerful in speech and action.”
But with 40 years having passed, those training must have become dim. To lead thousands of people from the land of Egypt to Canaan seemed an unattainable task for the 80-year-old, stammering Moses.
He gave excuses one after another, trying to prove to God that he wasn’t a perfect fit for this great task.
He questioned God about his low status in the society. He asks ‘Who am I?’ Who am I to appear before Pharaoh? Who am I to lead the people of Israel out of Egypt? (Exodus 3:11)
He then argues about his inability to reason out and express things. “........what should I tell them” (Exo 3:13)
He then questions God about people’s acceptance of him. “What if they won’t believe me or listen to me? (Exo 4:1)
Doubtful whether even the fellow Israelites would accept him as their leader! “Who made you the judge and ruler over us?” (Exo 2:14) this question would have probably been ringing into Moses’ ears.
Then, Moses goes on to contend with God, and asks him to excuse him, considering his physical inability. “O Lord, I’m not very good with words. I never have been, and I’m not now, even though you have spoken to me. I get tongue-tied, and my words get tangled.” (Exo 4:10)
Who am I? Suppose they will not listen to my voice? I am not eloquent. Moses laid excuses again and again.
When none of his excuses could win against God, he candidly says to God, “Lord, please! Send anyone else.”
But did God leave him? Did God allow him to quit? No! As Paul puts it, “The calling and gifts of God are irrevocable.” (Romans 11:29)
When God calls you for a particular task, remember He will be with you. He will give you the overcoming wisdom and strength to handle the challenges. The only answer to Moses’ many excuses was ‘I will certainly be with you.’
What more do you need when the creator of the Universe, the source of wisdom, strength and power promises to be with you?
God places you in such a position so that you will rely on God’s wisdom and not yours, as Paul rightly says – ‘So that no flesh will glory in His presence’ (1 Cor 1:29).
Paul knew this secret very well. He says in vs. 27 and 28, God chooses the foolish things of the world to put to shame the things that are wise, the weak things to put shame the things that are mighty, base and despised things to bring to nothing the things that are.
Paul had a strong Jewish background. A learned man, well-versed in scriptures, Paul had studied under the feet of Gamaliel – a great scholar. Being an ardent Jew, he almost memorized the first five books in the Bible. Humanly speaking, he would have been the perfect choice and ideal candidate to minister to Jews.
But see God’s calling. He was a chosen vessel to minister to the Gentiles. “....because of the grace God gave me to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles. He gave me the priestly duty of proclaiming the gospel of God, so that the Gentiles might become an offering acceptable to God, sanctified by the Holy Spirit” (Romans 15:15,16)
Although Paul did minister among the Jews, the major chunk of his missionary work was among the Gentiles
The Gentles had little appreciation for his great learning. Paul had to get rid of human wisdom and completely rely only on God’s wisdom to minister to the Gentiles.
And Paul was able to succeed when he put his trust in God and relied on God’s wisdom. Beginning from Antioch, to Iconium, Lystra, Derbe, Philippi, Thessalonica, Berea, Athens, Ephesus, Troas, Miletus and finally Rome, Paul did the ministry with great boldness and with the overwhelming power of the Holy Ghost.
On the contrary, God used an unlearned and ignorant Peter to work among the pious Jews. “For God, who was at work in Peter as an apostle to the circumcised, was also at work in me as an apostle to the Gentiles.” (Galatians 2:8)
God’s choices are unique and beyond human comprehension.
Are you placed in a position where you feel yourself inefficient, incapable and unaccepted? You are in a place where God wants you to be. You are deliberately placed by God in a place where you’ll learn to depend on God every moment so that to God alone all glory belongs. As God promised Moses, He will be with you as an able guide, whose wisdom and grace will be sufficient for you.
God has called you and He will take you through.
