When I was 15 years old and learning how to drive, I had learned to drive on an automatic transmission car. However, the day before I went to take my test for my driver’s license, I remember my dad telling me that we needed to go out for a drive. I put my shoes on and headed outside to get some last minute practice and started heading towards our car that I was going to take my driver’s test in, but I was redirected towards our other car. This car had a manual shifter. I had never driven this car before. My dad hopped in the driver’s seat and I climbed into the passenger seat, and he took me across the street to the school parking lot and parked the car up a 30 degree inclined hill. He then proceeded to tell me that I needed to safely get the car off of the hill. I had to drive it off.

Looking back at this is kind of comical now, but at the time, I looked at the slope of the hill and decided that I was clearly unqualified for this task. My experience on a manual transmission was minimal, and this task was clearly not appropriate for a 15 year old teenager who was taking her driver’s test in the morning.

I cannot help but think about this story (and laugh about it now) as I am reading Moses’ story in Exodus when God calls Moses.

Exodus 3:7-10

Then the Lord said, “I have observed the misery of my people in Egypt, and I have heard them crying out because of their oppressors. I know about their sufferings, and I have come down to rescue them from the power of the Egyptians and to bring them from that land to a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey – the territory of the Canaanites, Hethites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivits, and Jebusites. So because the Israelites’ cry for help has come to me, and I have also seen the way the Egyptians are oppressing them, therefore, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh so that you may lead my people, therefore Israelites, out of Egypt.

Now, me driving a car in a parking lot and Moses being called to approach the biggest authority in the land of Egypt on behalf of the Israelites, the people who had been subjected to slavery by Pharaoh, and ask him to let the Israelites leave are on completely different levels. As it turns out, the Israelites were a major workforce for Pharaoh in production of goods, that letting the people of Israel go would be a massive loss for the nation of Egypt. It certainly didn’t make sense in the eyes of Pharaoh to let them go. Yet, God instructed Moses that this is his role – that Moses is to trust God and approach Pharaoh on behalf of the nation of Israel and lead them to another land.

It’s a wild ask, to be honest. How on earth would this go well for Moses?

I could not imagine being approached and told to do something on that scale. Moses certainly has his doubts, but God addresses every single one of them.

*Exodus 3:11 But Moses asked God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and that I should bring the Israelites out of Egypt?”

God’s response was basically the same – yeah, who are you, Moses? Certainly Moses is not going to be the guy. But guess what? I will be with you Moses. And I’ll tell you something else – you will WORSHIP me when you’re out, Moses. God agrees with Moses – Moses can’t. But GOD can. God just asks for Moses’ obedience and partnership – HE will do the rest.

In our life today, how often do we see our insufficiencies in this life and think that we’re just done for? It’s not possible, God, because I cannot. And we’re right. We cannot. BUT God can. God would have never asked Moses to do something that He wasn’t capable of making happen. God would not promise Moses a victory if that were not to be possible. ***

*Exodus 3:13 Then Moses asked God, “If I go to the Israelites and say to them, “The God of your ancestors has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ What should I tell them?”

God’s got another response to this one too. I AM. “I AM” sent me.

What?

This is where it gets super cool. Israel, remember all of the stories that you have heard about the God who was father to all the guys who started your nation? Remember Abraham, Isaac, Jacob? Remember who God showed himself to be to them? Remember what God did for those guys? That’s him. That’s who he is. And guess what? This God is the same God, the one true God, and He has heard you. He pays attention to you. He sees you in your suffering, and He is going to fight for you, Israel. Even though Pharaoh is not going to let you go without a fight, Israel, I am here for you and I am going to fight for you.

The stories come alive here to Israel. All that they had heard about this God of their ancestors will come alive to them. It will no longer just be a story of what happened in their past, but it will now become their story. As God completes this massive task of bringing Israel out of Egypt, they will come to know who He is at a much more deep and personal level than the stories could ever portray, therefore “I AM” will be more than sufficient now but as these events progress they will know more and more about who “I AM” is.

*Exodus 4:1 Moses answered, “What if they won’t believe me and will not obey me but say, ‘The Lord did not appear to you’?”

Enter doubt.

Have you ever doubted? I know for a fact that I have. Doubt undeniably has a place in the Christian life at times, but it’s where the doubt goes that defines our faith and trust in the Lord. What’s really interesting here is that Moses asks God directly, now.

Here’s what Moses didn’t do:

“Awesome God, I trust that everything you said is completely true, I trust that you picked the right guy, and I trust that everything I say and do will be exactly as you need from me through the whole process”…. Then Moses Goes home and wonders, “Gosh, did God really pick the right guy for the job? How do I know that what He said was true? Who is this God guy and why should I believe him? What if I don’t do the right things?”.

I think as Christians, we tend to keep our doubt to ourselves. It’s hard to bring out doubts at times forward to either other trusted friends or even God Himself. It’s challenging to know why it’s so hard, but I have a couple of theories. Do we think that bringing doubt forward indicates a lack of trust in the Lord? When we’re told to trust God with all we have, yet we doubt Him, it can be humbling to be honest with our doubt. How will our doubt impact how others see me? Will others see me as weak or untrusting? Will others come to a conclusion about my walk with the Lord if they know that I struggle in this way?

What’s really interesting, is that God meets Moses exactly where he is in his doubt, not only telling him that it is going to be okay, but also giving him three physical signs (the staff, his hand, and turning the water of the Nile to blood) to bring to the Egyptians, as well as to reassure Moses that God is who He says He is and He will do exactly what He intends. God doesn’t tell Moses off or chastise Moses, but instead he meets him where He is at. I think it’s also really interesting that God didn’t provide any new or crazy tools to Moses, but instead God looks at what Moses already has and uses them. The staff in his hand, the water, and his hand in the cloak. There is literally nothing special about any of these three things, yet God turns them into something that can be used. “What’s in your hand?”. It reminds me of the stories in the New Testament where Jesus feeds the 3,000 and the 5,000 off of what I consider a young kid’s lunch. A couple of fish and a couple of pieces of bread were offered to Jesus. I’m sure most would have laughed at the thought of these things making any sort of dent in feeding the thousands of hungry people, yet the willingness to offer what little they had resulted in Jesus creating an abundance out of it. This passage is always a reminder to me to think “What’s in your hand?”. What can I offer to the Lord in a simple and seemingly small act of faith, no matter how small, and trust that He will use it?

*Exodus 4:10 But Moses replied to the Lord, “Please, Lord, I have never been eloquent – either in the past or recently or since you have been speaking to your servant – because my mouth and my tongue are sluggish.”

I truly do think that it is important to look inward into your giftings at times and discern whether you are the right person for the job or if someone else would be better at the job. Going back to the initial analogy of 15 year old me parked uphill with no experience on a manual shifter. Now, in this situation, it was absolutely appropriate for me to learn, as we were in a completely empty parking lot with no one around and a car that we cared very little about. The stakes were low. However, park that car uphill on Main Street when traffic is zooming right on by is a completely different situation – failing to get the car moving with the manual shifter in that situation could result in hitting another car nearby or another person. There’s a time and a place to take a risk and there’s another time and place to rely on someone else.

I can completely understand where Moses was coming from here – he didn’t have much confidence in his ability to speak and lead a nation, but maybe that’s the point. God’s response reminds Moses, not of who Moses is and what he’s capable of, but instead it reminds him of who GOD is. God put the mouth on humans and he surely was the one who created Moses to be exactly who he is now. God didn’t make a mistake in calling Moses, but He knew exactly who He was calling and decided to call Moses anyways. By calling Moses, who wasn’t necessarily gifted in the skills which would be required of someone taking on a calling of this magnitude, God’s glory would shine though Moses as He helps Moses speak and learn what to say.

*Exodus 4:13 Moses said, “Please, Lord, send someone else.”

Moses’ fifth and final statement to God. God met Moses where he was at with patience, kindness, and compassion on Moses. He met Moses with gentle reassurance that Moses is the man for the job, and God will be with him every step of the way. However, Moses’ plea for God to send someone else instead was the only one that was met with anger from God. God calls Moses to obedience and was not going to take a “no” from Moses. Yet, God still provides help in the form of Aaron, his brother, and God reassures Moses that both him and Aaron will have everything they need for the massive task at hand.

Sometimes, we have no idea what on earth God is doing or what He is thinking. I don’t know about you, but I felt like I could relate to every single one of these questions that Moses asked the Lord as he was responding to the Lord’s calling. Moses clearly didn’t feel qualified for the task ahead of him, yet God makes it clear that it is GOD’S work, not Moses’ work, that will bring the Israelites out of Egypt and into the promised land. The outcome is known, and it is that God is going to rescue Israel from Egypt and bring them to a new land, the promised land. Moses’s story here is a reminder to us that God’s plans always prevail, and our weaknesses are no limitation for God’s work. We may not feel qualified, and realistically we may not actually be qualified, but God’s plans always prevail and He will do incredible things when we respond to Him in obedience.

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