Exiting Egypt Chapter 3B P5

Exiting Egypt Chapter 3B P5

“Moses: A Reluctant Prophet”

Exodus 3:11-4:17

By Dennis Lee

Yet, even after all of this, Moses still was reluctant and gave God another excuse.

Read Ex. 4:10-12

Excuse #4 – Moses Couldn’t Speak Eloquently

I am not eloquent…I am slow of speech and slow of tongue (Ex. 4:10 NKJV)

His excuse was that he wasn’t fluent in the art of persuasive and expressive speech. That he was not at ease around others and was so nervous speaking that viewing people in their underwear didn’t help. That his words did not come easily for him. Perhaps he even had a stuttering problem or a speech impediment.

And so God replied giving Moses another precious promise; that since God is the one who made and formed the mouth, that he wasn’t to worry about what to say or how to say it, that God will be with his mouth and teach him what it is that he should say.

This is the same promise God gives to us as Jesus confirms the presence of the Holy Spirit.

When you are brought before synagogues, rulers and authorities, do not worry about how you will defend yourselves or what you will say, for the Holy Spirit will teach you at that time what you should say (Lk. 12:11-12 NIV)

It is the same promise God gave to the prophet Jeremiah

The Lord put forth His hand and touched my mouth, and the Lord said to me: "Behold, I have put My words in your mouth” (Jer. 1:9 NKJV)

And so, being afraid of how we might come across when you tell people about Jesus Christ shouldn’t stop any of us from speaking the truth, because it isn’t us, it isn’t form our own wisdom or eloquence, but from the Holy Spirit who will give us the words when we need them.

And then Moses was without excuses, and his heart was revealed. He just plain didn’t want to go. You see, God strips away all the pretence and excuses and gets down to the heart of the matter.

Read Ex. 4:13-17

Moses finally revealed his heart. He was comfortable in Midian. He had a life, and he didn’t want God to mess it up. He wanted what he wanted the way he wanted it.

Now, God gets angry, but he wasn’t going to change His plans to deliver His people because Moses was chickening out. So God sent Moses’ brother, Aaron, to be Moses’ mouthpiece to the people. God would still speak directly to Moses, but Moses was no longer permitted to speak directly to the people or to Pharaoh.

And while Moses was God’s chosen leader, and God would speak directly to Moses, the sad part of this story is that because of his reluctance, Moses forfeited the privilege of speaking God’s word directly to the people.

And so, what lessons can we learn from this reluctant prophet.

1. In the Christian life we live, our response to God’s call and in our relationship to him, most of us never aspire for all that God has for us, instead we settle for too little.

2. Only when we know that we can’t do it on our own that God infuses us with His power and grace to do what only He can rightly do.