The Story of God: When God Calls

Excuses! Have you ever made up an excuse to get out of something you didn’t want to do?  Of course you have.  But have you ever used any of these excuses?

Here are some people have given to get out of work: I can’t come to work today because I accidently got on a plane.   I can’t come in today because my grandmother poisoned me with ham.I can’t make it today because I’ve got to nurse a headache after attending too many garage sales over the weekend… And my personal favorite: My 12 year-old daughter stole my car and I have no other way to get to work.

Here’s some real excuses from people who tried to get out of going to church:  “My wife cooked bacon for breakfast, and our entire family smelled like bacon.” Here’s one from a guy who may have wanted to go to church, but he had a good excuse not to: “Both of my girlfriends attend church there.” Legitimate I guess. And my personal favorite: “The pastor is too attractive. When I see him preaching, I have impure thoughts, and I am distracted.”

Excuses.We’ve all made them. We’ve made them about cutting class, not going on a date, not attending a function.  Some are legitimate – things do happen that are beyond our control.  But others are a bit more complicated.  Take for example, serving in a church.  Some people don’t want to get involved because they were taken advantage of at their last church, they were hurt and don’t want to get hurt again. Some don’t want to serve because they were overcommitted at their last church and now they are burned out.  Then there are those who are reluctant to serve because they are afraid of failing.  And others won’t volunteer because they just don’t think they have what it takes.  In fact, over the years, I’ve heard all these excuses and then some.  But rarely have I heard how God can help us get past their past, get over our reluctance, and help us get past our excuses.

But that’s just what we are going to see as we return to God’s story in the book of Exodus today.  For here we are going to see that there isn’t a more reluctant servant than Moses. This guy gave God some pretty good excuses for not doing what God calls him to do.   But you’ve gotta love how God dismantles ever single excuse with His grace. So if you’ve ever made an excuse for not serving; if you’ve ever felt like you didn’t have what it takes; or if you’ve ever heard yourself say, “let someone else do it,” then perhaps what God’s Word has to say to you will be of great encouragement today. So if you brought your Bible let me encourage you to turn in it now to Exodus 3:16, where we begin with God telling Moses what He is calling him to do.

Here is God’s Assignment: Go and be my messenger of deliverance    “Go, assemble the elders of Israel and say to them, ‘The Lord, the God of your fathers —the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob—appeared to me and said: I have watched over you and have seen what has been done to you in Egypt. And I have promised to bring you up out of your misery in Egypt into the land of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites—a land flowing with milk and honey.’  Exodus 3:16-17

God tells Moses where to go, what to say, and what He promises to do.  Go to the elders of Israel, tell them who sent you to them, tell them I have seen their suffering, tell them “I have promised to deliver them and bring them into the promised land.” Tell them Yahweh, the holy, self-existing, eternal God has sent you.  Pretty clear.

Then God tells Moses what to expect:  “The elders of Israel will listen to you.Then you and the elders are to go to the king of Egypt and say to him, ‘The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, has met with us. Let us take a three-day journey into the wilderness to offer sacrifices to the Lord our God.’ But I know that the king of Egypt will not let you go unless a mighty hand compels him. So I will stretch out my hand and strike the Egyptians with all the wonders that I will perform among them. After that, he will let you go.  Exodus 3:18-20

God tells Moses that the elders will listen to him and go with him to Pharaoh. But then Pharaoh won’t want to let you go.  And God knows that he won’t want to let Israel go.

So then God tells Moses what He will do:  With His power, He will strike Egypt with wonders, so that afterwards, Pharaoh will let them go.  Remember ho Pharaoh went to war with God’s people. He enslaved them for seven days a week so they could not worship their God, but would only serve Pharaoh?  Now God was going to put Pharaoh in his place.

Then God tells Moses one more thing:  “And I will make theEgyptians favorably disposed toward this people, so that when you leave you will not go empty-handed. Every woman is to ask her neighbor and any woman living in her house for articles of silver and gold and for clothing, which you will put on your sons and daughters. And so you will plunder the Egyptians.” Exodus 3:21-22

God tells Moses, that He will make the Egyptians favorably disposed to them.  He’s going to send the women on a shopping trip. As a result “you will plunder the Egyptians.” You will leave Egypt, but you won’t leave empty handed.  I will give you the wealth of Egypt to take with you.”

That’s the plan.  God tells Moses where to go, what to say, what to expect and what God will do to ensure victory.  God has thought of everything.  And He promises to make it all happen.  All Moses has to do is go and tell: Go and be my messenger of deliverance!

In much the same way, Moses’ call is also our call.  God calls us to go and tell.  Go to people everywhere and tell the good news.  God has come to us in Jesus Christ to deliver all people from their sin.  Our call is to go and tell.  And God promises to bring about the results.  Our job is to trust God and obey His call.  Its pretty simple really.  But what happens?  Excuses! Look at Moses.  Here’s his first excuse.

First Excuse:  “I don’t have the confidence do this”  Look at what Moses says:  Moses answered, “What if they do not believe me or listen to me and say, ‘The Lord did not appear to you’?” Exodus 4:1

Didn’t God say they would listen?  That was God’s promise to Moses.  But Moses lacked confidence.  He struggled to believe that anyone would listen to him.  His focus was still on himself and his past.  “They rejected me before, why would they listen to me now?” Moses was still frozen by his failure.  Does that ever happen to you?  Have you ever failed in a ministry, in a marriage, in a job?  Have you experienced rejection?  If you have, you can relate with Moses.  He needed a boost of confidence.  So God gave him one:

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.  Exodus 4:2-3

Catch the irony here.  Moses is more afraid of the snake then he is of refusing God.

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.” Exodus 4:4-5

Then the Lord said, “Put your hand inside your cloak.” So Moses put his hand into his cloak, and when he took it out, the skin was leprous—it had become as white as 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. Exodus 4:6-7

Then the Lord said, “If they do not believe you or pay attention to the first 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.” Exodus 4:8-9

So how does God bolster Moses’ confidence? He gives him three signs:

1) His staff that turns into a serpent – this is a sign of God’s presence with Moses

2) His hand that turns leprous– this is a sign of God’s power over sickness and death

3) The water that turns to blood– this is a sign of God’s power over the Egyptian gods.  The Nile was their life force.  It was venerated as god.

What God did by all this was give Moses something tangible to boost Moses’ faith.    At this point in God’s call, Moses faith was in himself and not in God.  His faith was displaced.  When you focus on your failure, you won’t want to serve God. What you need is faith in God. You need something to hang your hat on. God gave Moses three signs: One of His presence, and two of His power.  God was confirming His promise made earlier:  “I will be with you.”  God was proving His power to do what He said He would do – to defeat Pharaoh by His power so that Pharaoh will let His people go.

Everyone of us need this same God infused confidence. Our faith isn’t supposed to be in our abilities or lack thereof, but in God’s Presence and in God’s power.  So He gives us two signs:  The signs we have are the cross and the resurrection – the reality that will be pictured in the exodus. Think about what happened in Jesus day. When people asked for a sign, he said that it is “a wicked and adulterous generation that asks for a sign”and informed them that the only sign they would be given would be the sign of Jonah – a man going to the place of the dead for three days and nights, and then emerging alive.  In Jonah’s case that was the belly of a fish; in Jesus’ it would be a tomb.  Paul put it this way: “Jews demand signsand Greeks look for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified… the power of God and the wisdom of God.”1 Corinthians 1:22-24

Our power to bring God’s message of deliverance is found in the cross.  Our confidence to bring the message comes from the reality of the empty tomb, of the resurrected Jesus who promises to be with us!  God GAVE TO Moses what he needed to bolster his faith with these three signs.  God GAVE TO US the death and resurrection of Jesus to build our confidence.  If you are struggling to do your part in God’s story… if you lack faith in what you bring to the table turn your eyes on Jesus. When we think we can’t do it, think of what Jesus has done. Focus on the cross – remember what Jesus did for you. Remember that He rose from the grave. That’s an incredible power over death!  And now we have that same power available to us.

So God dismantles our first excuse:  “I don’t have the confidence to do this.”  But like Moses, we usually have a backup excuse.  Here now is our second excuse.

Our Second Excuse: “I don’t have competency to do this”  Look now at verse 10,  Moses said to the Lord, “Pardon your servant, 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.”  Exodus 4:10

Moses still feels inadequate for the task.  He sucks as a speaker. “I don’t have the skills to do this.”  Once again Moses is guided by his flesh and not by faith. His focus is on his incompetence – on what he cannot do, rather than on what God promises to do.

Look at how God dismantles this excuse:  The Lord said to him, “Who gave human beings their mouths? Who makes them deaf or mute? Who gives them sight or makes them blind? Is it not I, the Lord? Now go; I will help you speak and will teach you what to say.” Exodus 4:11-12

God is basically telling Moses:  “It does not matter how poor a speaker you are, because it’s not about you.  I’ve already told you what to say, and who to say it to. I will help you. I will teach you.  You are not in this alone.  You don’t have to be an orator, you just need to be a reporter. Your objection is irrelevant.”

Not only that, but this time Moses’ excuese boarders on the irreverent. Notice the wording of his complaint: “I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since you have spoken to your servant” Exodus 4:10.  This comment was really a criticism.  Moses is blaming God for not giving him the gift of speaking.  When he said, “I am not eloquent, neither in the past…” he was complaining about the way God made him.  And when he said, “nor since you have spoken,” he was implying that if God really wanted him to go to Pharaoh, he would cure his speech impediment right then and there…  By this reasoning it was God’s fault that Moses couldn’t do what God called him to do.

Do we ever do that?  Do we ever blame God?  How often do we complain that God is not giving us what we want, when the real problem is that we are not doing what he wants us to do?  You see, God made you and He made me just exactly the way He wanted to.  Who gave us our eyes, ears, and mouth?  God did.  And if that’s the case, then all our abilities, our inabilities and EVEN our disabilities were ordained by Him.  And if that is true, then God has given you whatever talent you need to do his will.  He made you the way you are, so that when you serve Him with your limitations or inadequacies – that’s when He gets the most glory.

Isn’t this what Jesus teaches us in the parable of the talents?  A master went away on a long journey, leaving three servants in charge of the household. Each servant was given certain responsibilities, according to his ability, and when the master returned, each was called to give account.  The servant with five talents had earned five more.  The servant with two talents doubled his master’s investment.  Not surprisingly, both of these men were praised. But the servant with only one talent buried it. That wicked servant was cast into the outer darkness because he had failed to use even his one talent to the best of his ability.  (Matthew 25:14-30)

What talent has God given you?  Do you have a beautiful voice, or the ability to start a business? Do you have the skills to mentor someone?  Perhaps you have the talent to make household repairs, or the ability to make people feel welcome.  Maybe you have a talent to make money or have the ability to build highly functional teams? God has given each person here today talents, skills, and gifts to use to build His kingdom and bless others. God has called you to be part of His redemption story. Are you using the talents God gave you in His story?  Are you using them for His glory?

Moses kept making excuses, how about you?  In fact as we come back to his story, we see he comes up with one more excuse that’s really not an excuse.  Let’s look at it now:

Our Third Excuse: “I don’t want to do this”   Look at verse 23, But Moses said, “Pardon your servant, Lord. Please send someone else.” Exodus 4:23   Moses has run out of excuses.  His true motives are clear.  Whether its because he’s afraid or he doesn’t what to change, or life’s gotten too comfortable, we now see what’s really going on with Moses.  He doesn’t really want to go…

Even after God has promised to be with him; even after God has given him a clear message; even after God has promised to do all the work; even after God has given him the talent to do what He’s calling him to do; even after God has graciously dismantled every objection one by one, Moses is left with no options.  So in his desperation he says, “let someone else do it, anybody but me.”  He has no more excuses.  He simply doesn’t want to go.  He doesn’t want to obey God’s call on his life.  So how does God respond to Moses’ rebellion?

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 he will be glad to see 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 the signs with it.” Exodus 4:14-17

Two things we see from God here:  The first is that God is angry with Moses.  God has heard enough.  He has graciously answered Moses’ every objection. But Moses still resists God. And that’s crazy.  But here’s the good news: for in the not to distant future, God is going to pass in front of Moses and declare “The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness” Exodus 34:6   God IS slow to anger.  But Moses’ continual resistance to God’s call, after God has graciously given him every thing he needs, tells us something about God:  God’s anger burns against thosewho refuse to trust Him.  And that should give us pause.

Moses is stubborn.  He refuses to trust God even after God is going to give Him whatever he needs to succeed.  So God is angry with Moses.  But  the good news is that God is SLOW to anger and rich in love. His anger burns against Moses. But rather than cast Moses aside, or punish Moses, once again God gives grace to Moses.  This time He gives Moses his brother to do the speaking.  And He promises to help and teach them both. And in the end, it’s God’s will that prevails. God doesn’t take no for answer.  God gets the last word: “But take this staff in your hand so you can perform the signs with it.”  

Aren’t you glad that’s how God acts with us?  God is slow to anger with our resistance, our disobedience?  Aren’t you glad that He is abounding in love? Aren’t you glad God doesn’t listen to our excuses but overcomes them with grace?

This is the God of grace who calls into His story.  And the great truth for us today is this: when God calls you, God gives you whatever you need to succeed. He made you to serve just the way you are. And all He asks of you is to trust Him and obey His call. Believe He is with you. Believe He made you. And believe He will help you.  You have a part to play in His Story.  Will you trust Him to help you?  All He asks of you is to obey.  Let’s pray.