Exodus 6:9-12 (NIV) Moses reported this to the Israelites, but they did not listen to him because of their discouragement and cruel bondage. Then the LORD said to Moses, "Go, tell Pharaoh king of Egypt to let the Israelites go out of his country." But Moses said to the LORD, "If the Israelites will not listen to me, why would Pharaoh listen to me, since I speak with faltering lips?"
After a long time of living in slavery, the Israelites cry out to God to free them and God finally sends Moses to lead the people out of slavery. However, instead of things getting better since Moses' arrival, they had gotten worse and now their hopes of ever being free were dashed again - the Pharaoh is doubling down on them. The Israelites are so caught up in their bondage and circumstances of life that they are giving up on God and especially his chosen leader Moses. They are in the throes of slavery and there does not seem to be any relief in sight but God's deliverance is just around the corner. Here is a word of encouragement we can glean from this story so far, we need to hold on in faith to the Word and promises of God, His deliverance is near. The darkest hour is just before the dawn but it is in these moments that many of us give up because we have not see the sun for so long. We start looking at the circumstances and forgetting the promises of God - and why not - all we see are the circumstances and God seems slow in coming.
The people's fearful reaction caused old fears in Moses to rise up again. It had taken so much courage to stand up to Pharaoh and instead of things working out well Pharaoh had hardened his heart and made things worse for the people of Israel. Now Moses was feeling the old feelings of failure and insecurity rising up in him again. (Remember that when God came and found him for the task, he was hiding out in the desert because of his colossal failure at trying to liberate the Israelites forty years earlier.) The people he was supposed to lead did not want to follow and now God told him to go back to the Pharaoh and tell him to let the people go. Listen, if Moses could not even convince the people of Israel who wanted to believe, how could he convince the Pharaoh who did not want to believe? He reminds God that he didn't ask for this job, that God was the One who had convinced him to do it, and that maybe Moses was right after all - the reason why he was not right for this job was because he was not a convincing speaker. "Exactly what I have been telling you all along, God!"
Not only do the people have a crisis of belief but so does the one leading.
We are quick to disqualify ourselves when fear and uncertainty get in the way. When fear kicks in we are told we have a flight or fight response that kicks in. For Moses and many of us, the flight reaction kicks in - we are looking for the door!
"God we didn't ask for this so I'm out of here. Find yourself another more qualified than me."
For others the fight response kicks in but the problem with that is that we want to fight in our own strength. We want to depend on our "gifted speech" or other strengths to do the job.
I believe the best response is to stand in faith and let God do the heavy lifting.
Quit looking at the circumstances and remember that God has called you and declared that you are the person for the job. When the hard times hit don't go back to the excuses let faith arise. The One who called you is the One who will do the work - we are simply His servants.
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