The Reluctant Leader                    Sermon by Doug Davis

                                                                                       

(Read EXODUS 4:1-17)

Before we go any farther tonight, I would like to point out something about Moses.

He was an educated man.

He'd been brought up as a prince in Egypt, raised and taught in the palace of the King.

He wasn't some country bumpkin, tending a bunch of sheep in the wilderness.

He sees this weird bush burning, and it isn't being burnt up, so he decides to go over, and see what is going on.

Probably a science curiosity.

Also, I'd suppose out there, there wouldn't be much exciting happening.

However, he runs into God.

The Lord starts telling him what He wants him to do, namely, deliver the Israelites out of slavery.

An extremely large, and daunting task, to understate it.

Most of us, are freaked out if God just tells us to say something to someone.

How would you like for God to tell you to deliver 2 to 6 million people out of slavery, to stand up to the King, to face him down, to resist the Egyptian army, and to lead this huge amount of people, out into the desert, into the promised land?

I know, I'd certainly be freaking out.

So, being a human being, and a regular person, even if educated, Moses starts looking at the mountain, rather than the mountain mover.

He looks at the needs, not the supplier.

He feels totally incompetent, which he is, of course, and not at the Lord, who is more than competent.

I know exactly what this is like, well sort of.

I knew that God wanted me to go into the ministry, but it took 3 years for it to happen.

During this time, I was champing at the bit.

I kept telling the Lord that I was ready, and He kept telling me I wasn't.

Then, on that night when the Lord poured His word into me, and explained a lot of things, details even, I asked Him when this would all happen.

He said this coming fall, which was just a couple months away.

I, in all my courage, and excitement to begin this road, asked Him if it wouldn't be better to wait until after Christmas.

No, it wasn't.

Then I began to feel completely overwhelmed, and out of my league.

I wasn't ready, I couldn't do it.

I needed more time.

Funny how things can change in a hurry like that.

EXODUS 4:1 Moses answered, "What if they do not believe me or listen to me and say, 'The LORD did not appear to you'?"

His first response to this is to think of an objection, a possible barrier.

Then God gives him 3 very distinct signs to use, to show the people he really did have his orders from God.

OK, cool.

That should settle it, right?

EXODUS 4:10 Moses said to the LORD, "O 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."

I can't do that, I can't even speak properly.

Most people think he had a stutter, or lisp, or something.

Some kind of speech problem

Of course, it would rear its ugly head right now, and say to Moses, “you can't do that.

How are you going to talk in front of all those people?”

Did you know that the fear of public speaking is the number 1 phobia?

Moses had a good reason for not wanting to speak publicly, having a speech problem

He was probably teased as a kid, and made fun of for sounding dumb.

How well I know what that feels like!

So, Moses isn't being ridiculous, or obtuse here, not at all.

His questions, and objections, are real.

There wasn't any way he could see around these objections.

Not in his mind, not in his flesh, not in the natural world.

However, God works outside the natural world a lot.

He made the rules of nature, and He can bend, and break them if He likes.

EXODUS 4:11 The LORD said to him, "Who gave man his mouth? Who makes him deaf or mute? Who gives him sight or makes him blind? Is it not I, the LORD?

12 Now go; I will help you speak and will teach you what to say."

Now the matter is settled, and Moses is going to march into Egypt, and be bold, and confident, right?

13 But Moses said, "O Lord, please send someone else to do it."

I like that.

Even though God had just overcome all his objections, Moses still doesn't want to do it.

It was just to large of a task.

I think this is one of the reasons God chose Moses to do it.

If he had said to God, “sure thing, I can do that, no problem,” then he would have run off, under his own power, and knowledge, and abilities, and tried to pull it off.

Want to guess what would have happened?

Right, he would have messed it up good!

But since Moses felt completely out of his league, the Lord knew that He would be able to work through Moses, and use Him.

And that Moses would have to rely on the Lord for everything.

Does this sound familiar to anyone tonight?

It sure struck home to me as I wrote it.

I didn't even know I was going to write it, until I had.

Then I had to stop, and look at that sentence again.

A light came on in my head.

We have to lean on God for everything, not just the things that seem to big for us, but for everything.

PROVERBS 3:5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart And do not lean on your own understanding.

Let's pray.