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But Moses said to the Lord, ‘O my Lord, I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor even now that you have spoken to your servant; but I am slow of speech and slow of tongue.’ Then the Lord said to him, ‘Who gives speech to mortals? Who makes them mute or deaf, seeing or blind? Is it not I, the Lord? Now go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you are to speak.’ But he said, ‘O my Lord, please send someone else.’ Then the anger of the Lord was kindled against Moses and he said, ‘What of your brother Aaron the Levite? I know that he can speak fluently; even now he is coming out to meet you, and when he sees you his heart will be glad. You shall speak to him and put the words in his mouth; and I will be with your mouth and with his mouth, and will teach you what you shall do. He indeed shall speak for you to the people; he shall serve as a mouth for you, and you shall serve as God for him. Take in your hand this staff, with which you shall perform the signs.’ (Exodus 4: 10-17))
It's Friday! May it be a happy one for you dear Friend! May your day be blessed and may we bless others as we pray today. I thank you all for your prayers for Rev. Virgilio Vasquez Garza, his surgery went well, but this morning in a few minutes (7:30 am) the doctor will know if all is well. Rev. Virgilio has glaucoma and his eye had no pressure in it, which is scary. Pray that pressure has returned and that the operation was a success! Pray for one another, pray for yourselves.
You probably not only know this story you may have tired to live it as well; having a call from God and seeking a way out of it. I shared a bit of my call story and how I believed God had chosen the right one. Like Moses my initial response was like the graphic this morning, "Oh, my Lord, please send someone else." I also shared how when in college, the head of the ministerial department at Lon Morris College, Dean Virgil Matthews told the 30 or so of us gathered for that particular evening's meeting, that only two or three of us would make it. He was right. The others may have been called, but they were not chosen. Which also means that people did not feel it was the right time or the right option for them right then. Moses felt the same way. Moses believed he needed eloquence and quick speech. God counters that it is He who gives speech to mortals and He would do the same for Moses. Moses knows and believes that, but the fear of the awesomeness of the task leads him to say that God should send someone else. God was not happy with this request, but asks about Aaron, Moses' brother. The plan would be for Moses to hear from God and share that with Aaron and he would speak to the people.
Keep in mind that in the first part of the chapter, God had Moses witness and experience God's power. The staff he carried as a shepherd, God changed into a snake. That in of itself is impossible. Moses saw it change back from a snake into a staff. Moses saw that God inflicted his hand with leprosy, and saw it just as easily healed. A third one promised, if needed, was to change the water in the Nile into blood. The message God wanted Moses to convey to all people was twofold; God is all powerful, and secondly, God was with them. After their history of being slaves to the Egyptians and feeling defected by humans and God, God was now involved and answering their prayer. Through Moses' actions and words, they would be freed from their captivity and released. Yet, God had to contend with Moses' reluctance to say yes.
I have found it is better to say yes and trust God, than to say no and try to run. I went into seminary and felt the worst doubts I ever felt and left seminary after 11 weeks. I returned home to Houston and sought to hide from God. It looks weeks but I finally found a full time job with AT&T the huge telephone monopoly of the USA. I was hired by Southwestern Bell and became an outside salesman to existing multi-line customers. I received great marketing training for sixteen weeks and after that time I was assigned to the office closest to the IAH airport. And when I was assigned a desk, I sat directly across from another seminary dropout. Out of 40,000 employees in the Houston area, what were the odds of me, a seminary dropout sitting directly across another seminary dropout? I looked heavenward and thought, Okay, Lord, You win! Long story short I lasted about a year when that other dropout and I left Ma Bell to return back to our respective seminaries to continue to answer our call from the Lord.
In the same way, whatever it is you believe God has for you to do, the best response is to say yes and trust God. God will provide all ways for that to happen and His will to be done. You can continue to resist and argue, but you will never be happy. True happiness comes from our saying yes to the Lord.
PRAYER: Heavenly Father, bless us as we seek to know Your will for our lives. May we be blessed by our saying yes to you and to fulfill your holy purpose in my life. This I pray in Christ Jesus' name, amen.
Have a great and blessed day in the Lord! Let your life say Yes to God today!
Eradio Valverde
