Oh Lord, Send Someone Else

And the LORD said unto him, Who hath made man's mouth? or who maketh the dumb, or deaf, or the seeing, or the blind? have not I the LORD?  Now therefore go, and I will be with thy mouth, and teach thee what thou shalt say.  And he said, O my LORD, send, I pray thee, by the hand of him whom thou wilt send.   -Exodus 4:11-13 (KJV) 

“Oh Lord, send someone else.”  This was in essence what Moses told the Lord when God commanded him to go to Egypt and lead the Israelites out of slavery.  A careful reading of this passage indicates Moses was testing the Lord’s patience by arguing with Him.  Have you ever done this?  Has there been a time when the Lord placed on your heart something He wanted you to do, yet you stepped back and would not move forward?  No doubt we have all been guilty of this at one time or another.  Moses’ response was a result of looking at his own fears and failings while neglecting to see the power of God in his life.  Moses may have been like me in the area of how he felt about confrontation; he hated it.  Yet, God was clearly telling him to go and confront the most powerful king of the ancient world. 

I too would probably have had reservations about such a confrontation.  My heart is filled with dread over the prospect of having to confront someone with a problem.  However, we know we cannot always see eye-to-eye, problems are going to arise, and sometimes a confrontation is unavoidable.  Christ-like character and integrity compels us to handle the situation with grace, dignity, and Holy Spirit lead words.  I cannot be too hard on Moses, for I have been guilty of the same response; “Oh Lord, send someone else!” In the end, however, I was the one God was calling to deal with the situation.   

No doubt there are problems, issues, and situations you are facing right now which you would rather not have to confront.  We can always do nothing in the hope the problem will get better on its own, yet we realize this approach rarely works.  Instead, the problem will only get worse.  Moses did go forward and confront Pharaoh, and the Scriptures shows the situation became at times heated and downright ugly.  However, the Lord continued to guide Moses forward in faith.  All the while we see a refining process taking place in Moses’ life.  At one point Moses went back to Mount Sinai and there he spent 40 days alone with the Lord receiving the Ten Commandments (Exodus 34:28).  Remember, when we trust the Lord each day we too are undergoing a refining process.  This will be difficult, yet we are made stronger though it.   

Do not be afraid of moving forward and growing in faith.  The Lord will be with you every step of the way.