The Well
The Well |
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Connecting Hope to the Hurting | |
Monday
February 25, 2008
But Moses protested again, "Look, they won't believe me! They won't do what I
tell them. They'll just say, 'the Lord never appeared to you.'"…
But Moses
pleaded with the Lord, "O Lord, I'm just not a good speaker. I never have been,
and I'm not now, even after you have spoken to me. I'm clumsy with words.
"
"Who makes mouths?" the Lord asked him."Who makes people so they can speak
or not speak, hear or not hear, see or not see? Is it not I, the Lord? Now go,
and do as I have told you. I will help you speak well, and I will tell you what
to say."
But Moses again pleaded, "Lord, please! Send someone else."
Exodus 4:1, 10-13
The words Moses used to protest God's call on his life are all too familiar to many of us. We have either used those exact words or, at least, words similar in nature. However, there are those who responded correctly from the "git go" and didn't go through the wilderness before they accepted the call. In any event, at some point before or during our preparation for ministry we will begin to protest the process as God prepares us to do His work His way.
Although I am not a man and cannot know exactly the heart of Moses, I can identify with him. If God had told him to go and lead an army into Egypt in order to release his people I think Moses would have started jumping up and down in eager anticipation to obey. However, God wanted to bring out a gift in Moses that Moses himself did not recognize. That is God's way.
In my early years if God had allowed me to enter into a singing ministry I would have responded with eager anticipation. However, He wanted me to use relational skills and I knew I had none. However, as God led me through my wilderness journey He drew out the buried treasure of relational skills I never knew existed.
As I read the account of Moses, I saw that once the people were convinced that God had indeed sent Moses and Aaron to lead them, Moses depended more on the Lord than on his or Aaron's ability to speak. They became a team.
As God has progressed me in ministry, I recognize the importance of teamwork. When a friend of mine and I joined together when the ministry first started to minister to a lady (I have renamed Hope), I better understood Jesus sending out His disciples in twos. Again the scripture came to mind when God said that one will put a thousand to flight, but two will put ten thousand to flight. When we work together as teams, ministry intensifies.
I also experienced this when I met with my Pastor and the praise and worship leader (who is also my friend). This was an aspect of the ministry God ingrained in my Spirit, but I had forgotten it. He is faithful to correct us even in the smallest details of what He calls us to do. That is another reason it is so important to trust in the Lord with all our heart and stop leaning on our own understanding!
Father, You are truly faithful in the small things as well as in the big things. You are totally trustworthy. Forgive us for neglecting to lean more on You. Help us as Your children to trust that You will provide us with the right words to say when we are operating in Your time. I thank You for Your patience in perfecting the call on our lives!
