Not Me LORD!
There is a story of a man who was lost in the desert, and was dying of thirst, when suddenly, he stumbled upon an old shack. Right next to it was a rusty old water pump. He crawled over to it, grabbed the handle, and started pumping for water. But there was no water. Then he noticed a jug of water with a note saying, "My friend, don't drink this water. Empty this jug in the hand pump in order to first prime the pump. The note further stated, “and don't forget to fill the jug again before you leave." The man was uncertain about what to do because he was terribly thirsty. If he drank the water he would survive for at least a little longer. What if he followed the instructions and poured the water into the pump, and nothing happened? But what if it worked? He would actually have all the water he needed. He considered his options. Hesitantly, he poured the water into the pump. Grasping the handle he started pumping. Nothing happened! He tried again. Finally, a little dribble of water came out, then a thin flow, and then it began to pour out of the pump! The man was finally able to quench his thirst.
This story illustrates that often in life we have to take risks to achieve something. If that young man had decided not to take the risk of pouring all that water down, he would never have got the water; neither would those who would come there after him. It is only in losing all the water that he had could he actually gain all the water he wanted. It reminds me of what Jesus said in
Matt 16:25 “For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it.” What Jesus was really saying is like that young man in the desert, its only when we take the risk of pouring our life out for His sake that we can truly experience the fullness of life. But so often we choose to play it safe and live within our comfort zone. The call of Moses in Exodus 3 is a perfect example of how God urges His people to step out of their comfort zone and go into uncharted waters trusting in Him.
Moses in his comfort zone
To understand Moses‘comfort zone we need to place this chapter in its context. Exodus chapter 1 describes the oppression of the Israelites by the Egyptians who were intimidated by their numbers. (Exodus 1: 9)
Exodus chapter 2 is about the birth of Moses, of how God in His providence not only spared Moses‘ life but also brought him up in Pharaoh‘s palace. As the story unfolds, although Moses was brought up in the Pharaoh‘s palace, he never forgot who he was. One day he saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, Moses intervened and killed the Egyptian hiding his body in the sand. The very next day he saw two Hebrews fighting and when he tried to settle their dispute, one of them turned around and asked him “Are you going to kill me, as you killed the Egyptian”. Moses, afraid that his secret was known fled to Midian. In Midian he married a woman by the name of Zipporah and had a son through her. For the next forty years Moses looked after his father-in-law‘s flock. He had comfortably settled into the role of a husband, a father and a shepherd. His previous life as an Egyptian prince was a distant memory, but now all that was going to change.
In Exodus 3 God appeared to Moses in a burning bush and told him, that He had heard the cry of the Israelites and had now come to rescue them. Moses may have been thrilled when he heard this. Finally, after all those years, God was going to intervene and rescue His people. So far so good; but what God said next must have knocked the day lights out of Moses.
In Ex. 3: 10 God says to Moses, “So now, go I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt”. Moses‘first thought may have been why me? I am happy with my life, why would I go to a place from where I escaped as a fugitive? In chapter 4:10 Moses expresses this out loud, when he says to God “O Lord, please send someone else to do it”. So often we like Moses refuse to move beyond our comfort zone, hoping that God will call someone else to step out. We are excited when we see God at work, but we would rather be a spectator than a participant in God‘s kingdom. Although Moses gave excuses after excuses for not going, God did not give up on him, but worked through each and every one of the excuses, and finally convinced Moses to step out in faith. As we see how God dealt with Moses there are three principles that we need to remember when God squeezes us out of our comfort zone.
When God sends — He sustains
Moses‘first excuse was his own sense of inadequacy, in Ex. 3: 11 Moses says to God “Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?” In response to this God says to Moses “I will be with you…” (Ex. 3:12) What God was essentially doing was, shifting Moses‘attention from his own inadequacy to God‘s sufficiency. In other words God was telling Moses, that the success of his mission depended not in his ability but on God‘s sovereignty. In fact it is interesting to observe how God explained the strategy for His rescue mission. In Ex. 3: 7 God says to Moses “I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering. So I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians …” Notice, God says “I have seen…I have heard…I am concerned…So I have come down…” The work of liberation was God‘s work and not Moses‘. Moses was an instrument in God‘s Hand, but God alone was the redeemer.
The task at hand can be accomplished only because God is at work. In promising to be with Moses God was assuring him that he would not lack anything. God would sustain him all through the way. God‘s sustaining power can be clearly seen in the way He cared for them as they wandered in the desert for forty years. Years later as Nehemiah, praised God for His sustaining power he said this, “For forty years you sustained them in the desert; they lacked nothing…” (Nehemiah 9:21) When God calls us for a task we can be sure that God will sustain us. If God is asking you to step out in faith, remember He will be with you every step of the way. Through the good times and bad times His faithfulness remains unchanged. As He promised through the prophet Isaiah, “When you walk through the waters I will be with you…” So step out, with the assurance that where God sends you, He will sustain you.
When God enlist — He empowers
Though God promised to be with him, Moses was still not sure if he could do what God was asking him to do. He came up with another excuse. In Ex. 4:10 he says “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.” Now this was not entirely true. Acts 7:22 says that earlier in his life, during his days as a Prince of Egypt, he was "...educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and was powerful in speech and action." But that was half a life-time ago – according to Moses the "golden years" of his life. Now he saw himself just an old shepherd. His current skills in public speaking were limited to the words and sounds that were used to motivate sheep-not people-not a nation-not a pharaoh! God‘s answer to this was a strong rebuttal. In verse 11 God says to Moses “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?” What God was really saying to Moses, was ―Moses don‘t tell me what you can do and what you can‘t do, I know you better that you know yourself. So trust me.
Forty years ago, Moses had tried to liberate the people of Israel trusting in his own strength. Now God was telling him, “This time, trust me. You tried it your way, now do it my way, in my strength.” Now, how did God empower Moses? He asked him what was in his hand (Ex 4:1) and Moses replied a staff. Little did Moses know about the power his simple staff would yield when it became the rod of God? The staff was a symbol of God‘s power to both the Israelites and the Egyptians. When Pharaoh refused to let the people go, God sent Moses to him with these words “By this you will know that I am the LORD: With the staff that is in my hand I will strike the water of the Nile, and it will be changed into blood.” (Ex 7:17) When the Israelites stood before the Red sea with the Egyptian army in their pursuit, God told Moses “…lift up your staff and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it…” (Ex. 14:15) When God enlisted Moses for His mission, He also made sure that He empowered him to fulfill that mission.
When God assigns – He amazes
An anonymous writer once wrote these words:
I am not sent a pilgrim here, my heart with earth to fill;
But I am here God's grace to learn, and serve God's sovereign will.
He leads me on through smiles and tears, grief follows gladness still;
But let me welcome both alike, since both work out His will.
No service in itself is small, none great, though earth it fill;
But that is small that seeks its own, and great that seeks God's will.
Then hold my hand, most gracious Lord, guide all my doings still;
And let this be my life’s one aim, to do, or bear thy will.
There are times when God calls us to do His will and then there are times when we have to bear His will‖ In either case, when His will is done it will amaze us, how God can transform our trials into triumphs. In Gen. 50:20 Joseph says to his brother who had sold him into slavery “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.” The Bible teaches us that our limitations do not handicap God‘s plan and purpose. On the contrary often it is our limitations that enable God to work His glory in and through us.
At the beginning of Ex. 3 we meet Moses as a whiner, complaining about his own inadequacy, but at the end of his life the scriptures testify to his life with these words. “Never since has there arisen a prophet in Israel like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face. He was unequalled for all the signs and wonders that the Lord sent him to perform in the land of Egypt…” (Deut. 34: 10-11). What a testimony! Moses would have missed the greatest adventure of his life, had he refused to obey God. When we fulfill what God has assigned us to do, it will amaze us what God can accomplish through us.
Adventure with God
John Wesley once said, ―Man‘s greatest discovery is to know God‘s will, and his greatest adventure is to do God‘s will‖. Embarking on an adventure means taking risks, going in the unknown way. One cannot be in his/her own comfort zone and experience the thrill of an adventure. What comfort zone is God asking you to move out of? It may be in the area of finance, where God is asking you to trust in His provision, or may be in the area of relationships where God is asking you to let go. No matter what God is asking you to do, remember when He commands, He also sustains, empowers and amazes you for His glory. So that at the end of the day, we too, like Paul can boldly affirm, ―Not that we are competent of our selves to claim anything as coming from us; our competence is from God‖ (2 Cor.5-6)
- by Rev. Paras Tayade, Faculty UBS
