Excuses
Exodus 33-4
There are needs all around us yet we make excuses as to why we cannot serve the Lord. There are opportunities awaiting us inour families, churches and the Kingdom of God. Most of us miss the privilege of seeing God use us because we have failures in our past and personality differences that rob us of seeing lvies change and people's needs met. Phillipans 4:13 says "I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength." that verse says that God desires to use my life for His glory and to accomplish anything.
Moses was a man who God eventually used mightily to lead His people to accomplish miracles that were unexplainable in human terms. He was tending a flock of sheep in a deserted place for his father-in-law, Jethro, when God appeared to him in a burning bush. That tells me that God appears to ordinary people like you and me in the daily routine of our lives. Any bush would work. Moses had 5 excuses that he thought were standing in the way of accomplishing the task before him.Excuse # 1: "I am a nobody." Exodus 3:11
God promises that He will work through us and His presence is the deciding factor. We can trust God that He will be there encouraging, speaking, guiding us to accomplish the task that He has assigned us to do.Excuse # 2: "I don't know you well enough and the people are clueless." Exodus 3:13-22
God says, "Tell them I AM the God of your father, grandfather and great grandfather." Moses says, "but God when people ask me who you are, what is God's name, what will I tell them?" God says, "I AM" has sent you. god is the God of the present. God is eternal. God gives us his name. He is a personal God and he wants us to know him intimately and he begins by giving us his name.Excuse # 3: "I am not a good speaker." Exodus 4:10-11
God uses our words and our mouth. None of us can automatically speak like a gifted orator. We compare ourselves with individuals who are great with words and we think that we are not capable of explaining God's Word or His work in our lives. God can use you if you avail your tongue to be His instrument.Excuse # 4: "I don't want to do it. Send someone else."
Exodus 4:13-17
God says, "I will send someone to help you and will teach you what to do and say." Moses says, "Use someone else." This made god angry but He says he can take Aaron along. God doesn't call the qualified; He qualifies the called. God gives us the needed help. He enables us to do what He calls us to do.God wants to use you. All of us have problems and shortcomings; problems in our past and insecurities in our pesonality. The truth is that God uses people just like you and me in spite of our past, our sin, or our inadequacies. What excuses are you making to the Lord for opportunities that have been placed before you?
The next time you feel like God can't use you, just remember... NOAH was a drunk ABRAHAM was too old. ISAAC was a daydreamer. JACOB was a liar. LEAH was ugly. JOSEPH was abused. MOSES has a stuttering problem. GIDEON was afraid. SAMPSON was a womanizer! RAHAB was a prostitute! JEREMIAH and TIMOTHY were too young. DAVID had an affair and was a murderer. ELIJAH was suicidal. ISAIAH preached naked. JONAH ran from God. NAOMI and RUTH were widows. JOB went bankrupt. JOHN the Baptist at bugs. PETER denied Christ. The DISCIPLES fell asleep while praying. MARTHA worried about everything. The SAMARITAN WOMAN was divorced... more than once!! SACCHEUS was too small. PAUL was too religious. TIMOTHY had an ulcer AND LAZARUS was dead! What's your excuse?
