Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Adult Sunday School Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/bb/bb19941016.htm
THE MAN MOSES: LEARNING HOW TO BE USED OF GOD
Part III: After Ministry Failure, Being Mightily Used By God
B. Step Two - Viewing Human Abilities As Spiritually Insignificant In Spiritual Service
(Exodus 3:11-4:17)
- Introduction
- When a believers notes a public figure like a Billy Graham or a Luis Palau being used mightily by God to lead thousands to Christ, it is easy to compare himself to that person and conclude, "Boy, I don't have those abilities! I suppose God can't use me in service like he can use Graham or Palau!"
- As a result, we tend to become sensitive to human abilities or the lack of them when viewing others or ourselves, and consequently categorize ourselves as "useful" or "not-so-useful" in God's work.
- When God called Moses to lead His people out of Egypt, Moses used this human ability viewpoint to conclude that God was in deep trouble by trying to us him! God's response is instructive!
- Viewing Human Abilities As Spiritually Insignificant In Spiritual Service, Exodus 3:11-4:17:
- After failing to be a national Deliverer of the Hebrew people on his own, God called Moses to bring them out of Pharaoh's Egypt, Ex. 2:13-15 with 3:9-10.
- When God announced to Moses His intentions of making Moses the national Deliverer, Moses objected due to several reasons considered from his lack of human ability:
- Moses objected to becoming the Deliverer by stating that he was not famous enough for the task, 3:11.
- He argued that the people would doubt that God had really called him to do the job, Ex. 3:13.
- He complained that the Hebrew people would not believe that God had assigned him the job, 4:1.
- Moses objected on the grounds that he lacked communication skills necessary for the job, Ex. 4:10.
- When he had run out of regular excuses, Moses begged God to get another man for the job, Ex. 4:13. He was just too gun-shy from his past failure to chance failing at trying to be a Deliverer again!
- At each excuse, God revealed an important truth in rebounding out of service failure: we serve God effectively irrespective of human abilities or lack of them as God Himself provides the resources for effective spiritual ministry:
- When Moses complained about his lack of fame or personal authority to fit the position of Deliverer, God said that He Himself would be with Moses, Ex. 3:12. In fact, God would prove this to Moses in causing Moses to lead the nation to that very spot in the Sinai Wilderness to serve God there!
- When Moses argued that the people would doubt God's call of him, God gave Moses the new name of Jahweh, "I AM" to indicate credibility of his call, Ex. 3:13-14. This emphasis on the self-existing ability of God would provide hope that the ancient, 400 year old promise of national deliverance given to Abraham in Gen. 15:13-21 was really going to come to pass! The self-existing God was thus endlessly existing and thus able to keep that old promise! That hope would give credibility to Moses.
- When he complained that the people might believe God's deliverance was at hand, but that Moses of all people was NOT the Deliverer, Moses found God equipping him to do miracles, Ex. 4:1-9.
- When he objected out of feeling ill-gifted to communicate well, God replied that He fully knew of Moses' speech patterns, and had called him anyway, Ex. 4:10-11. God also said that He would be with Moses' mouth and teach him in his mi nistry how to communicate effectively, Ex. 4:12.
- When Moses begged God to get somebody else, God became upset with Moses, and shot back that He would get Moses' brother, Aaron to go with him to bolster his waning confidence, Ex. 4:13-17.
- Accordingly, Moses stopped complaining and got busy with chores at hand, Ex. 4:18a!
Lesson: Human ability, or the lack of it, is inconsequential to the capacity of a person to complete the call of God for his service. GOD makes up the lack where human ability lacks, and GOD HIMSELF overrides human ability so it won't get in the w ay and foul things up!
Application: When God assigns us a job to do, He has already taken into account what concerns us about personal lacks or abilities, and has made provision to insert Himself or His miraculous acts in the plan to make us succeed. Our part is to use the supernatural gifting of God (in Moses' case, his rod, Ex. 4:2-3,17; cf. 2 Tim. 1:5-7; 1 Tim. 4:14) and serve Him in faith that we will succeed anyway!