Opening Prayer
Lord, grant us to hear Your Word. Amen.
Text: Exodus 4:10-15
Then Moses said to the Lord, “O my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither before nor since You have spoken to Your servant; but I am slow of speech and slow of tongue.” So the Lord said to him, “Who has made man’s mouth? Or who makes the mute, the deaf, the seeing, or the blind? Have not I, the Lord? Now therefore, go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall say.” But he said, “O my Lord, please send by the hand of whomever else You may send.” So the anger of the Lord was kindled against Moses, and He said: “Is not Aaron the Levite your brother? I know that he can speak well. And look, he is also coming out to meet you. When he sees you, he will be glad in his heart. Now you shall speak to him and put the words in his mouth. And I will be with your mouth and with his mouth, and I will teach you what you shall do.”
Devotion
God wants you: 1) to be certain that He has chosen you for your work, 2) to know your complete inability on your own, 3) to have full confidence in Him.
1) Who doubts that God called Moses as Israel’s deliverer, and David as king and psalm-writer, Peter and Paul as apostles, John the Baptizer and Elijah as voices calling people to repentance, Mary as Jesus’ mother, Eunice as Timothy’s teacher, Mark as evangelist, Luther as reformer? But do you think that the Lord foreknew only those who are great among us? Or do you think that only the big things belong to Him and not the little things? What is great or little to Him? All good and useful works on earth are the Lord’s. And when He has prepared you so that you in an honorable way have become employers or employees or judges or farmers, or whatever you may be in a good and honest vocation, then be certain that the Lord your God has prepared your work for you – and you for the work. Confess the sins of your youth which have influenced your way of life, and they are forgiven. Even Moses sinned when he aroused the Lord’s anger here, and earlier when he took it upon himself to kill the Egyptian. But see how the Lord even then directed his life! It is a great comfort that God has called me to my work and led me where He would have me be.
2) Here Moses has a completely different opinion about himself than 40 years earlier when he had taken it upon himself to rescue his fellow Israelite. How different he is from ambitious people who insist on leading! Whoever thinks himself powerful is of no account. “Entrust all to the Lord” is sooner said and later learned, but it must be learned. Moses was raised in an Israelite home and educated in all the wisdom of Egypt, but still he had to go through a course of instruction for 40 years in the wilderness. David was a faithful, honorable youth, but he had to go through many years of tribulation. And Peter had learned only a little, when he had worked the whole night without catching anything. If we who are alive know that of ourselves we are only able to disturb and tear down, then we will not stand in the way of the Lord’s power through our own self-confidence!
3) But it is wrong of Moses to say “No,” because he thinks he is unable to do it and because the call is great. Shouldn’t he be ready at the first word God spoke? Yes, the call is so difficult that hardly anyone other than Moses would have dared, with humble heart and only for God’s sake, to follow it. And who has gone on the Lord’s mission and not felt the weakness of the flesh, because he was without courage when he should have his power only in the Lord? But in this way He teaches us the law of the Spirit: “When I am weak, then I am strong” (2Co 12:10). It is really true that you yourself can do nothing, but it is also true that in Christ you can do all that the Lord calls you to do. “Who has made man’s mouth? Or who makes the mute, the deaf, the seeing, or the blind? Have not I, the Lord? Now therefore, go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall say” (Exo 4:11-12).
Closing Prayer
Lord keep us from running where You do not send us, but give us grace to go willingly when You call. Teach us that Your power is made perfect in weakness. Amen.
Hymn
Jesus, Master, at Thy word
I will work whate’er betide me,
And I know Thou wilt, O Lord,
By Thy Word and Spirit guide me;
At Thy word my faith shall see
All things work for good to me.
Though my toil may seem unblest,
And my lot appointed dreary,
When at eve I go to rest,
From my labor faint and weary;
At Thy word I will each morn
To my work with joy return.
Liebenberg: Jesus, Herre! paa dit Ord L 482:1-2 LHy 413:1-2 tr. C. Døving;
tune: Gaa nu hen og grav min Grav (LHy 413); alternate hymn: Lord of all hopefulness ELH 59:2-3