The assurance of God's purpose for our life.
“But Moses said to the Lord, ‘Oh my Lord, I am not eloquent, either in the past or since you have spoken to your servant, but I am slow of speech and of tongue.’ Then the Lord said to him, ‘Who has made man’s mouth? Who makes him mute, or deaf, or seeing, or blind? Is it not I, the Lord? Now therefore go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall speak.’” – Exodus 4:10-12
If you want to talk about a human in the Bible who lived an epic life, you’ll need to look no further than Moses. He makes his first appearance in the book of Exodus as a Jewish baby in Egypt snatched from the jaws of death only to be raised in the household of Pharaoh.
As a young man, he is so angered by the suffering of his people — Hebrews enslaved in Egypt — that when he sees an Egyptian beating one of the Jewish slaves, he murders him. As Pharaoh seeks to execute Moses for his actions, Moses flees. Now a murderer, he finds himself in the land of Midian and settles there. That’s where God meets him.
Moses is spending his day working, just like any other ordinary day, when God appears to him as a flame of fire in the midst of a bush.
Calling Moses by his name, God says to him in Exodus 3:7-8, “I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt and have heard their cry because of their task masters. I know their sufferings, and I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians…”
As God explains, he plans to send Moses back to Egypt — the very place he fled from — to deliver the people he first sought justice for. But as God reveals his plan, what we find in Moses isn’t the same intensity and furor he had as a young man. Instead he begins to list his objections, including his physical limitations.
But God responds in Exodus 4:11-12 by reminding him that he is a creator God and that everything he built, including Moses himself, is for God’s own purposes.
This intimate exchange God has with Moses is probably one of the most relatable moments in the Bible. How often God calls us to step out in faith, giving us many reassurances he will be with us, and yet we still object. In fear, we list both external and internal limitations, not believing God for miracles but instead leaning on our own understanding of how the story will go.
But God’s response to Moses — consistently pointing him back to truths about his creator — makes it plain that we are God’s workmanship prepared by him for his purposes. As one popular contemporary Christian artist sings, “There’s no battle that [we’re] not built for.”
In the end, Moses did what God commanded and in the fullness of God’s might, he ushers God’s people out of Egypt. In one of the most epic scenes in the Bible, the Jewish people are fleeing and the Egyptians are in close pursuit. As they approach the Red Sea, God’s people look back in fear.
But Moses, the same man who described himself as ineloquent in speech, cries out to them: “Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the Lord will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today you will never see again. The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still” (Exodus 14:12-14).
As Moses stretches out his hand, God opens the Red Sea before them. When they arrive safely across, God closes the sea over the Egyptians who perish … “not one of them survived” (Exodus 14:28).
No matter what God’s calling us into, we have nothing to fear. God made us for this moment, and he’ll be with us every step of the way.
Dominique McKay is a Women's Ministry Associate in Washington, D.C.
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