Image by Jeff Jacobs from Pixabay
When God called on Moses from the burning bush to lead his people out of Egypt, Moses balked (Exodus 3:1 – 4:14). From the very beginning of that exchange, he weaseled, he equivocated, he put up barriers, he asked questions designed to help him shirk the task God had prepared for him. In each of these instances, Moses either directly, or indirectly argued that he wasn’t good enough to achieve God’s goals. And in each instance, God extended grace by explaining his plan and his power, and reassuring Moses of the supernaturally curated theatrics in which he was about to perform. But Moses was having none of it. God was asking him to do something very big, and really quite dangerous.
Moses had fled Egypt after killing an Egyptian. This prompted the Pharaoh at that time to seek the death of Moses. God was asking Moses to return to Egypt, confront the current Pharaoh, and rescue the Hebrew people from the brutal bondage of Egyptian power. God was asking Moses to go back into a world that might be overtly hostile toward him, and to rip from that world an economic and labor resource which it believed rightfully belonged to it. In a stunning endorsement of faithlessness, Moses asked God to find someone else (Exodus 4:13-14). It wasn’t until this point in the exchange that the bible records anger on the part of God toward Moses. Moses disingenuously argued that he wasn’t good enough, but in reality, he was exposing his belief that God wasn’t good enough. Essentially, Moses was saying to God that he didn’t believe God would see him through. In spite of his anger, God gently nudged Moses into service by enlisting his brother Aaron in the cause. Had Moses succumbed to the lie that he wasn’t good enough for God to work with, then his identity, as it is now known, would have been stolen from him. And Moses would have been the thief. Had God agreed to allowing that lie to stand, then he would have had to choose someone else to lead the Hebrews out of Egypt, and Moses would be little more than a footnote. The book of Genesis would read differently because someone else would have written it. The Mosaic Law might be the Aaronic Law. There would be no Charlton Heston movies of Moses parting the Red Sea!
The important thing to remember is that if God asks you to do something, the truth is that you probably aren’t good enough to do it. Chances are that the task is bigger than you, stronger than you, and greater, darker, and more difficult than you can handle, no matter how talented you believe yourself to be, or even how talented you actually are. But none of that matters in the least. If God has asked you to do something, he is going to make you good enough to complete the task. So remind yourself of that truth, believe it, and act on it! God will shape your identity out of the struggle he’s planned for you. And it will be glorious in a way that lifts him high, and that identifies you with him. However, if you believe the lie, and act on it, then you remain less than what you could be, and you will lose your truest self.
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