Exodus 1-7, 10-17

Here in Michigan, it can snow a lot. This winter weather creates heavy and hard work. I remember growing up and my parents asking me to go out and shovel the driveway. They needed me to be a part of cleaning up the snow so they could park in the garage. It seemed like a monumental task as a young boy and it felt like it would take me hours to complete. Because of this, I would look for every possible way to get out of it. I’d carefully watch for when my brother would go out to shovel and slowly put on my snow stuff hoping he would finish first. I’d claim I had homework that needed to be done or even that I had a new injury that prevented me to doing the work.

Has someone ever asked you to do something that felt too big or that you couldn’t do it?

Moses had a moment like this in his life, only it was God who asked him to do something big. In the wilderness God got Moses’ attention through a bush that was on fire and never burned up. Moses walks over to see what’s happening and as he gets close, the bush speaks to him and says: “Moses! Stop right there! Take off your shoes. Where you are standing is Holy Ground!” Then God reveals himself and says: ‘It’s me. The God of your fathers, the One and only God.”

The conversation doesn’t stop there. God is here for a very specific reason! He has seen that His people are in captivity and being mistreated in Egypt. God has a plan to fix this and it includes Moses. It’s pretty simple: free all of Israel from slavey. Who will do this? Well, God, but Moses will be a part of what’s going to happen! All Moses has to do is stand in front of the most powerful man in Egypt: Pharaoh.

Moses wasn’t sure he could do it. In fact, he tried to get out of it using any excuses that he could think of. He tried saying “I don’t like public speaking”, “I don’t know what to say” and even “send someone else”. Moses knew it was God asking Him to do something great, but it just seemed too big.

Have you ever felt like God was asking you to do something, but it seemed too hard to do? Think about a specific time where you felt this way. What do you think was holding you back?

God reminds Moses of something important saying “I will be with you” and “I will help you speak and teach you what to say”!

So what happens in the story? God, using Moses as the leader, free’s Israel from slavery in Egypt!

Surrendering to the leading of God and doing what he asks can be scary and difficult. It can even make you feel uncomfortable. But if God asks you to do something, he will be there with you through it! 

When you feel like Moses did, afraid or nervous or incapable, ask in prayer for courage and boldness to follow what He is asking you to do. Even when you feel like you have nothing to offer, or that your sins make you not good enough, ask God to work in you through the power of the Holy Spirit. He will lead you to do your best at what you’re called to do.

Take a minute and pray this prayer right now: God, thank you for using an ordinary and broken person like myself to accomplish your plan in this world. Father, help me to see myself through your eyes instead of my own, and to know that I am able to do what you ask me to do. Amen.