By Nona Jones
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I’ve recently become fascinated with the story of Moses and how he appealed to Pharaoh on behalf of God to, “let my people go.” The way this story is told and portrayed in films is that Moses approached Pharaoh with his staff in his hand and pronounced God’s directive with authority. But if you only rely on what you’ve been told or seen portrayed in films and not what’s actually recorded in the Bible, you will miss a super important detail that significantly changes this story. In Exodus 4:10, after God told Moses to go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt (Exodus 3:10), Moses responds by saying, “Pardon your servant, Lord. I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since you have spoken to your servant. I am slow of speech and tongue.” In other words, Moses had a severe speech impediment. This is illustrated in the fact that, unlike the stories we have been told and films we have watched, the Bible says that it was Moses and Aaron who always went to Pharaoh, not just Moses. And if we tie the threads together correctly, I would submit to you that chances are very good that it was Aaron who was doing the speaking while Moses was there. Why is this important? Some of us disqualify ourselves from what God has called us to because we see our flaws in comparison to someone else and think, “there’s no way I could do that.” Maybe you didn’t go beyond the seventh grade in school and think, “there’s no way I could be a Sunday school teacher,” even though God spoke very clearly that he called you to teach. Maybe you went through a divorce and think, “there’s no way I could serve married couples,” even though God spoke very clearly that he called you to counsel couples having difficulty in their marriage. Maybe you stutter and think, “there’s no way I could be a preacher” even though God spoke very clearly that he called you to preach. One of my good friends in college had a major stuttering problem. He couldn’t say more than three words without stumbling and stuttering. But he knew God called him to preach. Do you know that, though he couldn’t say three words without stuttering under normal circumstances, when he climbed a platform and opened his Bible to preach, he didn’t stumble or stammer across one word. The grace of God was so clear on his life because he allowed God to use what some would consider a flaw as an opportunity to prove God’s power. Don’t allow the toxic power of comparison to make you disqualify yourself from what God has called you to do simply because you see others doing it and think they do it “better.” If Moses can be used to speak God’s will with authority to Pharaoh and the nation of Israel, God can use you to do the same and even more mighty things for his glory! |
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