No "Buts"

“So now, go.  I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people out of Egypt.”  Exodus 3:8

The instructions were barely out of God’s mouth before Moses starting stammering excuses. “But who am I?”  “But suppose they say…”  “But what if they won’t…?”   “But I’m not good at…”

In light of what he had heard—“Go to the most powerful man in the world and lead his free labor force out the country,”—Moses’ words might seem to hold weight, but they don’t.  Why?  Because Moses was focused on what was said and not on Who said it.

Yes, the order was overwhelming and the instruction impossible for a mere mortal, and that’s exactly where Moses was looking—in and out instead of up.  “But who am I?”  “But suppose they…” “But I’m not good at…”  “But what if they…?” Moses couldn’t see past his own weakness to God’s strength, and he didn’t count God’s will more compelling than man’s words.  He was acting as though success depended on himself, but such was not so.

What Moses considered legitimate reasons God deemed lame excuses and diffused all the paltry protests with divine declarations.  “But Moses said to God, ‘Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?’  And God said, ‘I will be with you’”(Ex 3:11-12).  In other words, “Who you are and what others say is irrelevant as long as I am, and ‘I AM,’ the self-existent one, who will be present, who will put Pharaoh in his place, plunder his country, and show my power in mighty ways.”

It’s not wrong to feel weak and it’s not bad to be honest about our own abilities, but when God says so we can know He will provide the strength, stamina, and skill it takes to carry out His command.  “For it is God who works in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him”(Phil 2:13).  God’s purpose is way bigger than our protests.  We will never tell Him anything He doesn’t know, but He wants teach us much we need to learn.  

When God give instructions, obey.

With no “Buts…”