“I Am Slow Of Speech And Tongue”

Moses said to the Lord, “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.”

The Lord said to him, “Who gave human beings their mouths? Who makes them deaf or mute? Who gives them sight or makes them blind? Is it not I, the Lord? Now go; I will help you speak and will teach you what to say.”

But Moses said, “Pardon your servant, Lord. Please send someone else.”

Then the Lord’s anger burned against Moses and he said, “What about your brother, Aaron the Levite? I know he can speak well. He is already on his way to meet you, and he will be glad to see you. You shall speak to him and put words in his mouth; I will help both of you speak and will teach you what to do. He will speak to the people for you, and it will be as if he were your mouth and as if you were God to him. But take this staff in your hand so you can perform the signs with it.”

Exodus 4:10-17

When the evangelist Billy Graham went on all the stages of the world, he went on not in fear or with stage fright, but with intense humility and meekness. He felt inadequate for the daunting task to which God had called Him. He relied on God for strength, not on his own eloquence.

Moses felt inadequate when God sent him to deliver the enslaved Israelites from their 400-year activity in Egypt. Moses pleaded with the Lord to send someone else, with the excuse that he had never been a good speaker.

We may have similar fears when God calls us to do something for Him. But His encouragement to Moses can also spur us on: “Now go; I will help you speak and teach you what to say.”

As Billy Graham said one day, “When God calls you, do not be afraid of trembling and wobbling knees, for He will be with you!”

Wherever God sends us, He comes alongside us.

Our Daily Bread – April 23, 2015