But Moses again pleaded, “Lord, please! Send anyone else.” Exodus 4:13 (NLT)
God had called Moses to go back to Egypt. He wanted him to help free the Israelites. God just finished showing Moses miracles to back up the claim that he would be with him and still Moses said, "Send someone else."
I imagine it sounding a little like this. "Puuuullllleeeeessseee, don't make me do it." I can imagine that because sometimes I don't want to do what I know God is telling me to do. Why?
If I pretend I am Moses for a minute, here are the top five excuses that would pop into my head.
- The people you want me to share this with don't know you. They say they do but they don't and they aren't going to listen.
- These people don't know me. Who am I to them? I have no influence. I'm going to look foolish.
- They don't like me. Did you hear the last thing they said to me?
- I do not have experience in _____________________. Way above my pay grade. I am a nothing here.
- This is way bigger than I can handle. I can see all the stuff going wrong. How do you expect me to figure all that out?
Don't we say things like this to God every day? And these are real concerns. Here is where we get messed up. God knows the answer to every single one of these excuses. He's already got it planned or he wouldn't send you. We mess it up when we think it's about us. We get side-tracked when we think we have to have all the answers. We don't. God has the answers. We just have to be willing.
God knows that your story, your background, your experience is the perfect portrayal of what needs to be said in that precise moment. The mistake Moses wanted to make is the same mistake we want to make all the time. He wanted someone else to tell his perfect story. God gives us the story for a reason. He wants to use it. Stop running the other way. Instead of saying "Send someone else," we should be saying "Here I am. Send me."