Unworthy

Exodus 6:12

“But Moses said to the Lord, “If the Israelites will not listen to me, why would Pharaoh listen to me, since I speak with faltering lips?”

If you played football as a kid then you most likely dreamed of one day becoming an NFL player. As you played in the backyard or for your school, you would imagine yourself as a real NFL player. Whether that was the quarterback or a receiver or a defensive position. For most of us that dream would not see the light of day. A very small percentage of football players ever get to the NFL or get to play in college, those are just the facts. Being 5’9″ tall and 170 bls, I was never going to measure up to play in college or the NFL. However, my size did not stop my Billy Bates style of playing. I love hitting and tackling people. The truth is I did not have what it took to play past high school, Bill Bates hitting or not, my playing time on the grid iron was done.

After being rejected by Pharaoh the first time with the famous line of “Who is the Lord that I should obey him” Moses returns to Lord, and with anger, askes the Lord “Why?” Once again the Lord promises that He will take the people out of Egypt and that he will use Moses to do it. Once again Moses returns to the people and tells them what the Lord has said. Sarcastically speaking, they did not listen the him because of their discouragement and harsh labor.

After being rejected a third time by his own people, the Lord tells Moses to go to Pharaoh again and to say, “let the Israelites go out of this country.” Like a broken record, Moses asks the Lord why should Pharaoh listen to him because of his speech issue. This would not be the last time Moses pulls the old “I cannot speak” card, he would again say the same thing in the next chapter right after the Lord commands him and Aaron to go before Pharaoh. Moses could not get past his speech problem.

The vast majority of us deem ourselves as not worthy to take up the torch and be the man or women of God that we have been called to be. It might be your past that haunts you, screaming into your mind that people will never listen to you because of what you did. You might have a physical handicap that prevents you from getting around or speaking clearly. This handicap has severely limited your effectiveness before and you know it will continue to limit you now. It could be your lack of emotional control. All your friends “know how you are” so internally you pass off the call of God because you cannot seem to get it under control.

For some, its work. You are so busy at work that God has no place in your life. Sure you go to church and punch the card but getting into a small group once a week, well, that is not in the schedule. Moses kept playing the speech issue card and the Lord, every time, made it clear that that was not something that would limit what God was going use Moses for.

Too often we think our shortcomings deem us unworthy to be used of God. Jesus said in Luke 19:40, “I tell you,” he replied, “if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.” You are worthy of being used by the Lord no matter what issue you have. He made you and perfected you in your current state. Sure some things may need some tweaking, but the Bible says we are wonderfully made and fashioned in His image. Moses was sure that his speech issue was too large and too bad for him to used of God but we read about Moses because Moses decided that God was bigger than any issue he might have.

Get a Bible Promises Book. It has a bunch of scriptures from the Bible about a wide variety of topics like, finances, depression, unworthiness, who you are in Christ and so on. I used to read one every morning before I stepped into class during college. It would fit in my pocket or my back pack. I had it with me all the time. I would read scripture after scripture about my current issue until the promises of the Word of God became written on my heart and mind. I soon became aware that my issues were smaller than my God and no matter what the world threw at me, I was able to rise above it and say that “God is good all the time and all the time God is good.” I never became an NFL football player but I did become a warrior in the army of God. I like that better.