Excuse Me, God

Well, no one gets more excuses than school teachers and school secretaries and school offices. Richard Letterer was an English teacher who collected the excuses he had received or his school had received for three decades and put them into a book he wrote and filed anguish English. And these are some of the excuses. These are real excuses turned in by students or parents, most of the parents, here are a few samples. There are about 25 or 26 of them here. I'll just read a few. Dear school, please excuse John from being absent on January 28th, 29th, 30th, 31st, 32nd, and 33rd. Here's another one. Please excuse Johnnie for being. It was his father's fault. Another one. John has been absent because he had two teeth taken off his face. Please excuse Ray Friday from school. He has very loose vowels. I didn't come to school yesterday because I was feeling like I was going to be sick, but thankfully I wasn't. I love this one. I can just imagine a parent, the kind of parent that would write this. Mary Ann was absent December 11th through 16th because she had a fever, sore throat, headache, and upset stomach. Her sister was also sick, fever and sore throat. Her brother had a low grade fever. There must be flu going around. Her father even got fought last night. Some people just do not know what they're saying, do they? Well, I actually made a mistake in the initial comment I made. There is one person that's heard more excuses than school teachers and school personnel, and that's God. God's heard more excuses than anybody else put together. Have you ever wondered how God responds to our excuses for why we can't do what God tells us to do? Well, if you wonder, Exodus 3 and 4 is a good place to look because God answers five excuses that Moses gave. And Moses five excuses for not serving God sound very familiar. They really do. They sound a lot like excuses that I've used. They probably sound like some that you've used before too. Now, the last time we saw Moses, he was at the burning bush. God had come into a routine, ordinary day of Moses, and broken into his monotony in an extraordinary event with this bush. It was burning, but was not being consumed. And God spoke directly to him, made him aware of the need of his people, and then told him point blank, verse 10. So now go Exodus 3, verse 10. So now go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people, the Israelites out of Egypt. That was not a suggestion. That was not a multiple choice question. It was not an issue for discussion and debate and feedback from Moses. It was a flat out command. Go. I'm sending you. Well, Moses had a few excuses that he wanted to offer God. And so the rest of chapter three and a good part of chapter four is composed of Moses arguing with God, giving God excuses as to why he cannot do what God has commanded him to do. Now maybe God is speaking to you. Maybe he's speaking to you very clearly from this word about something he's telling you to do or not to do some area of your life that he's been addressing through his word. And you've been giving him reasons as to why you can't do that or why you will not do that. Or maybe God is impressing in a very nagging kind of way that will not go away and is growing into a desire or just a sense that God is pushing. Maybe he's speaking to you about vocational ministry. Maybe he's speaking to you about missions or the pastorate or some other way of serving him with your entire life. Maybe he's been speaking to you about that or maybe today he's simply speaking to you about serving in the church or a deeper commitment to him or commitment to his work. Maybe he's been speaking to you about witnessing to a neighbor. And you're offering him all of these excuses, all of these reasons why you cannot do what he's telling you to do. Want to say something, God has heard them all. And so we'll get a feel for the kinds of common excuses that we often offer God and how he responds to those as we look at Moses saying, excuse me, God. The first excuse that Moses offers God is the excuse of insignificance. The excuse of insignificance. Look at it in verse 11. Just after God has told him to go, I'm sending you to Feyro to bring my people to this right out of Egypt. Verse 11, but Moses said to God, who am I that I should go to Feyro and bring the Israelites out of Egypt? Who am I? I'm not very significant, God. I'm insignificant. Who am I that I should go to Feyro? Now think back 40 years. This is very different from the way Moses was thinking 40 years before. Remember Moses 40 years before had seen an Egyptian taskmaster beating an Israelite slave and killed the Egyptian taskmaster in the book of Acts tells us what he was thinking. He was thinking that your children of Israel would realize, you're the guy. You're the guy that God has raised up to deliver us and they would all rally around him, you know, and probably carry him on their shoulders in the Feyro's presence so that it would be a great deal. So that was Moses 40 years ago. Now Moses is saying, who am I? And basically what he's telling God is I tried that 40 years ago, God. And I failed. Why would you want me now? I'm a failure. I cannot do that. I've been out of touch with my people for 40 years. I've been put out pasture. In fact, I've been out here in the wilderness working for my father-in-law for 40 years. I'm a son-weathered 80-year-old shepherd and you're telling me I'm supposed to face down the most powerful king on earth. It ain't happening, God. It's just not going to happen. Who am I to do that? I'm nobody. But notice what God said to a notice God's response. Verse 12. And God said, I will be with you. I will be with you. I love that response. He goes on to tell him, this will be the sign to you, the desire who have sent you. When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you will worship God on this mountain. Do you see what God's doing there? He's painting a vision for Moses of Israel. You see what the future will look like. You see this very mountain where you are with a few sheep and you're all out here just talking to me. This very mountain, in vision this, Moses, in vision this. In a very brief period of time, there will be 2 million people with you out here around this very mountain. God's painting for him a vision of the future, if God is in something, what God can do. Now notice Moses says, who am I? And God doesn't say anything about who Moses is. All he says is something about who he is. He says, I will be with you. Now that's the difference. 40 years ago, it was all about Moses. And now God is impressing on his heart after 40 years of humbling him. It was never about you, Moses. It's about me. It's about the fact that I am with you. And if I am with you, it doesn't matter who you are. It doesn't matter how insignificant you are. If I am with you, that makes all the difference. You say, I am nothing. Well, I am everything. I am with you. I am your significance. You say, who am I? I don't have the ability of the power to do this anymore. That's okay because I am with you. And I am the source of all your power. God had brought him to a place where he was ready to be used by God now. See, God's not looking for people who know their significant or think their significant. God's looking for people who realize they are not significant. But God is with them. And that makes all the difference in the world. God's looking for people like Moses. God's looking for people like Gideon, who is so afraid of the many nights that he's stretching his week down in a wine press down where in a hole in the ground where nobody can see him. And he's looking around and fear. And the angel of the Lord appears to him in judges chapter six and says, oh, mighty warrior. I can just imagine Gideon said, somebody talking to me, me, the mighty warrior. But you see, God sees the vision of the future as it will be when he is with us. When he is doing something significantly through insignificant people, when God's looking for a king for Israel, he goes out to find a shepherd, a shepherd that's out with a bunch of sheep fighting off lions and bears. And he raises him up to be the shepherd. When God's looking for some followers for his son, Jesus, and Jesus ministry, he doesn't go to the learned rabbis. And the schooled Pharisees and experts in the law, he grabs a bunch of fishermen and an IRS agent of tax collector for the Romans. Same thing. He grabs a bunch of nobody's like that insignificant people and says, you will be fishers of men because I am with you. Follow me, he says, and you'll be fishers of men. So the idea is not who you are. God is simply looking at your heart to see if you're willing to be committed to him. Notice what he said when Samuel went to Jesse's family, David's father, to try to pick out the next king of Israel and he's looking at all of David's brothers. Notice what God says to Samuel in 1 Samuel chapter 16 verse 7, it's on the screen, but the Lord said to Samuel, do not consider his appearance or his height for I have rejected him when he's looking at one of David's brothers. The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart. See, that's what God's wanting. And what is he looking for in your heart and mind? Well, when he was dealing with another king, King Aisa, this is what he said in 2 Chronicles chapter 16 and verse 9, for the eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him. That's all that I was looking for. He's looking for a heart that is fully committed to him and then he's looking to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed. He's looking to say like you did the Moses, I'm with you insignificant Moses insignificant, Gideon insignificant, David insignificant disciples. I'm with you and I'm looking for people whose hearts are fully committed to me so that I can demonstrate my presence and my power as I am with you. Does God look for significant people? Look what Paul said in 1 Corinthians chapter 1. Paul said, brothers and sisters, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards. Not many were influential. Not many were of noble birth, but God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise. God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. God chose the loathings of this world and the despised things and the things that are not to nullify the things that are. Here's the reason so that no one may boast before him. All the glory goes to God. It's not insignificant us. It is God with us that makes the difference. God says, your excuse of being insignificant doesn't fly with me because I'm with you. I'm with you. His presence makes all the difference. I'm sure Moses heard that, but you wouldn't know it because Moses has another excuse up his sleeve. Notice his second excuse. This is the excuse of ignorance. Look at verse 13. Moses said to God, suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, the God of your fathers has sent me to you and they ask me, what is his name? Then what shall I tell them? Now does that sound familiar or what? What if they start firing off questions that I can't answer? What if they start raising objections that I don't have the answers to? It's the excuse of ignorance. I don't know enough, God. You know, that's probably the biggest reason why we don't share the gospel with other people. Is we're afraid we don't know enough? We're afraid we don't have all the answers to everybody's questions. Well, what if somebody asked me about all the people who've never had a chance to hear the gospel and why God would allow them to go to hell? I don't know how to answer that. Or what if somebody asked me about the dinosaurs or how no I got all those animals on the ark anyway or where did King get his wife? I mean, what if somebody starts firing questions at me and I'll look foolish. I won't know enough. Friend, if you wait to step out of your comfort zones and start sharing the gospel with someone, we'll start doing something for the Lord. If you wait to do that until you feel like you know enough, you will never do anything because you will never feel like you know enough. You will never feel like you have all the questions or all the answers to the questions. You will wait forever. By the way, don't be afraid to admit to people. You don't know the answer to a question. Nobody's ever lost respect for that. People lose respect when they try to blow steam and try to pull the wall over people's eyes and make it look like they know all the answers, but it's clear they don't. That's when you lose respect. So if somebody asks you a question, you don't know just say, you know what? I really don't know the answer to that question. But I want you to see how God responded to Moses because this is where Moses needed to focus when we have this excuse of ignorance and this is where we need to focus to. Look at our 14, God's answer. God said to Moses, I am who I am. This is what you're to say to the Israelites. I am has sent me to you for 15. God also said to Moses say to the Israelites, the Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Isaac has sent me to you. This is my name forever. The name you shall call me from generation to generation. Now he gives Moses an answer to his question. His specific question was Lord, if they say what's this God's name that that has sent you. What am I supposed to say? Well, he gives him an answer. I am. I am. And the Lord, which by the way are two words that came from the same word. The same word, a Hebrew verb, which means to be. It's four consonants which put into English are Yahweh or Jehovah. So this is the Lord. This is the one who is I am. But those words mean that God is. He simply exists in and of himself. He is self-existent. He's infinite. He's above all things and all people. And Moses, that's enough. That's all you need. He is. So when we bring to God our excuses of ignorance, I don't know enough. I can't answer everybody's questions. Maybe we need to refocus on who God is and to recognize that that's really all we need is Him. And that's really all that person needs who you're trying to witness to, especially in the area of evangelism. When people start firing off a bunch of questions, if you don't know the answers just admit it. If you know them, that's fine. Discuss it. Give the answer. But the real problem is their need of Jesus. They need to know that he is. He is the way the truth and the life. And no man comes to the father but by him. So don't allow yourself to get sidetracked. Come right back to Jesus. He is sufficient. He is able to save them. He is. I am. That's what they need to hear. And that's what I need to hear. That God is there and he is sufficient and he is the Lord. He is infinite. He is able to help us with all things. The excuse of ignorance doesn't fly with God. God says, focus on who I am. Now God does go on to give him some assurance and promises as to what he will do if you were to read carefully verses 16 to 22. He kind of lays out for Moses what he is supposed to do. He basically says, you go call the elders of Israel together and tell them who sent you and then you take some of those elders and go to Pharaoh and tell Pharaoh that I want my people to go out in the wilderness to worship for three days. He is not going to want to let you go. But what I am going to do is I am going to do some miraculous signs that will compel him to allow you to go and to send you out. Now really God and by the way he says, when they send you out they are going to give you all kinds of provisions that you will take with you through the wilderness. A lot of those provisions would be used to build the tibernacle. So God makes him some promises and kind of gives him a plan to go by us and what will happen. But there are two significant promises that God makes to him in those verses. One is in verse 18 and he says, the elders of Israel will listen to you. That is one specific promise God made to him and then a second promise is that Pharaoh won't listen to you. But in verse 20 I will stretch out my hand and strike the Egyptians with all the wonders I will perform among them after that he will let you go. So in other words I want you to know Moses, I am. I am sufficient for you. The elders will listen to you and I will deliver you and the people. That's the bottom line. All you need to know is I am. You don't need to know all the answers to all the questions and all the objections. So God is not going to listen to your excuse of ignorance any more than he is going to listen to Moses. That's no excuse for not doing what God wants you to do or witnessing sharing the gospel with people that God puts in your path. But you know what? Incredibly enough Moses is not done yet. He's got a third excuse. In chapter 4 verse 1 it's the excuse of insecurity. And boy this is a big one. It's a big one. Notice this one. Verse 1. Moses answered, what if they do not believe me or listen to me and say the Lord did not appear to you? Now I want to pause on that question for a few minutes because there are three things in that question that show Moses insecurity. Actually three characteristics of insecurity that I can identify with and maybe you can too. Because they are found in all of us who are insecure about what God has told us to do. In fact, in the beginning of the chapter 5 verse 1, the most important thing is that God is not going to listen to you. In the beginning of the chapter 5 verse 1, the most important thing is that God is not going to listen to you. What if a plan as to what's going to happen? But Moses has got some what ifs? What if it doesn't work? What if this happens? Or what if that doesn't happen? There are some of you in here who are constantly talking to God in terms of what ifs? But what if I try this and it fails? What if I move out and this happens? Or if that happens? What if? What if? What if? You know what that is? That's worry. And it's not trusting God for what He wants to do. Worry feeds insecurity. Worrying about what might happen. The two words that are most used and most popular with us worry warts is what if? What if we use it all the time? And the what ifs, the worry will get a grip on your heart to the point that if you listen to that voice and you're imagining all of the bad things that could happen, you will never do anything for God. You will never attempt anything for God because of the insecurity of worry. Insecurity feeds on worry. The devil is good at throwing us all kinds of what ifs? What if? What if? Insecurity feeds on worry. Second thing characteristic you see about insecurity in Moses question is this insecurity doesn't believe God. Did you see what Moses asked? What if they do not believe me or listen to me? Well what had God just told Moses back in verse 18? The elders of Israel will listen to you. But God what if they don't? Now wait a second. Do you realize how absurd that is? God has just made a promise. They will listen to you. Well God I think I know more than you do. They might not. Really that's what he's saying. What if they don't? And you know most of our what ifs most of our insecurity is rooted in a lack of faith in God. I just put it bluntly. That's true with me. It's probably true with you too. Most of our insecurity is rooted in an unwillingness or a hesitancy to simply believe God's promises. God said they will listen to you. Moses says what if they don't? Now wait a second Moses I just told you they would. Well how does that apply to you and me when God tells us to do something for him no matter what it is. He's given us at least three basic promises that we need to cling on to. That we need to make sure are really deep in our soul. First of all whatever God's told you to do. He has promised you his presence in the great commission in Matthew 28 verses 19 and 20. Jesus has just told us disciples to go into all the world make disciples of all nations baptizing the name of the father son and Holy Spirit and he says this in verse 20 and teaching them to obey everything I've commanded you. And surely I am with you always to the very end of the age now listen this was a big task that God was giving his disciples and it's filtered down to us today to take the gospel to all nations. And to win people to Christ and to baptize them to identify them with gather them together in local bodies of believers and then to start teaching them all that the Bible that's a huge task. And what promised did God make that we would be adequate for that task. I am with you. He promises us his presence. Secondly he promises you his power. He promised this to his disciples to and the same promise comes to us through his word act chapter one and verse eight. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you and you will be because of that power of the spirit you will be my witness is in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth. God promised us his power through his Holy Spirit. You have the Holy Spirit with you and all times you have that same power that God promised his disciples when he went up into when Christ went up into heaven. You have that same power of the spirit of God that's a promise he's made you so when God says here's what I need you to do here's what I want you to do. You have the promise of his presence you have the promise of his power. Thirdly you have the promise of his purpose. He's working out his purpose in everything that happens to us Romans 828. Familiar verse. And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him who have been called according to his purpose. He's working all things together to fulfill his purpose and we have been called according to his purpose which is the next verse would tell us to be conformed to the image of Christ so that we might be more like him. So God promises that in all things so no matter what happens you don't need to ask him all your what ifs because God promises that if you just follow him no matter what happens he will work it together to produce you. To produce good to accomplish his purpose so God's made you at least these three promises are a lot more but these are three good ones to start with that will help deal with insecurity in security doesn't believe God it doesn't grasp a whole to the promise of his presence his power and his purpose being worked out through whatever allows to come into our lives in security doesn't believe God. The third feature of insecurity that is seen in Moses question is this insecurity is rooted in a fear of ridicule. It really is insecurity is rooted in a fear that somebody's going to make fun of us or somebody's going to ridicule us. You see the way Moses asks his question verse one what if they do not believe me or listen to me and say oh here comes the ridicule the Lord did not appear to you. I can almost imagine because I you know this is real life these are real people this is the way I feel so I would feel if I were in shoes what are they going to say some old guy shows up in shepherds clothes and a sun weathered face it's been out in the sun for 40 years tending sheep and he's got this little old crooked shepherd staff in his hand who are you kidding Moses God spoke to you are you kidding me. Look at you look at your clothes look at that little flimsy shepherd staff in your hand it's not like the golden sector of favor it's not like an iron rod of the task masters he got some little wooden crooked staff in your hand who you think you are. Ridicule insecurity is rooted in ridicule Moses knows that he's being told to go into the core of a sophisticated culture of wealth and power and he's going to walk in and a shepherd with a little shepherd staff. He's afraid of the ridicule he's afraid of what people are going to say you mean God spoke God hadn't spoken to you Moses he surely would have chosen somebody other than you. I love what God does to answer him please get this we so often just read over this passage and think of what happens next is really not that important to us because it doesn't happen to me but notice what God's doing when he answers Moses sense of insecurity let's read it verse two then the Lord said to him what is that in your hand a staff he replied the Lord said throw it on the ground Moses threw it on the ground. It became a snake and he ran from it then the Lord said to him reach out your hand and take it by the tail so Moses reached out and took hold of the snake and it turned back into a staff in his hand this said the Lord is so that they believe that the Lord the God of their fathers the God of Abraham the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob has appeared to you. Well that's a good little story and we can say I wish God would do that for me if God just gave me something I could throw if I could take a pen and throw it down on the ground and it would turn into a snake wow God do this kind of miracles for me that would do a lot for my insecurity that's not the point. The point is in the question he asked Moses what is that in your hand. I mean the staff and the shepherd staff just plain old shepherd staff you know what God is showing Moses I will use whatever you have whatever you have I will use and you know the amazing things God would do with that insignificant shepherd staff it would be that shepherd staff that Moses would hold up over the red sea. God would park the waters of the red sea it would be that shepherd staff that would smite the rock and water would come out of the rock it would be that shepherd staff that Moses would hold above his head when Israel's fighting the amalachites in Exodus 17 is almost he holds that staff up the people of Israel are winning the battle how God would use that insignificant shepherd staff no it's not a golden sector or an iron rod but whatever you have in your hand God will use for Joshua it was a rammed man who was born that took down the walls of Jericho through God's power for a widow in Zareffath it's one barley cake and God uses that to do an ongoing miracle of providing provisions for her any Elijah for getting it's a clay jar and a torch that God uses what is it in your hand for David it's a shepherd sling for the disciples with 5,000 intimidating people out in front of them it's a little boys lunch God will use whatever you have he's not asking you to bring him a gold sector or an iron rod he says what is in your hand I'll use that so whatever you have God will use because it's not you anyway it's God that's doing the work so he'll use whatever you got and then there's a second thing he does verse 6 then the Lord said put your hand inside your cloak Moses put his hand into his cloak and when he took it out the skin was lepros it had become as white as snow so put it back into your cloak he said so Moses put his hand back into his cloak and when he took it out it was restored like the rest of his flesh you say well I'd be a cool trick wouldn't it man I could put my finger hand in here and it would come out lepros again that's not the point obviously it's a sign and a miracle that God will use to prove something to the Egyptians but God's proving something to Moses too and I believe to us not only will God use whatever's in our hand whatever we have but God will use us God will use us as imperfect as we are listen we are all stained with the disease of sin we are all if you will we are all lepros we all have imperfections and God can clean clean those imperfections cleans us from those impurities and use us there are none of us in this room that are perfect people not one of us is a perfect person we all have our habits and our hang ups and our issues we all have our lepros hands and God says I can clean that up and I can use you so if you're waiting until everything is perfectly in order you will always remain insecure about who you are and God's ability to use you God says just give me that lepros hand I can clean that I can use you as tainted as you are as crippled as you are as imperfect as you are and then he does something a third thing to show him his power in the midst of Moses insecurity verse 8 then the Lord said if they do not believe you or pay attention to the first sign they may believe the second but if they do not believe these two signs are listened to you take some water from the Nile and pour it on the dry ground the water you take from the river will become blood on the ground again a great miracle but you see what God is showing Moses I can use the most common of things just take some water water out of the river and I'll do something amazing with that so God can use the most common but he will use whatever is in your hand he will use you as imperfect as you are and he will use you as common as you are because he is the one that takes regular imperfect common stuff and regular imperfect common people and miraculously transforms them into instruments of his grace and his power that's how God responded to Moses insecurity if you struggle with insecurity thinking I can't do this God I can't serve you that's okay because God is just wanting to show you as ordinary as you are as imperfect as you are as common as you are God can do great things through you so your excuse of insecurity will not wash with God either well Moses says God I got one more I got one more excuse and he's beginning to feel a little hesitant and by this point when he offers this excuse of inability verse 10 Moses said to the Lord and you can see the hesitancy here pardon your servant Lord but I'm going to give this excuse anyway I've never been eloquent neither in the past nor since you have spoken to your servant I'm slow of speech and tongue or I just can't do this I'm not able to do this and it is interesting that he uses the issue of speech I can't speak for you because I'm I'm not eloquent never have been I'm slow of speech and tongue it doesn't mean he had some kind of speech impediment I think what Moses may have been dealing with was the fact that he been away from Egypt for 40 years he hasn't spoken much Egyptian he he feels inadequate to go into Pharaoh's court and be as quick-witted and and argue on the level of Pharaoh and talk to him in a way that maybe that's what he's struggling with but you know what Moses was eloquent Acts chapter 7 in verse 22 tells us that after all of his training in Egypt Moses was educated in all the wisdom of Egyptians and was powerful in speech and action but it's not that he couldn't talk this is an excuse he could God had given him the ability and the training to do that but still and maybe he feels a little bit out of touch and he's been gone for so long and maybe he's lost a little bit of his Egyptian maybe that's part of it but this is flat out and excuse I'm not able to do this God you ever felt that way you ever felt like you don't have the ability that somebody else has you ever looked at Paul and said wow it possible Paul that's the kind of people God uses combination of Winston Churchill Ronald Reagan and Billy Graham all wrapped up into one you know great leader great spokesman must have talked in a British accent and just a powerful guy right right wrong wrong wrong one of the things that Paul says to the Corinthians one of the things they criticize him about was his appearance he didn't look great and he evidently had some kind of eye disease that even made him look repulsive at times and he avoided eloquence look look at what Paul says was the root of his ministry in first Corinthians 2 this is Paul talking about himself now he says and so it was with me brothers and sisters when I came to you I did not come with eloquence or human wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God and he's referring back to chapter 1 when he was talking about the Greeks you know all want all the philosophical argumentation to prove their point you said that's not the way to preach the gospel that's not what I'm coming to you with he says for I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified I came to you in weakness with great fear and trembling my message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words but with a demonstration of the spirit's power so that your faith might not rest on human wisdom but on God's power now Paul was one of the most well trained men in his day he could have used all the arguments of the Greek philosophers he could have operated on their level but he didn't he chose not to not in communicating the gospel why because I want it to be the spirit's power so I come what in weakness and trembling recognizing this is a holy message this is not a philosophical debate this is the word of God this is a holy message and it is an awesome thing to be entrusted with giving this book so I come in fear and trembling not with eloquence wisdom powerful intellectual arguments I come in weakness depending on the power of the spirit of God because this is a living book and if God is going to do his work through it it's got to be through his spirit's power that's the way Paul operated and I would be skeptical of anyone who doesn't see it the same way if you come to God and you offer him anything other than your inability I would be skeptical of what you would do for him because there's a sense in which God wants us to admit our inability look at how he answers him in verse 11 the Lord said to him who gave human beings their mouths who makes them deaf or mute who gives them cider makes them blind is it not I the Lord in other words Moses it's not about your tongue your ability your eloquence your speaking it is about me I am the one who gives you that whatever ability you have I am the one who will use whatever you have it is I the Lord and then he says now go I will help you speak and will teach you what to say so again he reiterates that command you go you go that's what I'm telling you to do you ever felt the way most I do Moses felt though he ever felt like I just don't have what it takes I do not have the ability to do what God wants me to do what he's telling me to do God's telling you today my friend I made you and I made you just like you are he told Moses I made your mouth I made you your sight I'm the one who made you like you are and what you need I will give you when you need it this is not an argument God is not saying you just go and I'll fill your mouth you don't have to worry about what to say at all it's not an argument against preparation certainly isn't for those who serve God today it's not an argument against preparation and training and doing your best to prepare yourself not arguing against that it's an argument against presumption or against depending on that God will use whatever opportunities and skills he gives you but he doesn't want you to pin down those this is an argument against self confidence and presumption you walk with God you trust him the one who gave you everything you have and you will be amazed at the insights and words and power he gives you when you need it that's what he's saying to Moses so yes we are not able to do God's work it's good to recognize that like Paul did and come with fear and trembling before him and what he says is I made you just the way you are I made you and I will you you and I will give you what you need to do what you need to do you know what Moses is out of excuses but I'm going to call the last one an excuse it really isn't an excuse it's a flat out resistance and refusal but I'm going to call it the excuse of incompetence notice what he says in verse 13 but Moses said pardon your servant Lord please send someone else that's not an excuse that's just a flat out refusal I can't do this God someone else can do this much better than me anybody but me God please send someone else anybody else would be better there's so many others that are more qualified than me you ever feel that way you ever look at other people and feel incompetent what's easy to do well he is so much better with people than I am where she is really classy in her appearance and I'm not or he has a degree in that area and I don't where she's been a consultant he speaks to people all the time she teaches a Bible study his family's all grown look at his kids they're all doing great all perfect she's been in the church for 30 years there's always somebody else that can do it better than you right always please send someone else to do it God they're better qualified than I am me well I haven't done so well with my kids I'm not qualified I'm in debt I never even graduate in college I got crooked teeth I'm overweight I don't have the nicest clothes somebody else can do this better than me don't you see that God just look at me somebody else can do this better now I said before this is not as much an excuse as it is an outright refusal and that's the reason why God responds the way he does look at verse 14 then the Lord's anger burned against Moses my friend you don't want that you don't want that God's been very patient with Moses up to this point and he has answered all of his objections and excuses by clearly pointing to who he is it's not about Moses anyway it's about God but when Moses is getting to the point where he's saying no no just flat nose and somebody else then God gets angry now God does offer somewhat of a compromise and this has always been intriguing to me I think part of this is just God's grace in saying okay Moses I'll give a little bit here so that you will go and he offers the help of Aaron notice he said what about your brother Aaron the Levite I know he can speak well he's already on his way to meet you he'll be glad to see you you shall speak to him put words in his mouth I will help both of you speak and 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 a reason God said that is because every messenger from God first of all God his message directly from God and then delivered it and what he's saying okay we'll do a tag team thing here Aaron will be the one to deliver it you get it from me you give it to him so you'll be like it's God giving it to him to see the message still comes from God I'll let Aaron deliver it if you ever notice something about the rest of the story how often does Aaron speak not very much you read Moses great speeches to the people of Israel in the book of Deuteronomy and the rest actually the book of Exodus Moses does most of the talking and although Aaron would be used by God to be an assistant and to be the leader of the priests Aaron was somewhat of a burn the saddle for Moses he's the one that would lead the children to worship the golden calf on Moses is up on the mountain he is the one that later would criticize Moses leadership and criticize him for even who he married read numbers you'll find it we'll get to it later here's the scary thing my friend God may give you what you ask for and it will not be his best plan for you scary so don't say no to God it offering all your excuses and he will answer those you say no to him you're starting down the path of trouble you don't want that quickly what can we learn in conclusion what can we learn from this story of Moses offering his excuses three things number one God accepts no excuses you will not convince him that you know better than he does you will not he accepts no excuses second lesson we can learn we must have confidence in God and not ourselves if you go back and look at these carefully maybe go back and compare your notes every answer of God to one of Moses excuses drew attention to something about God in the first excuse God assured him of his presence in the second excuse his person third excuse his power forth excuse his provision it's always about God it's not about us and so what God is teaching us is that we have to have confidence in him and not ourselves anyway third lesson don't arrogantly aspire for too much that's what Moses trouble was in the past in 40 years ago I'm the man I'm the leader I'm going to show everybody don't arrogantly aspire for too much but wait a second don't sheepishly settle for too little either and that's Moses problem right now Moses is sheepishly backing off settling for too little with all of his excuses and with his desire to have Aaron to help him to help him listen friend we can excuse ourselves right out of God's desire to show his power and glory through us we can excuse ourselves right out of that out of God's desire to show his power and glory through us how close Moses came to that God would not let him off the hook and if God speaking to you he's not going to let you off the hook either what excuses you're offering to God I would guess maybe some of them sound a lot like these same excuses that Moses was using you offer those excuses to God I guarantee you get the same answers from God you get the same responses the question is where will you end up on the fifth one will you eventually say to God no no somebody else or will you say okay Lord I don't feel like I can do this I don't have the power in myself I don't have the ability but I'm going to look to you and trust you that's exactly where God wants you it's where he wants me let's pray father thank you for giving us an example in Moses of where we so often are insecure yes unable insignificant all of those things are true of us and if we use them as excuses you're not going to let us get by with that if we recognize them as truth and yet recognize your response that you are there with us you are powerful in our weakness you are significant and our insignificance and we can trust you and Lord there's power in what you want us to do oh God help us to see that Lord I don't know who you intended this message for today I'm just trying to be faithful to preach your word and I don't know who you intended it for maybe there's someone here you're dealing with about going into missions or about going across the street to witness to their neighbor or about getting more involved in the church ministry serving you I don't know I don't know who you intended this for Lord and what way that's the work of your spirit so I'm asking him right now I'm asking you father by your spirit to take your word and just nestle it into each heart in exactly the place it needs to fit in Jesus name amen.