A Lesson on Obedience Without Excuses

The song "Excuses, excuses, you hear them every day" started going around in my head as I read Exodus 4. God had seen the oppression of His people in Egypt and heard their cry for deliverance; He had already chosen their human deliverer, and was now calling him out of a foreign land. Chapter 3 is filled with God's declarations of what He is going to do, and v. 9-12 says:

"Now therefore, behold, the cry of
the children of Israel is come unto Me;
and I have also seen the oppression wherewith
the Egyptians oppress them.
Come now therefore, and I will send thee
unto Pharaoh, that thou mayest bring
forth My people, the children of Israel,
out of Egypt. And Moses said unto God,
Who am I, that I should go unto Pharaoh,
and that I should bring forth the
children of Israel out of Egypt?
And He said, Certainly I will be with thee;
and this shall be a token unto thee,
that I have sent thee:
When thou hast brought forth
the people out of Egypt,
ye shall serve Me on this mountain.

But Moses apparently had some misgivings about God's call. After asking who is sending Him and getting more assurances from God, Moses says the people will not believe him or listen to him. God gives him two signs to prove that he is God's spokesman--the rod turning into a serpent, and his hand turning leprous and then being healed. Then Moses reminds God that he is not an eloquent speaker, saying he is slow of speech and of a slow tongue (4:10). God asks him who made man's mouth, or who makes the mute, deaf, seeing, or blind, and answers His own question: "Have not I, the Lord? Now therefore go, and I will be with thy mouth and teach thee what thou shalt say."

Even after all of that, Moses still politely declines the mission, making God angry with him. So God gives Moses Aaron, his brother, to be the spokesman since he speaks well. Finally Moses accepts his commission from the Lord.

It is easy to look at Moses and think, how could he make excuses like that and not accept God's call? Until, that is, I remember how many times I have made excuses for not obeying God. Ouch! God has promised to be with us and help us obey Him, so we have no more reason to make excuses than Moses had, and probably even less, since we have His completed revelation and the Holy Spirit living within to aid us with comfort, encouragement, courage, strength, etc. As it says in Hebrews, the things written in the Old Testament were written for our learning. This is one lesson I hope to learn well.