When I visited my three-year-old niece Lucy recently, she and I bonded over our shared love of chocolate. One day, she wanted a piece of chocolate that was stored on a shelf in the pantry that she could not reach. She immediately said, "Oh no!", expressing deep concern that we could not acquire the chocolate because it was stored too high for her to reach. She forgot, however, that I was with her. I was tall enough to reach the chocolate we both wanted. Sometimes in life, when our circumstances seem impossible and God’s calling feels too challenging, we need a reminder that we are not alone. God is with us, and what is impossible for us is more than possible for Him.
Moses learned that God can do the impossible when God called him to go to Pharaoh, the king of Egypt at the time, and call him to free the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt in Exodus 4. Not only did God tell Moses to demand that Pharaoh free the Israelites from slavery, but He also told Moses to tell the Israelites that God was going to rescue them. As many of us would, he questioned God, saying, "What if they don't believe me or listen to me?" (verse 1). In response to that question, God performed miracles through Moses. God caused Moses’ staff to become a snake and then a staff again (verses 2-4). He also caused Moses' hand to become diseased when he put his hand inside his cloak and then healed it when he put his hand back into his cloak (verses 6-7). God told Moses that the Israelites would believe when he performed those signs. That is because only God could have caused those things to happen. Even still, Moses persisted, saying, "O Lord, I'm not very good with words. I never have been, and I'm not now, even though you have spoken to me. I get tongue-tied, and my words get tangled" (verse 10). Still, Moses was relying on his own strength, even after God had shown tremendous displays of His power through Moses. In response, God said, "Who makes a person's mouth? Who decides whether people speak or do not speak, hear or do not hear, see or do not see? Is it not I, the Lord? Now go! I will be with you as you speak, and I will instruct you in what to say." (verses 11-12). With this reminder, God was calling Moses to lean on God’s power, not his own. He was the one in control.
Still today, God is the one in control, the Creator of all. When He calls us to do something, He will see to it that it comes to pass. Praise God that we do not have to rely on our own power and strength, but His. Will you stop depending on your own power and, instead, lean on Him and His power today?
Write down Exodus 4:11-12 on your bathroom mirror or on an index card that you can place where you will see it often. Read and reflect on this verse often. Let this verse remind you that nothing is impossible for God. When He gives us a calling, He will walk with us and see it through to fruition. Our job is simply to obey and trust Him.
2 Then the Lord asked him, “What is that in your hand?”
“A shepherd’s staff,” Moses replied.
3 “Throw it down on the ground,” the Lord told him. So Moses threw down the staff, and it turned into a snake! Moses jumped back.
4 Then the Lord told him, “Reach out and grab its tail.” So Moses reached out and grabbed it, and it turned back into a shepherd’s staff in his hand.
5 “Perform this sign,” the Lord told him. “Then they will believe that the Lord, the God of their ancestors—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob—really has appeared to you.”
6 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Now put your hand inside your cloak.” So Moses put his hand inside his cloak, and when he took it out again, his hand was white as snow with a severe skin disease. 7 “Now put your hand back into your cloak,” the Lord said. So Moses put his hand back in, and when he took it out again, it was as healthy as the rest of his body.
8 The Lord said to Moses, “If they do not believe you and are not convinced by the first miraculous sign, they will be convinced by the second sign. 9 And if they don’t believe you or listen to you even after these two signs, then take some water from the Nile River and pour it out on the dry ground. When you do, the water from the Nile will turn to blood on the ground.”
10 But Moses pleaded with the Lord, “O Lord, I’m not very good with words. I never have been, and I’m not now, even though you have spoken to me. I get tongue-tied, and my words get tangled.”
11 Then the Lord asked Moses, “Who makes a person’s mouth? Who decides whether people speak or do not speak, hear or do not hear, see or do not see? Is it not I, the Lord? 12 Now go! I will be with you as you speak, and I will instruct you in what to say.”
13 But Moses again pleaded, “Lord, please! Send anyone else.”
14 Then the Lord became angry with Moses. “All right,” he said. “What about your brother, Aaron the Levite? I know he speaks well. And look! He is on his way to meet you now. He will be delighted to see you. 15 Talk to him, and put the words in his mouth. I will be with both of you as you speak, and I will instruct you both in what to do. 16 Aaron will be your spokesman to the people. He will be your mouthpiece, and you will stand in the place of God for him, telling him what to say. 17 And take your shepherd’s staff with you, and use it to perform the miraculous signs I have shown you.”
