How honest are we with God? Do you ever just tell God what you think? The story is told that when her orphanage burned down, Theresa of Avila said to God, “So this is how you treat your friends. No wonder you have so few of them.”
Moses had lost almost all of his self-confidence in the desert. When God told him to speak to the Israelites, he made his first excuse: “What if they do not believe me or listen to me?” God told him to throw his rod down and it became a snake. No kidding, while jogging I looked down, while in the air over a stick, and thought it was a snake. On one occasion, I looked down at (what I thought was) a stick and it hissed at me and moved. I was in the air over a very large snake. Had he wanted to strike, I would have been unable to avoid him. On no occasion, however, have I personally been able to transform sticks into snakes or vice versa.
If Plan A did not suffice, God suggested Moses put his hand into his cloak and pull it out leprous. These signs, like the ones in the Gospel of John, were intended to elicit faith (4:5). Moses finally just told God, “I am not eloquent enough to speak.” God reminded Moses he had made his mouth and that he would help him. Finally, Moses said, “Send someone else.” I don’t know if God has a last nerve, but it seems Moses had finally frustrated God. God said he would use Aaron as Moses’s spokesman.
What has God called us to do? Why haven’t we done it? Good news: the same God who called us is with us and will help us. If God calls us to do something, he will also always equip us to do it. So our confidence is not finally in ourselves but in God. He never fails!
