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Profit draws the history of the Church. Many Christians have said the same thing, whether it be in evangelism or to answer the call for full-time ministry. They were reluctant to share the Christian faith for fear that they would not know what to say or how to say it. So, they will always say, "Well, I'm not equipped enough. I'm not good enough. Send someone else."

Baby Moses did have a speech problem, but that was decidable; that was irrelevant. Remember, God had personally called him. God had also given him explicit instructions. Rather than trusting God to enable him to fulfill the tasks, he started to make excuses. What Moses said was not so much a speech problem. The truth is, it did not matter how articulate Moses was because God had already told him what to say to the elders of Israel and to Pharaoh. God had given him and sent him the words to speak. So, Moses did not have to be an orator; he just had to be a reporter, so to speak, a messenger to speak what God had spoken to him.

We may be like Moses and might have some speech limitations, but at least he could speak. He could speak well enough when he wanted to question God. If he could have a dialogue with the Great I Am, surely he could exchange a few words with the Pharaoh of Egypt. This is a reminder to all of us that the effectiveness in proclaiming God's word does not depend on eloquence alone. Of course, good speaking ability is useful, but it is not the most essential thing when it comes to communicating the Gospel.

When the Apostle Paul was challenged by his critics, he said in 2 Corinthians 11:6, "But though I be rude in speech, yet not in knowledge." In other words, even though I may not be a trained speaker, nonetheless I have the knowledge—the knowledge of the Gospel, the knowledge of the word of God. When it comes to proclaiming God's word, the message is more important than the preaching. We must always bear in mind this true fact. There is a reason why 2 Corinthians 4:7 says, "But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God and not of us." It is what we have, who we are, and what we have will demonstrate the excellency of the power of God.

The word, also the message, is there. There are times when the preacher speaks in fragments, but have you ever felt slavery, struggling to find the right words to speak? Even the best preacher in the whole world will make mistakes. How much more when he is slow of speech and slow to overcome? Right now, there is a reminder that the effectiveness of his preaching comes from God and not from man himself. Of course, this is not an excuse for the preacher to be careless in the way he speaks, but it helps all of us—the preacher and the listeners—to know that even our weaknesses can be used for God's glory.

Moses' objection was not only irrelevant but also revealed his perspective. This is our second point: why do we say that? Notice what he said, "I am not eloquent, neither here to fore," which means in the past. "No sins thou hast spoken to thy servant, but I am slow of speech and of a slow tongue." This statement was really a criticism. In other words, Moses was blaming God for not giving him the gift of speaking. In the past, from the beginning, he was complaining about the way God made him. Basically, he was saying the reason why I am slow of speech is because this is the way you have made me. It is not my fault; it is your fault.

If I want to say "No sins thou hast spoken to thy servant," this was even worse because it was implying that if God really wanted to send him to Pharaoh, He could have done something. He could have dealt with his speech problem there and then. He was saying, "My Saviour, God, look! I have been standing here talking with you for the past half an hour, and you still have not done anything to fix my speech problem." So essentially, Moses was complaining that it was all God's fault that he could not do what God had called him to do.

Dear friend, so often when we have been called to do something or to serve the Lord in a particular ministry, when we reject the call, when we refuse to obey, what do we do? We give excuses. We will say things like, "Well, I am not strong enough. I am not good enough. I am not equipped enough. I lack the resources." Though sometimes those may be true genuine evaluations of ourselves, we are talking about making excuses.

Do you realize that when we give excuses to get ourselves out of a call, we are just like Moses? Whether directly or indirectly, we are complaining that if God wants us to serve, He should have given us what we need. So, it is not my fault that I did not serve in His Gospel. But the truth is that when God calls us, He provides us with whatever we need to serve Him. The real problem is not in our inabilities; it is in our disobedience.

The real problem with Moses was his disobedience. God reminded Moses that he was fearfully and wonderfully made. This brings us to our third point: Moses' objection was rebuked. Moses had been given the exact gifts God wanted him to have, and those gifts would be used for God's glory. Look at verse 11: "And the Lord said unto him, Who hath made man's mouth? Or who maketh the dumb, or deaf, or the seeing, or the blind? Have not I the Lord?" God made us exactly the way He wanted to make us. Who gave us our eyes, our ears, our mouth? God did. If that is the case, then our abilities and even our disabilities are ordained by God.

God has made us the way He has made us for a purpose. Why do people complain? People often complain because they wish to have the abilities of someone else instead of their own. For example, they want the voice of others, the appearance of others, the looks, the height, the speech. Like in the case of Moses, when they do not have what they wish for, they complain about it. If it is true that God has made us exactly the way He wanted, there should never be complaints about ourselves. We are actually complaining, "Oh God, isn’t it true?" When Moses said, "I am slow of speech; I am slow of tongue," God responded by saying, "Who gave man his mouth?"

God was showing Moses that when he was complaining about his own personal limitations, he was actually insulting the God who created him. Jesus gave a classic illustration in the parable of the talents in Matthew 25. The servants were given different talents—five, two, and one. The servant with one talent, who buried it, was cast into outer darkness, not because he failed to produce five talents, but because he failed to even use the one talent faithfully to the best of his ability.

Dear friend, what talent has God given to you? Perhaps you have a beautiful voice, a good clear mind to develop spiritual thoughts, a strong body, or a practical gift such as the ability to care for others or to handle tasks. Whatever abilities you have, use them for God’s glory. When God mentioned the dumb, the deaf, the blind, and the lame, He was teaching both Moses and all of us that even these limitations could be used for His glory. In other words, the one who could not speak, the one who was blind, and the one who could see—they were all responsible for their talents. They must use their gifts for the glory of God.

God is the one who gave sight. God is the one who gave the ability to speak. Even the one who was dumb and the one who was deaf, God has also given them certain talents for them to serve Him. Jesus also gave another example, which may be used to emphasize this point. All of us remember the man who was born blind in John 9. The disciples were only focusing on the man’s disability. They were very concerned about who was to be blamed for the man’s disability—he himself or his parents. But Jesus said, “Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents, but that the works of God should be made manifest in him” (John 9:3).

The same is true for every child of God. You and I are made for God’s glory, whatever our abilities, inabilities, or even disabilities. We should never imagine for a moment that we can use our personal limitations to somehow limit God’s ability to glorify Himself in and through our lives. Never do this. However strong or weak we may be, we live our lives for His glory.

Notice that God did not try to convince Moses that he was greater or more helpful than he thought he was. No. God began to admit that Moses really was slow of speech and slow of tongue. God did not deny it. Instead, God assured Moses that the only thing that really matters is that God would be with him.

Now, there’s no good in relying on your own strength. If God is with you, then you will be able to do His will in spite of yourself. This is the assurance given to His disciples. Jesus said, “Thank you” how or what he shall speak, for it shall be given you in that same hour what you shall speak. For it is not you that speak, but the Spirit of your Father which speaketh in you.

Jesus did not promise to change His disciples' natural abilities, but He promised that the Holy Spirit, who indwells them, would be with them all the time. He would speak in and through them. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of the Father, and God’s Spirit will speak through them. Dear friend, if God is with us, whatever abilities, inabilities, or even disabilities we have can be used for His glory. This is the important lesson that we must learn, remember, and apply to our lives.

Our fourth and final point is that Moses’ objection was exposed through his conversation with God. In the midst of the burning bush, God repeatedly said, “Go, go, go,” and Moses repeatedly responded, “But, but, but.” Moses had asked all the questions and had run out of excuses. Finally, his true motivation was exposed when he said in verse 13, “O my Lord, send, I pray thee, by the hand of him whom Thou wilt send.” The literal meaning is, “Lord, send anyone You want to send,” and by implication, it also meant that he said, “As long as it isn’t me.”

So the real issue was that Moses had refused to trust and obey. That was why verse 14 says, “And the anger of the Lord was kindled against Moses.” The Bible teaches us that God is slow to anger, but that does not mean God will not get angry. God does get angry, and He has a right to get angry. He had patiently answered all of Moses' questions, dealt with all his objections, and yet Moses still refused to trust and obey, saying, “Send someone else.” It was right for God to be angry.

Take a moment and consider this: When God calls you to serve Him and He opens doors of opportunities for you to serve in the church, and then He uses people to approach you, to speak to you, and He strengthens your gift to serve, and then He repeats the process—opening more doors for you to serve, using more people to speak to you, encourage you, and strengthening your gift again and again—and yet you still refuse to serve Him, you still refuse to trust and obey, will He not be angry? Most certainly He will.

Look at the second part of verse 14: “And he said, ‘Is not Aaron the Levite, thy brother? I know that he can speak well, and also, behold, he cometh forth to meet thee; and when he seeth thee, he will be glad in his heart.’” This tells us that our God is omniscient and He knows all things. He had already arranged for Aaron to come and meet Moses. Perhaps Aaron would come and meet Moses to tell him that Pharaoh, the one who wanted to take his life, was dead. But the point is that God had ordained all things to happen, and He is omniscient.

Verse 15: “And thou shalt speak unto him, and put words in his mouth; and I will be with thy mouth and with his mouth, and will teach you what ye shall do.” Verse 16: “And he shall be thy spokesman unto the people: and he shall be, even he shall be to thee instead of a mouth, and thou shalt be to him instead of God.” In other words, Moses will speak to Aaron, and then Aaron will speak to the people, repeating the words.

It may sound as if God was giving in to Moses’ demands, sort of a compromise, but clearly having Aaron speak on behalf of Moses was not God's first and initial plan for the Exodus. The first and initial plan was that Moses be the man to go and speak, to be God’s spokesperson. You see, if only Moses had trusted and obeyed God, then this verse would only be: “God will say, ‘I shall speak unto you, and I will be thy mouth, and you will be my spokesman.’” Full stop.

But sadly, Moses refused to obey. That was why Aaron was brought into the picture, and because of that, Moses had to share the fullness of God's blessing with him. In the Bible, there was one woman who refused to miss out on the fullness of God’s blessing, and that was Esther. In the providence of God, when the Jews were in danger, Esther was in a position to save them by interceding with the king. Her cousin Mordecai urged her to help, even though it would place her in a very dangerous position, her life would be threatened. Mordecai knew that God would save His people one way or another, with or without Esther, but he did not want Esther to miss out on God's blessing.

If Esther refused to obey, then she would miss out on God's blessing. Therefore, he said to her in Esther 4:14, “For if thou altogether holdest thy peace at this time, then shall their enlargement and deliverance arise to the Jews from another place,” which means, “If you remain silent at this time, what will happen is that the relief and deliverance of the Jews will come from another place. God will use someone else, not you. But thou and thy father’s house shall be destroyed. And who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” Esther understood and obeyed, and eventually, she received God's abundant blessing.

Dear friend, when we refuse to obey God's word, when we say to God, “Send someone else, send anyone as long as it isn’t me,” if we are true believers, we may not lose our salvation, but we will miss out on the abundant blessings that God will shower upon our lives.

Finally, God said to Moses in verse 17, “And thou shalt take this rod in thine hand, wherewith thou shalt do signs.” Indeed, more often than not, our problem is not a lack of resources or abilities, but it is in our disobedience. The important lesson is that if God has called us, God will be with us. And if God is with us, whatever abilities, inabilities, or even disabilities we have can be used for His glory. When you and I obey God, when we live our lives to glorify Him, we will receive His blessings, and His blessings will be things that words can never express. How wonderful! Let us pray.

Our Father in Heaven, we thank Thee for this prayer meeting, that we are able to come and even learn from the life of Thy servant. We not only learned from how Thy servant has been obedient, but even in his disobedience, we can draw spiritual lessons so that we will not repeat the same mistakes. We will not be like him who says, “Send someone else, send anyone as long as it isn’t me.” O Lord, if Thou hast called us, we must learn to trust and obey. We must not make excuses. For when we make excuses, whether directly or indirectly, we will be like Moses, saying, “We are not strong enough, we are not good enough,” and indirectly accusing Thee of the way Thou hast made us. O Lord, forgive us if there are times we have said such things. We pray that we will learn from the life of Moses that all his objections are irrelevant, that his objections are also disrespectful, and how his objections were rebuked by Thee. Finally, no one can hide from Thee, and Moses' objections were exposed because his true motivation was that he was unwilling to obey. O Lord, help us to apply these lessons to our lives. Continue to teach us this, we ask of Thee in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.