Day 19, or January 19. Follow God. You know it makes sense. Our thought today is rooted
in Exodus chapter 3 verse 11. But Moses said to God, Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh
and bring the Israelites out of Egypt? Now the big picture surrounding this verse. After
serving as a shepherd for his father-in-law Jethro, sometimes called Ruel, Moses is confronted
by God at the burning bush. It is likely that he has seen burning bushes before, but every
other time they lasted only a few minutes. This one never dimmed or showed signs of dying
out. And then he hears God's voice telling him to return to Egypt, to lead them out of
Egypt into freedom. It seems a lifetime ago since Moses committed murder and fled from
Egypt and he had been on the run ever since. Moses is less than enthusiastic and offers
one excuse after another, including not knowing what God's name is. No one will believe me
anyway. I don't speak very well. This debate seems likely to go on forever until God shows
signs of getting angry, and he strongly suggests Moses takes his brother Aaron with him, as
he is an eloquent speaker and can therefore be a good spokesman. Moses finally gives in
because he was by now seeing the logic of following the God of his fathers.
And now our action step for today. I have heard so many accounts of God calling particular
individuals into his service. A common denominator all too often is the suspicion that it's
not a good deal, that God has an ulterior motive. I'm sure you've heard missionaries
say things like, I told God I would go, but not to a hot country. Then he sent me to Equatorial
Africa. It's as though God wants to trick us into doing His will, which is far from
the truth. He always has our best at heart, and our part is simply to follow His guiding.
Once it dawns on you, like it did for Moses, that God probably has a better grip of the
situation than you do, following becomes a whole lot easier.