Exodus 5:21-23, "And the foremen said to them, The Lord look upon you and judge, because you have made us a rotten stench to be detested by Pharaoh and his servants and have put a sword in their hand to slay us. Then Moses turned again to the Lord and said, O Lord, why have You dealt evil to this people? Why did You ever send me? For since I came to Pharaoh to speak in Your name, he has done evil to this people, neither have You delivered Your people at all."
God had just sent Moses back to Egypt to use him in order to deliver the Israelites out of the hand of Pharaoh. Moses had asked all the questions about, "Why me?" and he had given every excuse he could think of as to why God had picked the wrong person for the job, but God wasn't going to let him out of the call He had on Moses' life. God had picked Moses to be the one He would use to deliver the Israelites out of slavery, and no matter how much Moses kicked or screamed, the job was still his.
Have you ever fought against what God was calling you to do?
As I think about Moses' responses to God, I imagine him having a whiny voice and saying, "But God!!! I'm not good at speaking. But God!!! What will I say to those people? But God!!! What if they don't believe me?" Whine, whine, whine... Excuse, excuse, excuse...
Finally, after much complaining, Moses goes and does what God asks him to do. He tells Pharaoh to let God's people go to take a three day journey into the wilderness to sacrifice to the Lord. What happens next wasn't at all what he would've hoped for, though. Not only does Pharaoh deny the request that Moses made, he takes away some of the supplies the Israelites needed to do their jobs but still required that they produced the same results daily in their work load.
Talk about a let down!
This is where Moses must have thought, "God, did You really say...?" "Are you sure this is such a good idea?"
Have you ever been there? You really believe that you're doing what God is leading you to do, but then everything seems like a mess?
I can remember when I got hired at my job at Big 5 thinking, "Okay, God, this has to be where You want me because I am no athlete!" I remember the semester I went to college thinking, "God, what am I supposed to be doing here? I have no friends. I don't enjoy this, but for some reason, I am here right now for such a time as this." There were relationships that I had that didn't work out, and I'd think, "Why did I have to go through that when You already knew that wasn't the right person for me?"
Moses was called by God to go deliver the Israelites, but the entire time, He questioned God instead of simply obeying without question.
I look back to when I first started my job, and I didn't understand why I was there for a long time, but then God opened a door to witness. When I went to college, I didn't understand why I spent those 16 weeks mainly alone, but I now look back and see how God was growing me in Him and making me more confident and comfortable being who He made me to be. And the relationships, I now see how He used them all to grow me and to give me more compassion for others. I no longer sit there and think I'm holier than thou. Now I understand a little better where people are coming from.
Going back to Moses... Why did God choose to use Moses? Because that's who He chose, and because He said so. Why didn't He just make the process easy for the Israelites and for Moses? I could take my own guesses as to why, but regardless of why, because God is God, and He knows what's best. What it comes down to is this: God is God. We are not. We don't need to know why when we know Who is telling us to do something or not to do something.
As God's children and chosen people, we need to get very comfortable with not knowing. Have you been called to a certain place for this season in your life and you don't quite understand why this is God's plan for right now? If this is where God has placed you for the moment, don't worry about knowing why. Take a step of faith, and trust that God will show you the next one to take.
Dear Heavenly Father,
I find that I really like knowing why You choose to do things the way you do sometimes, but I'm also finding that I don't always need to know why. That's why You've called me to put my faith and trust in You. Lord, when I truly am following You, and I can't understand where You are leading, help me to get comfortable not knowing and simply obeying and following You anyway. In Jesus' Name.
Amen.
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