It is About Him

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It was Olympic time and I love watching the great athletes. My then six-year-old granddaughter and I were watching the female gymnasts. As we watched a tiny girl do a big tumbling run, I tried to be clever and told her, “I can’t do that.” Instantly she responded, “I know, cause you’re too old.” I just said, “Yes, I know.”

“Too old was just an excuse,” but I used it. Even if I were twenty I could not have done those things, but I needed an excuse. Excuses are a part of the human fiber. Even the great men and women use excuses.

Moses is a great example of this. If this were true of Moses, then certainly it is true for me and you.

Moses spent his first forty years living in a palace. He spent the next forty years working as a shepherd. At eighty he had lived a full and rich life, but just when he may have been looking toward the golden years, God had another plan for Moses.

God’s Plan

From a burning bush God called Moses to go tell the Pharaoh to let God’s people go. It was then that Moses started with his excuses. 

Moses’ Five Excuses

  • First there was, “Who me?” (Ex. 3:11).
  • Next was “Who are You?” (Ex. 3:13).
  • The next one is the real one, “What if I fail?”   Here are his exact words, “What if they do not believe me or listen to me and say, ‘The LORD did not appear to you’?” (Ex. 4:1).
  • Then came, “O Lord, I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since you have spoken to your servant. I am slow of speech and tongue.” (Ex. 4:10). Of course the real meaning of this is Moses’ fear of failure.
  • Finally he said, “Just send someone else.” (Ex. 4:13)

God’s Answer to Moses’ Excuses

God responds to this excuse by telling Moses that it was not about him. It was about God.

God says, “Who gave man his mouth? Who makes him deaf or mute? Who gives him sight or makes him blind? Is it not I, the LORD? Now go; I will help you speak and will teach you what to say.”  (Ex 4:11-12).

Moses failed to understand that what God called on him to do, God would help him do.

This is the great lesson that we all need to understand. We all make excuses and we all have fear of failure, but we only need to know what God wants us to do.

What God wants us to do, we can do. He will see to it.

Do not ask, “Can I accomplish this?” Ask only, “Does God want me to do this?” When we attempt the things that God wills for us, we will succeed. It is not about us. It is about Him.

Lonnie Davis