Exodus 4:10-13 “Then Moses said to the Lord, “Please, Lord, I have never been eloquent, neither recently nor in time past, nor since You have spoken to Your servant; for I am slow of speech and slow of tongue.” But the Lord said to him, “Who has made the human mouth? Or who makes anyone unable to speak or deaf, or able to see or blind? Is it not I, the Lord? Now then go, and I Myself will be with your mouth, and instruct you in what you are to say.” But he said, “Please, Lord, now send the message by whomever You will.” Today's episode shows us that even if we don't feel qualified, God will give us all we need to do what He is calling us to do. It is normal to ask God all the "What if" Questions, but God will take care of all of that for us! It is normal for you not to feel qualified, even though Moses questioned the Lord and tried to convince the Lord that he was not the right guy for the job. However, God is God. he knows everything about us, and if He is calling you to it then He is equipping you for it! Music: "Adding the Sun" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Come As You Are Series - Moses
Exodus 4:10-13 “Then Moses said to the Lord, “Please, Lord, I have never been eloquent, neither recently nor in time past, nor since You have spoken to Your servant; for I am slow of speech and slow of tongue.” But the Lord said to him, “Who has made the human mouth? Or who makes anyone unable to speak or deaf, or able to see or blind? Is it not I, the Lord? Now then go, and I Myself will be with your mouth, and instruct you in what you are to say.” But he said, “Please, Lord, now send the message by whomever You will.”
This chapter starts with Moses questioning God. God had just told Moses he wanted him to go to Egypt and talk to God’s people. He said he wanted Moses to speak to the most powerful person at the time, the pharaoh of Egypt, and tell him he needed to let the Israelites go. He needed to release his entire workforce, as the Israelites were slaves in Egypt. Also, Moses has been on the run for 40 years after he killed a man. Moses was concerned no one would believe him if he did as God asked Him to do.
In Exodus 4:1-9, God tells Moses exactly what to do if they don’t believe that God spoke to him. God said he would turn Moses's staff into a snake when he threw it on the ground, and then, when he picked it back up again by the tail, it would become a staff again. This way, the Israelite people will know that God sent him. Furthermore, if that didn’t work, the Lord told Moses two other signs he would do so that they would believe that the Lord sent him.
In verses 10 & 11, it says, “But Moses said to the Lord, 'O my Lord, I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor even now that you have spoken to your servant; but I am slow of speech and slow of tongue.” Then the Lord said to him, “Who gives speech to mortals? Who makes them mute or deaf, seeing or blind? Is it not I, the Lord?” The Lord is telling Moses, I know you, I made you. I know what you can and can’t do. However, I am the Lord, and I can do all things. If God can make the deaf hear or the blind see, then don’t you think He could give you whatever you need to do whatever He is calling you to do?
Just before this verse, God was telling Moses that He wanted Moses to go to Egypt and free the Jewish people. Moses, like many of us, had lots of reasons why he was not qualified to do the job God asked him to do. What if they didn’t listen to him? What if they didn’t believe God had sent him? God gave Moses all sorts of answers to these questions. Every excuse Moses gave him, God responded with an answer.
It makes me think of my kids when I ask them to do something, and they have a million excuses for why they can’t. It doesn’t matter if you shoot down 1 million excuses; they will always have just one more. It is so frustrating, and I can imagine it would be even more frustrating for the Lord. I mean, He is God. He knows everything. If He says you can do something, you can do it.
Moses started right in with the what-ifs. What if they don’t believe me is the only one he mentioned, but I wonder if it was the only one? I wonder if this one “what if” spiraled into a bunch of “what ifs?” Has that ever happened to you before? You start wondering what if this happens, and what if that happens, and before you know it, you’ve imagined 50 different scenarios, and most of them are bad. Did you ever notice your mind doesn’t usually go through all the positive what-ifs? When is the last time your brain asked What if I win the lottery? What if everything works out perfectly? What if I do get that job with the pay raise? What if I do meet the man of my dreams? If your brain has done the what-ifs with a positive spin, then you are lucky; that is not how it usually goes.
God was going to use what Moses already had, the staff, to convince the people that Moses was telling the truth. If God sends you to do something, he will give you all you need to do it. We don’t have to question Him. This aligns with one of my favorite sayings, which is that God doesn’t call the equipped, He equips the called. If God is calling you to do something, you can rest assured knowing He has already given you all you need to fulfill that calling.
When we ask “What if,” we are thinking about the future, we are going through all the scenarios of everything that could go wrong with our day. What if it isn’t really God calling me to do this thing? What if other people think I am crazy for doing this thing? What if I am too old or too young to do this thing? What if I try it and I fail? Do you see how one thought can then spiral into a lot of thoughts, each one seemingly more and more serious? I would like to say this type of thought pattern was unusual. It isn’t. If you tend to start to head down the what-if road often, you are not alone. Many of us do this.
However, when we do this, we are worrying needlessly, and we are probably missing out on whatever is happening at the moment because we are too wrapped up in our thoughts. We are too wrapped up in what might happen, and so we are missing out on what is actually happening. For instance, let's say you have a calling from the Lord. Your mind may start down the what if road. What if I can’t so what He is asking me to do? What if I try, yet I can’t do it? What if my family disagrees with what I am doing? What if I let people down? What if I make people angry? Do you see how our thoughts can spiral quickly? Do you see how these thoughts are based on the future? They are also based on things I don’t have any real control over.
The Lord is the Lord God Almighty. He is not going to ask you to do something that you can not do. He created you. He knows everything about you. He knows your weaknesses, and He knows your strengths. If He is calling you to do something you feel you aren’t very good at, then that means He is going to help you get better at it. I remember about 8 - 10 years ago, I asked the Lord, “Why is it that everyone in my family can write but me?” My dad and two of my brothers have published books. I am one of the five youngest in my family, and the other four are very gifted writers, especially with poems. So, I was curious why I wasn’t a good writer. The Lord reminded me that although I can’t seem to write poems, I always did very well writing papers in school.
I had no idea that 5 years later the Lord was going to call me to write a different devotional 5 days a week for several years and also to write two books. When asked to write the blogs first, then these podcast episodes, and finally the books, I definitely talked to the Lord about how I wasn’t the best writer. However, I also told the Lord that I would show up to write if He would show up and tell me what to write, and so it all began. Now I have over 1,000 episodes that I have written, numerous blog posts, and two books. If I can obey the Lord’s call, so can you.
He isn’t asking you to know how to do it. He isn’t asking you to do it perfectly. He isn’t asking you to be good at it. He isn’t asking you to have all the provisions to make it happen. All God is asking you for is your yes. He will do the rest. All you need to do is take the next right step and trust that if you need something, God will provide it.
God had a pretty amazing call for Moses’ life, and once Moses accepted it and stopped complaining and trying to get out of it, they did some pretty awesome things together. Moses got to experience miracles he never would have gotten to experience if the Lord had bought his excuses and let him off the hook. We should all be thankful that God loves us enough to listen to our excuses but not let us off the hook because of them.
Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening to this podcast today! Lord, help us to stay in the present moment. Please help us leave the what-ifs to you. You are our Lord and our Savior. You can take care of all the what-ifs before we even get to them. You are bigger than anything that could come our way. Help us to trust the Lord. Please help us to trust you have already thought of all the what-ifs and you have prepared us for them. We love you, Lord. You are truly amazing. We are so grateful we have you looking out for us and preparing the way. We ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus’ holy name, Amen!
Thank you so much for joining me on this journey to walk boldly with Jesus. Just two more weeks to sign up for the retreat, as I have to get the numbers in to the retreat house a week in advance. If you are thinking about coming, I invite you to click on the link below and check out all the details. I look forward to spending time with you again on Monday. Remember, Jesus loves you, and so do I! Have a blessed weekend!
Today’s Word from the Lord was received in May 2025 by a member of my Catholic Charismatic Prayer Group. If you have any questions about the prayer group, these words, or how to join us for a meeting, please email CatholicCharismaticPrayerGroup@gmail.com. Today’s Word from the Lord is, “I've called you to be holy. I've made each of you a sacred creation. Put your game on all the time, and put on your Sunday best, even when you're alone and you think that I am not watching you.”