Now Then Go

"Now then go, and I, even I, will be with your mouth, and teach you what you are to say" (Exodus 4:12).This is an interesting verse of scripture. It follows along with the story of Moses and the burning bush. You can read the story in Exodus 3:1-9). It is an amazing story of the calling of God to Moses to lead God's people out of bondage. I can imagine if some of us were there at the time we might be raising our hand and jumping up and down saying "I'll go, send me! I'll go, send me!" But would we really?

Moses was a Godly man and he had just had an experience talking to God through a bush that was burning but it was not being consumed. In fact, in verse 4 we can see that Moses was slowly edging closer and closer to the burning bush, ever so slowly, trying to determine what this magical mystery was when suddenly he hears "Moses, MOSES!" You might know that I have my own thoughts as to why God called Moses twice. Okay, your in the middle of a mountain, no one else around, probably dark at this point, dusk at least, you don't know why you are where you are and suddenly you hear your name coming from the burning bush. NOW, WHAT WOULD YOU DO? I know what I'd do. I do a quick 180 and start running as fast as I could, the other way. Well, I think that may have been Moses' reaction. And that's probably why God had to call to him a second time. I can't prove that so just humor me, please.

So, now that God has his attention, He explains to Moses what it is that He wants done. And Moses sits and listens and finally God says in verse 12 "Now then go..." Well it sounds like too big a task for Moses so he basically says, Lord, why don't you just send someone else? Earlier Moses had attempted to use the excuse that he was "slow of speech" which probably means he stuttered. As the story continues, God's anger burns against Moses, so he assigns his brother Aaron, (who would later become Moses' albatross) to be his mouthpiece.

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  "Well God, it was really crowded at the Mall and besides, that guy had every exposed part of his body pierced and I didn't want to get too close to him!"
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  "But God, they don't allow us to talk about you in class and I really need an "A" in this class to get into that other school!"
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  "Are you kidding, God? That guy hasn't had a bath in probably a month, he stinks, he's scary looking, and you want me to go give him a sandwich and tell him about you?"

For thousands of years we have made excuses for not following through with God's plan for our lives but how quickly we forget that God had a plan for another person one day and he walked right up to me and told me how I could get to heaven. Boy, I'm sure thankful he had the courage to share God with me.

Oh, I think I'm starting to understand. I don't have to receive a degree from a big seminary to share my faith in Christ. I don't have to have a large vocabulary to get the point across. All I really have to do is be available when Your Holy Spirit says "Now then go...!" Now we are starting to understand.

I do have a degree from a big seminary, but you know what? Nobody has ever seen it. It sits in a box in the garage, collecting dust, because most of my evangelistic education came from passing out those sandwiches and tracts, getting invited to leave prisons for showing prisoners a better way to live, stopping at the Mall to talk to the "intolerable" and raising the name of Jesus in the face of demon possessed (that was scary).

If you don't know anything else to say to someone who may be searching for life's answers you can simply say, I once was blind but now I see (John 9:25 paraphrased). Once we were all blinded by the deception of this world, but now we see, and what we see is Jesus!

Dave