Excuses

 Then Moses answered, "But behold, they will not believe me or listen to my voice, for they will say, 'The Lord did not appear to you.'"

Exodus 4:1 ESV


Moses might have tried a number of excuses to try and get out of serving God. But to be fair to him, his excuse in this verse is pretty credible. He knew the Egyptian elite, having lived as one of them. 


Moses knew that Pharoah was seen to be divine, amongst a myriad of gods who were believed to ensure Egypt's superpower status. Why would Egyptians listen to the God of the despised Hebrew slaves? God graciously responded to Moses' concern by providing him with a couple of miraculous signs to illustrate the fact that the Lord truly is the one true God. 


Moses might have been slow to take up his great commission to help liberate his people. God's patience would eventually be tried, a few excuses down the line. But it's better to be honest with Him about how we're feeling than to just ignore Him. It would be just as wrong to be overconfident in ourselves as under-confident. 


God has given us a great commission too, to be commissioners of the Kingdom of heaven amongst the kingdoms of earth. Are we going to help liberate people from slavery in kingdoms of darkness into God's glorious Kingdom of light? Or are we going to try and make inexcusable excuses? 


'Yahweh our God, how glad we are for Your patience with the likes of us. Having liberated us from sin, please help us to liberate others too, to Your praise and glory, amen'


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