Excuses

The peh Factor

“Seeking balance in a polarized world”

In the last blog I commented on the issue of time with God.  God doesn’t seem to wear an Amazon Fit that records blood pressure, heart beats, the number of steps, etc.  God’s timing mechanism and mine come from different worlds.  Time just doesn’t seem as important to God as it does for us.  I am reminded of those words from the only Psalm attributed to Moses:

For a thousand years in your sight are but as yesterday when it is past,                                            

or as a watch in the night.  Psalm 90:4:

God seems to work on a different timetable than do we. 

Such seems to have been the case as the journey of God’s people from bondage in Egypt to the Promised Land takes place.  From the time of Joseph to the Exodus was 430 years (Exodus 12:40)  During that period a new king (pharaoh) arose who forgot Joseph and all he had done for the nation (Ex. 1:8).  It seems the origin of the familiar warning “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it” – George Santayana, The Life of Reason, 1905, was as true then as it is today.  Somewhere in those 430, this new, forgetful pharaoh made an immigrant work force out of the Israelites.  For how long?  We aren’t told specifically, but, those who study such things say a minimum of at least 100 years. 

Finally in Exodus 3:7, 80 years after the birth of Moses, 80 years of increased bondage and slavery and oppression, finally we read:

Then the Lord said, “I have observed the misery of my people who are in Egypt; I have heard their cry on account of their taskmasters. Indeed, I know their sufferings, 8 and I have come down to deliver them from the Egyptians,…

For me, these words bring up a lot of questions.  Why did God wait so long?  Weren’t the decades of suffering enough to get God’s attention?  Didn’t God care about all the children that had been executed by the oppressors?  What about the anguish of each mother when those children were taken from their home?  How loud of a “cry” did it take before God heard? 

We aren’t told.  We only know that God chose to intervene at that moment in time. 

In the midst of this mystery of time there is another mystery that is presented to us: God chooses to use human beings to fulfill his purposes.  God could fulfill his purposes all on his own.  God could take the divine magic wand, wave it like Harry Potter and poof, everything would change.  But God chooses to do things differently.  God chooses to work in and through human beings, FALLIBLE human being to boot.

Fallible human beings.  One thing I love about the Old Testament of the Bible is that the people God uses are real people with whom I can identify. 

Abram got frustrated that God did not fulfill his promise of an heir to his lineage sooner and so he did the culturally acceptable thing and produced a son through his wife’s slave girl and Ishmael (and the Arab nations) was born. 

Isaac played favorites between his twin boys and his wife Rachel used that against him to get her favorite boy daddy’s blessing (and inheritance).

Jacob was a classic manipulator who couldn’t confront a problem.

Oh, the list could go on.  God used each fallible person (and so many others) to advance his purposes.  Moses was another who reminds me other this truth. 

When God called Moses, Moses’ response was very human.  Moses began to make excuses (5 in all as I count them) as to why it should be someone else and not him. 

The first excuse we might call The Noble Excuse.  In Exodus 3:11 he says, “Who am I…?”  Interestingly he knew exactly who he was.  He was an Israelite.  He was an Egyptian nobleman by adoption and training.  He was a murderer.  He was a fugitive.  He was living safely in a foreign country where he had walked the ancient routes that the Children of Israel would need to walk.  He was scared.  Who am I?  God said, “I will be with you.”

The second excuse The Authentication Excuse.  Exodus 3:13 has Moses saying, “If I do this (please note, O God, I haven’t said I will) the people will want to know the name of the God who sent me.”  There are lots of gods out there in the marketplace.  I am representing which one? 

God responded in a very clear way.  I am the God of your ancestors and my name is YHWH (scholars will tell us this technical term is the Tetragrammaton) which means, “I am who I am.”  I am not who you say I am.  I am not a god who is created in man’s image.  I am true to myself.  I am who I am. 

Then came the next excuse, The ‘But What If’ Excuse.  In Exodus 4:1 we hear Moses saying, “Suppose (What if) they don’t believe me or listen to me?”  To me this is valid.  God can give me direction to lead someone somewhere, to build a team, to deliver a message.  I have to be responsible for obedience to that call.  But, what if they don’t come along?  They have to make their decision as well.  What if I throw a party and nobody comes? 

In response God gives Moses three miraculous signs to perform that might help convince a questioning people.  Sometimes people need that persuasion.  God said, “OK.  Here you go.”

The fourth excuse is that I would call the I Know My Shortcomings Excuse.  In Exodus 4:10 Moses confesses that he “I am slow of speech and slow of tongue.”  Some have interpreted this to mean that he was a stutterer.  Probably, like many stutterers, the higher the anxiety, the greater the disability.  Moses assumed, if he were to go to confront Pharaoh, he would be very anxious and his stuttering would be a problem. 

In response God asks Moses a question: ““Who gives speech to mortals? Who makes them mute or deaf, seeing or blind? Is it not I, the Lord?”  It was as if God was saying, “I made the universe.  Do you think fixing your speech problem would be an issue for me?” 

And then came the final excuse.  I believe this was the real excuse.  How often we avoid the heart of the matter and attempt to get God off our backs with peripheral issues before we get to the core.  And what was the core?  It was The Send Someone Else Excuse.   I don’t want to do this for all the above reasons.  Back off God.  I’m in charge here and I say “NO!”

God seemingly had already anticipated where this was going.  God seemingly knew Moses would need support, maybe even a team of people.  God had already sent Aaron, Moses’ long, lost brother to assist him (Ex. 4:14-15). 

So, why is this an Old Testament story that has risen to the top of my list of most important passages?  Simple answer, God and we do the same dance today.  God calls us to do something specific to advance his Kingdom and we make excuses.  It may be as simple as taking a meal to someone who has crossed our mind and we make a million and one excuses as to how crazy that idea is.  Maybe it is stopping to intentionally pray for someone who is on my mind or pausing to call them or purchasing a card to send to them and encourage them.  Where did thought come from?  How odd.  Or for me, it is time to conclude ministry and the church I am serving and listen for where God would have me go next.  Or for a friend, there are over 1 billion people in the world who do not have healthy water in their village.  Do something about it. 

God still calls.  We still make excuses.  God continues to call and call and call and responds to our excuses until finally we take a leap of faith and obey the call of God.  Finally, when we obey, we see the hand of God at work in us and through us and our lives change forever. 

There is an old hymn I learned growing up that says this so well.  The hymn is called, “Trust and Obey,” By Don Moen.

When we walk with the Lord in the light of His word

What a glory He sheds on our way

While we do His good will, He abides with us still

And with all who will trust and obey

Trust and obey, for there's no other wayTo be happy in Jesus,

but to trust and obey.

Amen.