God Uses The Broken
Moses was raised as one of Pharaoh’s own (Exodus 2). When he was younger he had it all. Isn’t it interesting how Moses replies when God calls him from the burning bush? Who am I to be called to this? He was broken. You know if Moses had stayed in Egypt, would he have even heard God? He was alone in the desert, in the quiet, where he could hear God.
Image courtesy of: annapolis_rose
Scripture:
“But Moses said to God, ‘who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?'” – Exodus 3:11
Observation/Application:
First comes the preparation. We need to get to know God. How do we do this? Take time to be quiet with God. Take time to find out who we are. Moses didn’t know God well enough to know how to describe Him to Pharaoh. And as Moses learns who he is, he struggles with it internally. Here’s a summary of how Moses’s conversation with God goes down (paraphrased):
- Moses: Who am I to go before Pharaoh?
- God: I will be with you
- Moses: What if they don’t listen? (4:1) (He was intimidated, and scared).
- God: They will listen. (4:29)
- Moses: But, but, but I ca… can…can’t speak well.
- God: Who made your mouth? (4:11-12)
- Moses: I know you can find someone else (Moses tries to get out of it)
- God: You can bring Aaron with you, but you are going – I am calling you. (v.4:14) I put you in the desert 40 years, to get you ready for this day…. you are going. (Moses received a 40-year seminary education in the desert.)
Then comes the trial through fire. Moses goes and talks with the Hebrew elders, and with Aaron’s help gets everyone on board with the plan to appear before Pharaoh. The big day arrives and Moses appears before Pharaoh to ask permission to leave, and it goes terrible. Pharaoh says, “I don’t know your God, and I think that you are lazy. Now I will make your job harder and will not provide you with straw to make bricks, you will have to get that also on your own and still make your daily quota.” So the Hebrew people went to Moses and said, “thanks for nothing. You have made us obnoxious to Pharaoh, and now he is out to work us to death.” (5:20) Moses was going through the fire.
No one ever said that God’s call in your life was going to be easy. When Jesus was fulfilling his calling, sacrificing his life for us, the night in which he was betrayed, he wasn’t having fun in the flesh either. “And being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground.” – Luke 22:44. We may be all excited about our calling in the beginning (the spirit is willing) but then we hit major obstacles and things get tough, we can be tempted to quit (the flesh is weak). But don’t quit. God is not a quitter. And we cannot be like God if we quit, and if we are to be in His will. God’s promise is there for us. The bible doesn’t say that we won’t face challenges. In this life there will be trouble (John 13:33). And there are plenty of examples like these where clearly we can expect some trouble.
But how do we respond to obstacles and challenges and troubles? We do what Jesus did, He prayed more earnestly (Luke 22:44). He spent time alone with God. He broke off from the pack and went to be alone, and pray. When God appeared to Moses, he was on the “far side of the wilderness”. He was alone, enough where he could hear God’s voice. Let us take time to be alone with God, where we can hear his voice. And let us be not so self-reliant that we think that we can do it all on our own. To be open to God’s call and purpose in our lives, we have to be open. And in some cases we can only be used by God when like Moses we are broken. But fear not, God is with us. God uses the broken.
Prayer:
Dear heavenly Father, thank you for bringing us through the desert and bringing us to this point in our lives Lord. Let us be quiet and hear your voice. Let us be quiet Lord, and hear your voice. Use us Lord, in all our faults, in all our failures, in all our brokenness. We surrender ourselves fully to you, and give You all the honor and glory and praise, now and forever, in Jesus mighty name. Amen
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