Finding your voice

Not too many people like to feel unsure about themselves and what they’re doing. It’s uncomfortable to discover and develop something at the same time. Most of us want to be experts at something before we even attempt it, and while it’s good to prepare, it’s also bad to procrastinate because we want control and comfort.

Take Moses as an example. He’s hanging out in the desert when he sees a bush on fire. Kind of odd, but then the bush doesn’t burn up. Even odder, and then the bush talks. This is nuts, he thinks, and moves in for a closer look and listen.

Just when things couldn’t get much weirder, he realizes the bush isn’t talking. It’s God. Yikes. After a quick reminder from God about how anywhere He is becomes holy, Moses obediently removes his shoes in reverence. This is important, so don’t forget it.

What follows is a pretty incredible back and forth between God and Moses. God calls Moses to something bigger than himself, and Moses keeps telling God one reason after another why God’s picking the wrong guy.

They won’t believe me. They won’t listen to me. They won’t understand me. They won’t follow me. On and on it goes until God finally speaks the following words:

Now then go, and I Myself will be with your mouth, and instruct you in what you are to say. (‭‭Exodus‬ ‭4:12‬ ‭NASB, emphasis mine)

Translation? Not only was God calling Moses to do something, He was also calling Moses to say something. The problem was that Moses didn’t feel like he had a voice, or that his voice was good enough. God silenced all of that by reminding Moses that God is the one who gives men their voice, and that He would be with Moses’ mouth and give Him the voice he needed for the victory he wanted.

There was some more discussion about how Moses would use that voice (and an “I’m still scared of being used” request for God to send someone else), but the promise from God never changed. Whether spoken through Moses or his brother, the words spoke to Pharaoh came from God to Moses. Moses carried the voice of deliverance for God’s people, even when the words of delivery came through Aaron. And that voice had to be developed by speaking out loud. To find your voice, you’ve got to use your voice. It is discovered and developed at the same time, and that’s uncomfortable.

It’s also the way God gets all the glory because at the end of the day, everyone knew that Moses stuttered. Everyone knew that if they were lining people up to be the spokesperson for the next great move of God in Israel’s history, no one was picking this old, stuttering fool given to fits of anger and rage. No one except God.

He still does.

…but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong… (‭‭1 Corinthians‬ ‭1:27‬ ‭NASB, emphasis mine)

He chooses the foolish and the weak because His glory shines best in and through them. He puts His voice in mouths that stutter and stammer because He doesn’t need polished professionals trying to improve His message.

He just needs people willing to carry His words with their voice. It’s time to speak His words and His truth in the way He’s made us and with the voice He’s given us so that the captives can go free.

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