No More Excuses: Embracing God's Call Despite Our Weaknesses

Introduction

Last week we began our journey through Israel’s journey from bondage to freedom. We began with the problem. Israel was living well growing and becoming strong within the nation of Egypt. They were actually the conduit of God’s blessing to Egypt. But then an evil and corrupt monarch arouse in Egypt.

Not that any of the previous monarchs had been good, righteous, god-fearing individuals. No such thing existed in Egypt. And I will let you decide if such thing exists today in the time and place we live in. But this monarch rouse the level of evil as to oppress God’s people, and so he crossed a line that God would not ignore. The monarch set his mind of derailing Israel’s growth, and ultimately, erasing their existence from the earth through genocide.

And as a result of the wickedness of this monarch, God’s covenant people are in a season of distress, a season of pain and suffering. But we learned last week. firstly, What whatever season of life you are in. And whatever the circumstances. God’s sovereignty is greater than those seasons. God’s blessings are not always received with applause by those living outside His covenant. And seasons of resistance and hostility towards His people will come but God is sovereign over all of it.

Secondly, we learned that evil cannot outmaneuver God’s Plan. God’s plan was to fulfill His promise made to Abraham that his seed would multiply as far as he could count the stars. Pharaoh decided through evil scheming that he would accomplish the opposite, and the more he tried to oppress the Israelites the more thew grew in number and strength. The very thing that Pharaoh meant for evil God used it for good. Which has multiple applications in our current reality if you have discerning eyes to see our current situations with a biblical lens.

And thirdly, that God raises up courageous people to resist injustice. He raised Shiphrah and Puah who were midwives. They were not priests, or prophets, or preachers. Which means you can be a giant for Yahweh no matter what your platform may be. We have seen some giant theologians come and go but God does not only use theologians. You can be an elementary school teacher, or a truck driver, or a lawyer, pastor, politician, hamburger flipper and be a giant defender of Christ and His Word. God will use you and if so blessed, use your entire life.

Today we will examine how God will chose to deal with the Egypt situation and we will see how God raises up a deliverer though which He will work. We will see a reluctant but chosen vessel just as reluctant as Jeremiah, come up with so many excuses. But just as we studied in Jeremiah, we will find that God’s call comes with His presence and power.

So, lets talk about Moses examining him from three separate angles:

I. God’s Deliverer Born in Weakness but Preserve By Providence (Exodus 2:1-25)

II. God Calls from the Midst of His Holiness (Exodus 3:1-15)

III. God Confronts Excuses With His Presence (Exodus 4:1-13)

I. God’s Deliverer Born in Weakness but Preserved By Providence (Exodus 2:1-25)

In the midst of this oppressive regime, Moses is born. Since the midwives failed to kill all of the would be sons of Israel and ended up reproducing themselves as God blessed them with their own family, Pharaoh turns to the Egyptian population,

Exodus 1:22 LSB

22 And Pharaoh commanded all his people, saying, “Every son who is born you are to cast into the Nile, and every daughter you are to keep alive.”

Moses’ mother was not about to kill her own son and hides him for about three months. But it is impossible to hide a baby in the way they lived back then. With neighbors in close proximity, a single cry would have exposed them. I even wonder how she was able to conceal her pregnancy.

But we need to pause and explain the word I have used in this point. The word providence. Providence is by far the most continuous and consistent way in which God operates in the world, as opposed to the miraculous.

Providence: God’s sovereign care and control over all things, working through ordinary events to accomplish His extraordinary purposes.

So it is a word that denotes God’s wise ordering of all things in creation, directing them towards the fulfillment of His will for His glory and the good of His people. How is that different than a miracle? A miracle is a blatant interruption of the natural order, i.e., the sun stops shining, the sea waters part, a dead person is suddenly alive again.

Miracles interrupt nature. Providence orchestrates nature. Miracles are extraordinary events; providence is God’s ordinary, unseen hand accomplishing extraordinary purposes.

Providence is a whole lot more subtle than miracles because it is ordinary. It can be easily dismissed as coincidences. It is virtually undetectable to unbelievers, but those who are indwelled by the Holy Spirit often pick up the scent.

It is the behind the scenes work that God does. This is what Paul means when he says,

“…for those who love God all things work together for good…” (Romans 8:28)

with this said, Moses’ mother comes up with a plan that at the very least will keep Moses alive longer. She definitely does not know for how long, but this is where faith in God is manifested. I do not think that she had a clue that her baby was the deliverer, unlike Mary who was told, this woman was not.

Exodus 2:3 LSB

3 But she could not hide him any longer. So she took for him an ark of papyrus reeds and covered it over with tar and pitch. Then she put the child into it and put it among the reeds by the bank of the Nile.

She places the child in the river, technically she did not disobey the state. She found a way to keep he child alive while at the same time having an argument that the state did not actually forbade the use of a water proof basket. Had this happen today I am sure that the average defense attorney would have being able to make that case. But this is providence on the part of God and faith on the part of the parents. The writer of Hebrews says that,

Hebrews 11:23 LSB

23 By faith Moses, when he was born, was hidden for three months by his parents, because they saw he was a beautiful child, and they were not afraid of the king’s edict.

What happens next is also spectacular,

Exodus 2:4–7 LSB

4 And his sister stood at a distance to know what would be done to him. 5 And the daughter of Pharaoh came down to bathe at the Nile, with her young women walking alongside the Nile; and she saw the ark among the reeds and sent her maidservant, and she took it to her. 6 Then she opened it and saw the child. And behold, the boy was crying. And she had pity on him and said, “This is one of the Hebrews’ children.” 7 Then his sister said to Pharaoh’s daughter, “Shall I go and call a nurse for you from the Hebrew women that she may nurse the child for you?”

God’s providence would now have his sister be curious concerning where her baby brother would end up and followed the basket.

The daughter of pharaoh sees the basket and gets curious as well. The Lord makes this baby as cute as he could possibly be. To the degree that even though there is a royal decree to kill all of the males, Pharaoh himself cannot resist the cuteness.

The story tells us that the girl immediately appears and suggests to the princess, bringing someone to nurse the child, be the nanny if you will. And she gets, the child’s mother. Clever girl? No doubt. But look at the providence of God in providing for Moses’ mother, the satisfaction not only to know that her son is okay but to be in his life and care for him a little longer.

And the mother got paid for her services. How many mothers here have gotten a dime for nursing, feeding, and changing diapers at all hours of the night?

Exodus 2:10 LSB

10 And the child grew, and she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter, and he became her son. And she named him Moses and said, “Because I drew him out of the water.”

The irony of all of this is that Pharaoh’s own daughter rescues the the child her father sought to kill. It was not enough for God to preserve Moses. But in his providence He would have the child be raised, nurtured, and start phase 1 of his education by the very the very enemy of God and His people. Pharaoh’s decree was no match for the providence of God.

Job 42:2 LSB

2 “I know that You can do all things, And that no purpose of Yours can be thwarted.

I suspect that Moses always felt somewhat strange growing up in Pharaoh’s palace. I believe that Moses had some sense of a divine calling already.

He was raised in Pharaoh’s house, but he knew his identity was with Israel. That identity drew him to “go out to his people and look on their burdens” (Ex. 2:11). That’s more than curiosity—that’s solidarity.

Moses instinctively stepped into the role of deliverer. He saw an Egyptian striking a Hebrew, and he intervened by killing the Egyptian and trying to cover his tracks. The next day he saw Hebrews quarreling and tried to reconcile them. Both acts reveal he was trying to bring justice and peace to his people, even though his methods were flawed. Look at what Stephen said about Moses,

Acts 7:25 LSB

25 “And he supposed that his brothers understood that God was granting them salvation through him, but they did not understand.

In fact I would say that He did not understand either. His senses where in the right direction considering all of the peculiarities of his upbringing. He could have very well been the only man his exact age among a million people. Every other Hebrew boy born in his generation was slaughtered (Ex. 1:22). Imagine carrying the knowledge: “Why me? Why was I spared when every other child like me was killed?” That survivor’s uniqueness—and survivor’s guilt, in a sense—must have burned into his conscience that he was preserved for a reason.

All of this must have given Moses the drive, but the Scripture says

“Not by might not by power, but by My Spirit, say Yahweh of host.” (Zechariah 4:6)

I do not know what Moses thought he was going to do. Rescue his people by secretly killing one Egyptian at a time? When that did not work, he ran.

At any rate. God heard the cry of His people and began to execute the plan of rescue, by bringing the instrument of rescue, even Moses into view. Pharaoh dismissed the cute and utterly defenseless baby in a basket. What threat could this little weak insignificant baby be?

God often raises deliverers in obscurity and weakness. Israel may have wanted a mighty savior, but Moses began as a helpless infant preserved by God’s hand.

This pattern anticipates the greater Deliverer, Jesus, who came in weakness—born in a manger, not a palace; hunted by Herod as Moses was hunted by Pharaoh. Both stories declare: human rulers cannot thwart God’s redemptive plan.

God’s providence weaves irony into history: the enemy’s household becomes the incubator of the deliverer. Just as the cross—Rome’s instrument of terror—became the very means of our salvation.

Application:

Don’t despise small beginnings or weak vessels. What looks fragile may be God’s chosen tool for deliverance.

Trust that God hears and sees affliction (2:24–25). Silence does not mean absence—He is at work in hidden ways.

God’s providence is often ironic: the places you fear most may be the very platforms where God chooses to work. Pharaoh’s palace could not stop Moses; neither can today’s cultural powers stop Christ’s church.

Challenge: Do you look at your weakness as a disqualifier, or as the stage for God’s providence?

II. God Calls from the Midst of His Holiness (3:1-15)

So Moses runs after his failed attempt to help his brethren to the land of Midian. Yes, we have skipped a lot. Please read from Exodus 1 all the way through, it is invigorating to see God’s providence in action, and it gives you hope in your present circumstances.

He spends forty years working as a shepherd. How many know that those 40 years were not wasteful. He may not have been aware of it but this was phase two of his education. God had him practice and sharpen his shepherding skills with sheep before he would make him a shepherd over the people of God. Moses would develop patience, humility, perseverance, toughness, strong sense of responsibility, compassion, empathy, observational and critical thinking skills and resourcefulness.

The funny thing is I got this list from doing a Google search on qualities and aptitudes developed from caring for sheep as shepherd over livestock. Meaning this seemingly mundane job was the perfect training ground for the most important job Moses would ever do for the kingdom. God determined the place and means of training and He also determined when training was done and it is time to fulfill His calling.

Exodus 3:1–3 LSB

1 Now Moses was pasturing the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian; and he led the flock to the west side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. 2 And the angel of Yahweh appeared to him in a blazing fire from the midst of the bush; and he looked, and behold, the bush was burning with fire, yet the bush was not consumed. 3 So Moses said, “I must turn aside now and see this marvelous sight. Why is the bush not burned up?”

The bush is burning but is not consumed. God here reveals his holiness, His set apartness, nothing else in anything Moses or we have seen before is like this. Fire in Scripture has always represented the holy presence of God.

And in this context of a bush that does not consume itself shows His self-sustaining, eternal, unlike anything in creation qualities.

From the midst of the bush, Yahweh calls “Moses, Moses” The repetition is a sign of urgency and intimacy. It shows that regardless of Moses’ knowledge of God, God was intimately acquainted with him. After all, we have seen how God has watched over Moses all of his life, oblivious to him.

Moses is instructed to stay where he is, not to come closer and also to take off his shoes because the place he was standing on was holy ground. God presence made the land holy. God’s presence transformed any ordinary desert into a holy place. The sandals represent ownership, comfort, dirt of the world. Taking them off means surrender.

Then God identifies Himself a the covenant keeping God.

Exodus 3:6 LSB

6 He said also, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” Then Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.

Then Moses is like, wait a minute you are Him? I find it fascinating that Moses was merely intrigued while having an actual conversation with fire. More accurately, a plant on fire. Moses is obviously not easily rattled nor impressed. So far he seems merely curious. That is, until the voice that spoke to him as if He’d known him all his life identified Himself. Now Moses is rattled. And now that I have the proper posture for My presence I’ll tell you why I am here.

Exodus 3:7–8 LSB

7 And Yahweh said, “I have surely seen the affliction of My people who are in Egypt, and I have heard their cry because of their taskmasters, for I know their sufferings. 8 “So I have come down to deliver them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up from that land to a good and spacious land, to a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanite and the Hittite and the Amorite and the Perizzite and the Hivite and the Jebusite.

This has been a source of comfort for me if and when I remember it:

God always sees, hears, knows, and acts.

God has seen, He has heard, He knows, and He is here to act. He is activating Moses and an emissary of His bidding to liberate the people of Israel. Moses of course does not want to be part of this, after all he already tried, his own countrymen rejected his help. I think Moses did not know which was worse, that God was sending him to Pharaoh or to Israel. Moses is like, “I don’t even know your name” they would ask me who is the God of our fathers. But then the LORD our God does something wonderful. He gives Moses His name which is more than a name.

Exodus 3:14 LSB

14 And God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM”; and He said, “Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’”

In Hebrew this is Ehyeh Asher Ehyeh

This is literally the verb to be without an ending. When someone asks me my name I say I am Antonio. If I just said I am, there is a waiting for me to end the sentence. When God calls Himself he says “I AM” which denotes no ending. So God answers the way anyone starts to answer but then He simply repeats the verb.

So when people refer to Him they would just use that same verb to be but in the third person, also without an ending “He is” Now “Asher” is such a broad word

who

which

that

what

where

when

so that / in order that

It is like God i saying I AM beyond your comprehension.  Or I AM whatever I AM cause you cannot get it.

“I AM who I AM — you can’t define Me.”

“I AM what I AM — I don’t fit your categories.”

“I AM that I AM — I am self-existent and unchanging.”

“I AM beyond your comprehension — I will be what I will be.”

This is the God who was, who is, and who will be. Centuries later, Jesus picks up this very name when He says in John 8:58: “Before Abraham was, I AM.” The crowd knew exactly what He meant—He was claiming to be the very God who spoke to Moses from the burning bush.

This open concept of God, HE IS denotes something that remains the same always. This is why the writer of Hebrews says that.

Hebrews 13:8 LSB

8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.

I want you to see how “I am” is used by the different characters in this narrative so far.

Pharaoh says, “I am Pharaoh”

Moses say, “I am not”

God says, “I AM”

Application

So what does this mean for us? God’s call always begins with worship. Before He sends you out, He brings you to holy ground. He calls you to take off your sandals, to recognize His holiness. Leviticus 19:2 says, “You shall be holy, for I the LORD your God am holy.” God’s holiness demands reverence, obedience, and trust.

And here’s the takeaway for Moses—and for us: when you say, “I am not enough,” God answers, “I AM.” His sufficiency swallows your excuses. His holiness outshines your weakness. The question is not who you are—it is who He is.

III. God Confronts Excuses With His Presence and Power (4:13)

After God reveals His name, Moses still resists. In Exodus 4:1 he says: “What if they will not believe me or listen to what I say?” He begins the first of a series of excuses. Although I get it. He would sound like some crazy person talking about God appeard to me and told me. Hmm there are a lot of crazy people walking around today saying the same thing. So this was legit. And God had no problem resolving this. In fact, from here all the way to the Messiah and apostles, God will validate the messenger by giving him power to do some unnatural things. Jesus himself appealed to this when he said

John 10:37–38 LSB

37 “If I do not do the works of My Father, do not believe Me; 38 but if I do them, though you do not believe Me, believe the works, so that you may know and continue knowing that the Father is in Me, and I in the Father.”

Signs were never about spectacle, always about pointing to God’s authority. The signs where about God’s signature stating this is from ME so listen.

So, God answers Moses by giving him three signs: the staff that becomes a serpent (4:3–4), the leprous hand healed (4:6–7), and water from the Nile turned to blood (4:9). These signs prove that Moses comes with divine authority, not his own.

But Moses protests again this time this not because of credibility but ability. In 4:10 he says: “Please, Lord, I have never been eloquent… I am slow of speech and slow of tongue.” He is convinced his weakness disqualifies him. Jeremiah said the same thing

“I do not know how to speak… But the LORD said, ‘Do not be afraid, for I am with you.’” (Jeremiah 1:6-8)

God’s answer is firm: “Who has made man’s mouth? Or who makes him mute or deaf, seeing or blind? Is it not I, Yahweh? Now then go, and I, even I, will be with your mouth” (Ex. 4:11–12). The God who creates speech will provide speech.

2 Corinthians 3:5 LSB

5 Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to consider anything as coming from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God,

Finally, Moses says in 4:13: “Please, Lord, send someone else.” In other words, “ok Lord you got me, I do not have a valid reason, I just don’t wanna”. The text says the anger of Yahweh burned against Moses, yet even in anger God shows mercy, providing Aaron as a helper.

Excuses are rooted in unbelief, not humility. Humility says, “I can’t, but God can.” Unbelief says, “I can’t, and not even God can through me.”

God’s presence and power always answer our weakness. The whole pattern of Scripture is God working through inadequate servants: Gideon, Jeremiah, Peter, Paul. Are you weak? Good, this makes you qualified

“My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness.” (2 Corinthians 12:9)

Application

Stop making excuses. If God has called you to serve, He will equip you. The question is not your ability but your availability.

God confronts our excuses with His presence: “I will be with your mouth.” That promise still stands for us when we speak the gospel, share our faith, or step into uncomfortable obedience.

Excuses are not humility; they are unbelief. Humility says, “I can’t, but God can.” Unbelief says, “I can’t, and God won’t.” God still answers our excuses with His presence: “I will be with your mouth.” That promise is yours when you speak the gospel, step into uncomfortable obedience, or follow His call. So where are you saying, “Send someone else”? And will you trust the God who made your mouth, your life, and your circumstances?

Challenge: Where are you telling God, “Send someone else”? How might God be calling you to trust Him, not yourself?