Finding Your Voice

Absolutely — here it is:

Finding Your Voice in God

Text: Exodus 3:7–15 (NKJV)

Introduction

On the backside of the desert, an eighty-year-old shepherd stood before a bush that burned but was not consumed. And out of that fire, God spoke:

"And the LORD said: 'I have surely seen the oppression of My people who are in Egypt, and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters, for I know their sorrows. So I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians... Come now, therefore, and I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring My people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.'" (Exodus 3:7–8, 10)

Notice something, church. God said, "I have come down to deliver them" — and in the very next breath He said, "I will send you." When God comes down to deliver, He looks for a voice. He looked for a voice in Moses. And this morning, He is looking for a voice in you.

But Moses didn't feel like a voice. He felt like a failure hiding in the wilderness. And the journey from the burning bush to the courts of Pharaoh is the journey every believer must take — the journey of finding your voice in God. I want to preach to you along three movements: Voiceless, Slow of Speech, and Finding Your Voice in God.

I. Voiceless

Before God gives a voice, there is a season of silence. Israel had been voiceless for four hundred years. They had no lobbyist in Pharaoh's court, no advocate, no platform. All they had was a groan.

"Now it happened in the process of time that the king of Egypt died. Then the children of Israel groaned because of the bondage, and they cried out; and their cry came up to God because of the bondage. So God heard their groaning, and God remembered His covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob." (Exodus 2:23–24)

Hallelujah — a groan that reaches heaven is never voiceless! God said in our text, "I have surely seen... and have heard their cry... for I know their sorrows" (Exodus 3:7). You may feel unheard by men, but you have never once been unheard by God.

And Moses himself was voiceless. Forty years earlier he had tried to speak up in his own strength — he struck down an Egyptian, and it ended in exile. Now he was a fugitive tending another man's sheep, a prince turned shepherd, a deliverer turned dropout. He named his son Gershom, saying, "I have been a stranger in a foreign land" (Exodus 2:22). That's the language of a man who believes his story is over.

Some of you know that wilderness. A failure silenced you. A season of shame took your song. The devil, that thief, loves nothing more than a silenced saint — because a church with no voice is a church with no witness. But hear me: the wilderness is not where God buries His voices. It's where He prepares them. Moses spent forty years learning the desert he would one day lead a nation through. Your silence is not wasted; it is seasoning.

And even in the voiceless season, Israel's cry "came up to God." Church, when you can't preach, groan. When you can't sing, cry. Romans 8:26 tells us the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us "with groanings which cannot be uttered." Pentecost begins where our words end.

II. Slow of Speech

Now watch what happens when God calls. The bush burns, the commission comes — and Moses starts making excuses. Listen to him:

"Then Moses said to the LORD, 'O my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither before nor since You have spoken to Your servant; but I am slow of speech and slow of tongue.'" (Exodus 4:10)

Isn't that just like us? God says, "I will send you," and we answer, "Lord, You've got the wrong one." Moses had already asked, "Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh?" (Exodus 3:11). He asked, "What shall I say to them?" (Exodus 3:13). And now he pleads a speech problem. He even said it again later: "Behold, I am of uncircumcised lips, and how shall Pharaoh heed me?" (Exodus 6:30).

But I love the Lord's answer. He doesn't send Moses to speech therapy. He doesn't tell him to fake confidence. He points Moses to the Creator of the mouth itself:

"So the LORD said to him, 'Who has made man's mouth? Or who makes the mute, the deaf, the seeing, or the blind? Have not I, the LORD? Now therefore, go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall say.'" (Exodus 4:11–12)

Underline that promise: "I will be with your mouth." Church, your voice in God was never about your eloquence — it is about His presence. The question was never "Can Moses speak?" The question was "Will God speak through Moses?" And the answer God gave to every excuse in chapter 3 and 4 was not "You are able." It was "I AM."

"And God said to Moses, 'I AM WHO I AM.' And He said, 'Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, "I AM has sent me to you."'" (Exodus 3:14)

Your qualification is not your résumé; it's your Sender. Slow of speech plus I AM equals a prophet. Stammering lips plus the fire of God equals deliverance for a nation. Don't let what you can't do talk you out of what God will do.

III. Finding Your Voice in God

Now watch this shepherd who said "I am slow of speech." Once God got hold of his mouth, Moses became one of the mightiest voices in human history. And his voice moved in three directions — and yours should too. In God, we find a voice against evil, a voice for God's people, and a voice toward heaven.

1. A Voice Against Evil — Standing Up to Pharaoh

The man who trembled at the bush walked into the most powerful throne room on earth and thundered:

"Then the LORD said to Moses, 'Rise early in the morning and stand before Pharaoh, and say to him, "Thus says the LORD God of the Hebrews: Let My people go, that they may serve Me."'" (Exodus 9:13)

No stammer in that! And when judgment was at the door, Moses declared to Pharaoh's face:

"Thus says the LORD: 'About midnight I will go out into the midst of Egypt; and all the firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die... But against none of the children of Israel shall a dog move its tongue.'" (Exodus 11:4–5, 7)

Church, a voice found in God does not whisper to wickedness — it confronts it. There are Pharaohs in this generation: addiction, oppression, every scheme of the thief who comes to steal, kill, and destroy. God is still looking for men and women who will stand before the powers of darkness and say, "Thus says the LORD — let them go!" When your voice carries "Thus says the LORD," Pharaoh's throne starts shaking.

2. A Voice for God's People — Edifying the Church

But Moses' voice didn't just tear down Egypt; it built up Israel. At the Red Sea, with the army behind and the water ahead, panic swept the camp — and one anointed voice steadied a whole nation:

"And Moses said to the people, 'Do not be afraid. Stand still, and see the salvation of the LORD, which He will accomplish for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall see again no more forever. The LORD will fight for you, and you shall hold your peace.'" (Exodus 14:13–14)

That's what a voice in God does for the church — it speaks faith into fearful hearts. Moses gathered the elders and "laid before them all these words which the LORD commanded him," and the people answered, "All that the LORD has spoken we will do" (Exodus 19:7–8). And at one hundred and twenty years old he was still edifying: "Give ear, O heavens, and I will speak... For I proclaim the name of the LORD: Ascribe greatness to our God" (Deuteronomy 32:1, 3). Saints, somebody in your world is standing at a Red Sea today. God gave you a voice to tell them, "Stand still — the LORD will fight for you!"

3. A Voice Toward Heaven — Communing with God

But the highest use of the voice Moses found was not toward Pharaoh or even Israel — it was toward God. Scripture testifies:

"So the LORD spoke to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend." (Exodus 33:11)

When Israel sinned with the golden calf, Moses' voice stood in the gap:

"Then Moses pleaded with the LORD his God, and said: 'LORD, why does Your wrath burn hot against Your people?... Turn from Your fierce wrath, and relent from this harm to Your people.'" (Exodus 32:11–12)

He even prayed, "Yet now, if You will forgive their sin — but if not, I pray, blot me out of Your book which You have written" (Exodus 32:32). That's intercession! And out of that communion came the boldest prayer in the Old Testament: "Please, show me Your glory" (Exodus 33:18). The mouth that once said "I am slow of speech" learned to talk with God like a friend.

Conclusion

Beloved, the same God who met Moses in the fire is here in the fire of the Holy Ghost. You may feel voiceless — He hears your groan. You may feel slow of speech — He says, "I will be with your mouth." But when you find your voice in God, you will stand against evil, strengthen His people, and speak face to face with the Almighty.

I AM has sent you. Come to this altar — and let God loose your tongue.