Letting Go of Excuses
By Michael Youssef, Ph.D.
Read Exodus 3:1-17.
Forty years can really change a person, especially when those forty years are largely spent in solitude, watching sheep. The Moses we meet in Exodus 3 is different than the Moses of Exodus 2. Back then, he was powerful, confident, and self-righteous. Now, he’s humble, broken, and content with a quiet life far from the palace of Pharaoh.
Just when it seems Moses is finally making peace with the direction his life has taken, God shows up and tells him to go back to Egypt; His people are in need of rescue. Moses had once appointed himself the deliverer of God’s people. But now, at the burning bush, God is appointing him deliverer, and ironically, Moses doesn’t want to go. He makes excuses—four times!
Reading between the lines, it’s as if Moses was saying, “Egypt? I’m finally able to hear the word Egypt without shivering—and you want me to go back?” But God intended to reopen Moses’ old wound in order to clean it up. You see, when a wound closes with the infection still inside, it will keep festering. So God will often open our closed wounds to clean them out and give us complete healing.
Is God calling you to something you thought you had left behind forever? Remember this: God wants to bring you healing. You can trust Him.
Prayer: Lord, I know I can trust You. You are working for my good. Thank You for Your great love—may it give me courage and confidence to face the trials You bring me for my healing and transformation. I pray in the name of Jesus. Amen.
“But Moses said to God, ‘Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?’” (Exodus 3:11).
Learn more in Dr. Michael Youssef’s sermon series Moses: Portrait of a Hero: LISTEN NOW
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