Context No. 2998 of 4322 · Exodus

Exodus 4:7-12: in context

7He said, “Put your hand inside your cloak again.” He put his hand inside his cloak again, and when he took it out of his cloak, behold, it had turned again as his other flesh. 8“It will happen, if they will not believe you or listen to the voice of the first sign, that they will believe the voice of the latter sign. 9It will happen, if they will not believe even these two signs or listen to your voice, that you shall take of the water of the river, and pour it on the dry land. The water which you take out of the river will become blood on the dry land.” 10Moses said to the LORD, “O Lord, I am not eloquent, neither before now, nor since you have spoken to your servant; for I am slow of speech, and of a slow tongue.” 11The LORD said to him, “Who made man’s mouth? Or who makes one mute, or deaf, or seeing, or blind? Isn’t it I, the LORD? 12Now therefore go, and I will be with your mouth, and teach you what you shall speak.”

God has given Moses signs to confirm his call, but Moses keeps protesting: O Lord, I am not eloquent; I am slow of speech and slow of tongue. He hides behind his weakness as a reason he cannot possibly serve. And God's answer cuts straight through it: who made man's mouth? Who makes anyone mute or deaf, seeing or blind? Is it not I, the LORD?

The reply is bracing. The God who made the mouth is not limited by the weakness of any mouth, and indeed he makes people as they are for his own purposes. The call is not, you are eloquent enough, but, now go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what to say. God does not usually remove our weakness before he uses us; he promises his presence within it. My sense of inadequacy is not a disqualification when the very God who made me pledges to go with me and give me the words.

When I plead my inadequacy as a reason not to obey God, do I hear his answer: I made you, and I will be with you?

Sources

Exodus 4:12: "Now therefore go, and I will be with your mouth, and teach you what you shall speak."
2 Corinthians 12:9: "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness."
Jeremiah 1:7: "Don't say, I am a child; for you must go to whoever I send you, and you must say whatever I command you."