We Need People

Scripture:
Exodus 4:13-16 ESV
“13But he said, "Oh, my Lord, please send someone else." 14Then the anger of the Lord was kindled against Moses and he said, "Is there not Aaron, your brother, the Levite? I know that he can speak well. Behold, he is coming out to meet you, and when he sees you, he will be glad in his heart. 15You shall speak to him and put the words in his mouth, and I will be with your mouth and with his mouth and will teach you both what to do. 16He shall speak for you to the people, and he shall be your mouth, and you shall be as God to him.”

Devo:
When Moses was overwhelmed with inadequacy, completely unconvinced that he was able to do what God called him to, God didn’t give up on him. Instead, he sent Aaron. Moses was terrified of public speaking to the point that although the living God spoke audibly to him, commissioning him to speak, to save his people, Moses bowed to his fear instead of the living God.

For Christians today, there are a thousand reasons we can think of to talk ourselves out of the call of God. One reason being that we aren’t sure that’s what he wants us to do. Our lack of hearing the clear voice of God the way Moses did is only one barrier keeping us from obedience. Moses didn’t have that excuse - he heard God’s voice loud and clear, but he still thought of other excuses to get him out of his call.

The beautiful part of this story is that although Moses wanted to remain lying in his ashes, God continued to lead him towards beauty. For Moses, the voice that told him he couldn’t - the voice that told him he was not enough - spoke louder than the voice of even God. It’s easy to look down on Moses for this; it’s easy for us to say “wow, you had God speaking audibly to you, and still, you did not live up to your calling.” But don’t we do the same? We have something much similar to God’s audible voice; we have the Holy Spirit living and breathing inside of us, and he is there to guide us. Yet when God calls us we act like we “just aren’t sure” or “he just wasn’t clear enough.” The spirit of God is there to help us. I would argue that like Moses, for us, that is just another excuse among a thousand others which prevents us from obeying the call of God. This excuse-making, I believe, is for the same reason Moses made excuses: we live in fear.

God calls us to so much more than a life of fear. He’s given us a spirit of love, power, and self-control as it says in 2 Timothy 1:7. He’s called and commissioned each one of us to specific tasks we are meant to live out in this life. He created us for good works, he planned these things before we breathed our first breath!

The good news is that we love and serve a God of grace. And that grace and love is made manifest more times than not through people; through discipleship. God gave us the body of Christ; the church; brothers and sisters to carry us when our fear is crippling us from doing the things we were created to do. This part is important - Satan will instill a fear into you that comes the most intensely when you are doing exactly what God wants you to do. But this fear and doubt makes us feel like we’re doing the exact opposite; like we shouldn’t be here, we aren’t good enough, or someone else could do it better. Grace comes in to this part so beautifully: even when we are so caught up in the belief that we are not enough, to the point that it is crippling; even when we, like Moses, refuse our calling and refuse to speak, that calling is not taken away. We are simply graced, at that point, by people who will lift us up and aid us in those areas we have not yet grown into. Aaron was this aid to Moses, he displayed this grace and help by speaking for him when Moses was so deathly afraid of it that he was willing to run away from what the living God commissioned him in.

People are important to your walk with God. Discipleship is crucial. It’s crucial to walk your Christian life with more components than just you and God. You will try to run away at some point, like most great characters in the Bible have before you. People are one of the main ways God will pull you back. You need encouragement from people, so that the fear which tries to immobilize you in your God-given call will dissipate. We need people because it’s our nature to run away, to stop believing in ourselves, to convince ourselves we are not good enough. To function in this world in the precise position God has called you to, you need people to pull you back in. You need discipleship. You need Aaron for the day you start acting like Moses. God will provide you with these relationships, be open to them. Steward them faithfully and lovingly. We need community far more than we realize at times.

Questions:
  1. Are you being discipled?
  2. Are you discipling others?
  3. What is one specific thing God is calling you to which you’ve blocked out because of fear?
  4. What is one of the most powerful ways you’ve been discipled which you can replicate and use to disciple others?