Hiding Behind Our Inadequacies

Children play the game Hide and Seek. The object of the game is to have one person count to ten while everyone else hides. The person counting must then try to find the person(s) that are hiding. To some degree, this is the same game we play when the Lord calls us to go or calls us to do. We hide from the Lord, but He always seeks us out. Isn’t it funny how “you can run, but you cannot hide?” 

Today I have been reading Chapters 3 and 4 of Exodus and the encounter with the Burning Bush. As many of you know I thought Moses was a whiner last year in my post “Moses was a Whiner, Are You? It is always interesting how you read a passage of scripture and have a thought about it, only to read it again later and see the passage differently. Don’t get me wrong, I still think Moses was a whiner, but now I understand more clearly why he was so hesitant to assume the responsibilities of the Lord’s leading to guide His people out of Egypt and into the land of milk and honey.

¹⁰ So now, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt.”

¹¹ But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?”

¹² And God said, “I will be with you. And this will be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you^[a] will worship God on this mountain.” (Exodus 3:10-12)

Pay attention to what Moses is asking in verse 11. He is afraid that he is not the man for the job, but God answers him with certainty in the next verse. Moses has received God’s assurance that He will be with him. You might ask yourself, why isn’t that enough? Think about this. Has God ever called you for an assignment that caused you to doubt your ability even though you knew that the Lord was with you? Moses is just like us, afraid and feeling inadequate to fulfill God’s calling. Perhaps, he felt so inadequate that he feared embarrassing God, but he also feared rejection.

¹³ Moses said to God, “Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ Then what shall I tell them?”

¹⁴ God said to Moses, “I Am Who I Am.^[b] This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I Am has sent me to you.’”

¹⁵ God also said to Moses, “Say to the Israelites, ‘The Lord,^[c] the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob—has sent me to you.’

Moses doesn’t immediately go out and complete his assignment even with God’s assurance. He allows his fear of inadequacies to nearly cripple him as he becomes a prisoner in his own mind because he thought that the people would not listen to him or take him seriously due to his lack of eloquent public speaking and stuttering. Again, the Lord assures Moses and gives him the directive to say “I Am Who I Am” when the people ask who sent him. When you are called, do you stop to say or think that “The Lord our God, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob” has sent me? Perhaps if we did, we may not be so hesitant to respond affirmatively. We can’t afford to hide behind any of our flaws or feelings of inadequacy because the assignment is not about us. Understand this; it’s all about the Lord. It is NOT about you. It is about looking forward and bringing glory to God’s kingdom. This is why we must be careful and cognizant of how we respond.

Just because we are fearful, shy, feel less than, or downright uncomfortable, we cannot ignore God’s voice and take on a cancel culture mentality. I hesitate to think that if I cried out to the Lord and He chose to cancel me… Hiding behind our inadequacies is our own fear that traps us into thinking that there is nothing we can do for the Lord. This train of thought is unacceptable. Remember, just as God provided for Moses in his assignment, God is with you and will supply resources in your assignment!

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