Moses said to the LORD, “Pardon your servant, Lord. I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since you have spoken to your servant. I am slow of speech and tongue.”
—EXODUS 4:10
Insecurities. We all have them.
These qualities about ourselves that make us lack confidence or assurance can be a positive call to action to make healthy changes in our lives.
But insecurities can also hold us back from stepping into the assignments God calls us to.
That’s exactly what happened in the place where we find Moses in our key verse today.
Moses knew with absolute certainty what God was calling Him to do. God had confirmed it by speaking to him audibly through a burning bush telling him, “to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt” (Exodus 3:10).
And Moses knew exactly what to say, what God planned to do, that God would be with him, and that God would provide for them with plunder from the Egyptians.
So, what could possibly hold him back when things seemed so very clear?
It was the same thing that might be holding you and me back at times.
Moses doubted God had created him for the calling God gave him.
In Exodus 4:10 Moses says to the Lord, “Pardon your servant, Lord. I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since you have spoken to your servant. I am slow of speech and tongue.”
The exact way God made you is in keeping with how He will use you.
The Lord comes back with very strong words to Moses, “Who gave human beings their mouths? . . . Now go; I will help you speak and will teach you what to say” (vv. 11–12).
When we doubt we have what it takes for us to do what God calls us to do, we are doubting His creative abilities. He knew from the beginning of time what He would call you to do and therefore how you would need to be formed. God does everything with purpose and precision.
The exact way He made you is in keeping with how He will use you.
Trust this. Embrace this. Even if you don’t know all the details of your calling quite yet, thank God for making you perfectly equipped for your assignments ahead.
And when insecurities start to make you doubt, flip it around and say, “God, I may doubt myself. But I will not doubt You. So, I will let Your perfection override my feelings of imperfection and do what You instruct me.”
Heavenly Father, I confess that all too often I doubt I have what it takes to do the things You have called me to do. Remind me I have been perfectly equipped for the assignments You have given me. Help me not to doubt or compare. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.