But Moses said to the Lord, “Oh, my Lord, I am not eloquent, either in the past or since you have spoken to your servant, but I am slow of speech and of tongue.” Then the Lord said to him, “Who has made man's mouth? Who makes him mute, or deaf, or seeing, or blind? Is it not I, the Lord? Now therefore go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall speak.” But he said, “Oh, my Lord, please send someone else.” Then 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. You 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.
-Exodus 4:10-13
In the book of Exodus, God appears to Moses in the form of a burning bush. He gives Moses the mission of being his representative and setting his people free from slavery.
And so the story goes that Moses joyfully agrees with total confidence in the plan of God. He waltzes into Egypt and immediately explains the power of his God and demands that Pharaoh let his people go.
Wrong.
That may be how Moses wished the story went looking back, but in reality, his first response to God’s calling was not obedience. His reaction was to be filled with fear and doubt. He begins by saying to God, “But behold, they will not believe me or listen to my voice, for they will say, ‘The Lord did not appear to you.’”
Yet God responds by showing Moses the mighty wonders of his power through the transformation of his staff into a serpent and the appearance and healing of leprosy on Moses’s hand. Even after these great signs, Moses continues to find excuses for why he was not the right choice.
So what does God do? Does He simply say, “Forget you Moses, I’ll pick someone else!”
No, He doesn’t. God remains faithful to Moses while giving him the lesson that no matter what fears we may have about going where God calls us, He will always find a way for His will to be done. He brings in his brother Aaron to speak on his behalf and ultimately to help Moses find his own voice.
This story is relevant to many of us today. You may recognize the importance of using your business as an extension of your faith, but that does not dismiss the fact that it is not always easy to share your faith with those in the workplace. It can bring about fears of unworthiness and deficiency as we struggle with finding the right words to say or actions to take.
Just remember that you are not alone. Not only is a great father of the faith with you but so are countless other business leaders across the world. So let’s take a look at struggles you may experience in the face of this calling and how God promises to walk alongside you.
For many, the fear of saying the right thing to a coworker is only multiplied when the subject matter is your faith. It can be awkward to talk to someone about something that they either don’t understand or hold an opposing view toward.
However, what does God promise to Moses? “I will be with your mouth and with his mouth and will teach you both what to do.” God provides words when we cannot find them and people around us to speak the truth when we do not know how.
God was not asking Moses to save the people from slavery with just his words, He asked Moses to relay the message that “I AM” (Yahweh) would be the one doing the saving. Which is a great reminder that our words will never save anyone. They won’t save anyone at home and they won’t save anyone in the workplace.
What our words can do, though, is point people to the one who can save them. That is what God is calling us to do in our workplaces. Not to redeem, but to point to the Redeemer.
This is where we see God get fired up at Moses. Yet it is not because of Moses’s fear that God is angered, but in his lack of trust. Oftentimes we make “obedience” and “understanding” into inseparable terms. God wouldn’t ask us to do something we don’t understand, right?
Have you ever told your child, or seen someone tell their child, not to do something? It’s usually met with a look of, “Well, why not?”
Yet, there is an inherent understanding that the parent knows something they do not, and by telling them to obey, they are looking out for the good of the child. Whether the child “gets it” or not is beside the point.
We must sometimes put ourselves in the position of the child when it comes to acting with obedience toward God’s calling in our lives. Though we may not understand why God has chosen us to do his will, we are still expected to obey and trust that God will stay faithful to the promise of Romans 8:28, “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”
There is a liberation that comes with surrendering our fears to God. Freedom comes in knowing that our efforts to extend our faith in the workplace are not done in vain. Whether you choose to pray over a meeting, start a Bible study, or simply offer the opportunity for someone else to share their struggles, you are acting in obedience to God’s calling.
When Moses finally humbled himself enough to follow God’s command in faith, we see that he became one of God’s greatest servants, leading the people out of Egypt and into the Promised Land. Not because he was so eloquent that everyone followed him, but because he was faithful to trust in God’s promise.
For if God knows the number of hairs on our heads and the grains of sand on the ocean shore, surely He knows what He’s doing when he chooses to use you and your business for his glory.
