Speak!

"Then Moses said to the Lord, 'Please Lord, I have never been eloquent, neither recently nor in time past, nor since you have spoken to Your servant; for I am slow of speech and slow of tongue'."--Exodus 4:10.  This is excuse number 3 as to why Moses does not think he is the man for the job to bring the Israelites out of Egypt.  Moses says he is not an eloquent speaker.  Him being slow of tongue according to one commentary may mean that he had a speech defect, he was heavy of tongue, lost his fluency in the Egyptian language, or he simply felt inadequate as a speaker.  Whatever the case might be, Moses didn't think he could do it.  God's response.  In Exodus 4:11-12 we find quite simply that God will be Moses' mouth. But Moses still gives one more excuse that we will look at tomorrow. But God's point is to tell Moses go and SPEAK!

Speak.  Public speaking is known to be people's number one fear and death is actually #2! You think about this, what this means is that at a funeral, you would rather be in the casket than doing the eulogy. This is a joke :-).  But back to my point.  Consider the image above.  What if it was  you standing in front of that microphone getting ready to speak to that crowd of people in the background of the image.  Would you do it? How would this make you feel? Nervous? Uncomfortable?  

Speak.  Well this must have been the way Moses was feeling.  He would have to go in front of what was then the leader of the most powerful nation of the known world asking him to give up what ended up being the backbone of Egypt's economy, the nation of Israel that if you will remember moved into town when Joseph was second in command under Pharaoh during the famine.  

Speak.  Another factor contributing to Moses' apparent fear was most likely the fact that when he left Egypt, he had killed an Egyptian official for abusing a Hebrew slave. Talk about leaving on a bad note. We can't really blame Moses for being nervous.  

Speak.  The point is though, God tells Moses to go. What Moses fails to recognize is that God is greater than any fear or disability he might have. God is greater than the leader of the most powerful nation on earth and in reality it would not be Moses speaking anyway. It would be God speaking through Moses based on Exodus 4:12.  

Speak.  So what does this mean to us? Well again, consider the image above. What if you were the only Christian in that room and all the people in the background were all lost souls who needed to hear the gospel message? Their souls are in your hands. It is your responsibility to bring them "out of Egypt." This is what God has chosen us for. To SPEAK in order to bring others "out of Egypt!" 

Speak.  We may get nervous. Believe me I still do every time I get up to preach or even talk to people one on one about the gospel.  We may not even consider ourselves to be good speakers.  Whatever the case, our responsibility is still the same. Why? Because God is our mouth when we speak the words found in the pages of Scripture, His inspired word. We must study to make sure what we speak is accurate but it is GOD'S WORD, not ours when we share the gospel message. 

Speak. So my encouragement to you is this.  If you are among those who would rather not speak in public, remember that God is with you when you choose to deliver His word. I encourage you to seek an opportunity to share God's Word with a lost soul or with your brethren in Christ from the pulpit, whether it's a sermon or just a few words before the Lord's Supper. 

Speak.  Finally, remember the power is in God's Word, not ours. 

SPEAK! PRAY ABOUT IT! LOVE Y'ALL! GOD BLESS!