But Moses said, “O Lord, please send someone else to do it.” (Exodus 4:13, NIV)
The principle is disturbingly simple. If you don’t enter the tournament, you can’t win.
God had something big for Moses to do; Moses wanted no part of it.Not entering is the quickest, most pain-free way to disqualify yourself from a shot at the trophy. Then again, it’s also the easiest way to avoid the demands of a competitive round, the frustration of bad play, the discouragement of a poor result, and the derision of your so-called friends. In other words, if you don’t want to enter, I don’t blame you!
Fear of failure may be the most common reason behind a lack of effort when we’re made to try and a lack of participation when we get to choose for ourselves. When failure might come with injury or embarrassment, the possible consequences win out over any hope for accomplishment, let alone glory.
Maybe this helps us understand what was going through Moses’ head when an amazing encounter with God before a burning bush turned into a commissioning ceremony. God had something big for Moses to do; Moses wanted no part of it.
It’s one thing to sign up to play in a pro-am with Lydia Ko. Everyone knows the “ams” in those events are just Average Joes. No one expects much of them. But what if Lydia tracked down your number and invited you to be her partner in a real event—the kind with TV coverage and a big gallery surrounding each green? A lot of us would pull a Moses: “You know, Lydia, how about someone else? I’m suddenly quite busy that weekend.” We just wouldn’t care to have our game exposed like that!
What we would be forgetting with such a declination is that Ko is the best player in the world. She could carry us singlehandedly. Our best ball might be her ball alone, but what a very good ball that would be!
When we open the pages of Scripture and read some of the things God asks of us, we are comfortable enough with this one or that. But when we land upon the word to do something ill-fitting—evangelism, perhaps? mercy-giving? teaching?—we find ourselves tempted to be like Moses. We backpedal so fast that our hems can’t keep up with our haws. In that hour, we must look to the one who is asking us to partner with him. It is God himself. He can carry us.
—
Jeff Hopper
May 19, 2017
Copyright 2017 Links Players International
The Links Daily Devotional appears Monday-Friday at www.linksplayers.com.
Other devotions in this series:
– Are You Qualified? 1: The Nature of Qualifiers
– Are You Qualified? 2: How Sin Disqualifies Us
– Are You Qualified? 4: Qualified by Salvation
– Are You Qualified? 5: Qualified by God’s Calling
– Are You Qualified? 6: Qualified by God’s Equipping
– Are You Qualified? 7: Qualified by God’s Presence
– Are You Qualified? 8: Qualified by the Spirit