Not me, Lord

Moses said to the LORD, "O 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 LORD said to him, "Who gave man his mouth? Who makes him deaf or mute? Who gives him sight or makes him blind? Is it not I, the LORD? Now go; I will help you speak and will teach you what to say." But Moses said, "O Lord, please send someone else to do it." Then the LORD's anger burned against Moses and he said, "What about your brother, Aaron the Levite? I know he can speak well. He is already on his way to meet you, and his heart will be glad when he sees you. You shall speak to him and put words in his mouth; I will help both of you speak and will teach you what to do. He will speak to the people for you, and it will be as if he were your mouth and as if you were God to him. But take this staff in your hand so you can perform miraculous signs with it."
Exodus 4:10-17

I am amazed by this scripture. The Lord is giving Moses his commands, his will for Moses and his people. And over and over, Moses gives excuse after excuse as to why he can't do it. And rather than lashing out at Moses' faithlessness, God fixes each problem so that the mission at hand can be carried out more comfortably. I can only imagine the panic going on inside Moses as he prepares to be the leader of thousands of people relying on him. And I understand his hesitation, his begging to be taken off the job. But the Lord, though frustrated with Moses and his lack of faith, takes every problem and finds a solution for it, even though He is Lord, and Moses is not.

I find hope in this scripture for times when I am pleading with the Lord, "Not me Lord, it's too hard." In my own life, I am struggling with being somewhat of a guide for someone who has had a very similar life path to mine, and is still struggling a bit. And it's not easy. It brings up a lot of past stuff from my own life, and conflict on how I should handle certain things. And many times I have begged God, let me off the hook. Let this fizzle out so I can be comfortable in doing nothing. Of course, I could just quit. But this is not what the Lord wants from me. He put me in this person's path to teach her from my experiences. And he put someone in my path who has given me the insight and courage needed to continue my task with new strength and wisdom. He met me at the crossroads and guided me when I needed it.

The Lord is with us always. "I love those who love me, and those who seek me find me." Proverbs 8:17 He is my comfort, my grace. He is my courage and my strength. When I can't find the words, he gives them to me. When I feel judged and ridiculed, he reminds me of his love. He is never far from me, always surrounding me, constantly blessing me. I am thankful every day because of his love. And I am amazed at how freely he gives it, all we need to do is seek him, and he is there.