When You Don’t Want to Answer God’s Call on Your Life

God placed a specific call on your life because He trusts you. However, when we doubt God’s judgment in choosing us for the call, we’ll respond with hesitation and fear instead of boldness and faith. In today’s video, learn 3 ways you can trust God with His call on your life so you can effectively answer that call with confidence. Enjoy!

When you ask someone to do something, the last thing you want from them is an excuse. This, however, is exactly what Moses gives to God when God asked him to leave his life as a shepherd, go back to Egypt, and lead His people out of slavery. 

As we look at the excuses Moses gives in Exodus chapters 3 and 4, we’ll see that they are not that different from the excuses we often give when God calls us. Still, for every excuse Moses offered, God has an answer. 

1st Excuse: I’m Not Enough?

First, Moses asks God, “Who is he to lead the Israelites out of slavery?” Moses had lost his confidence in himself and felt he was unfit for the job. The reason Moses left Egypt in the first place was that he killed an Egyptian whom he saw harming an Israelite. He always wanted to help his people, He just went about it the wrong way. Now that he has an opportunity to do so in the power of God and not in his own strength, he is too ashamed of himself to accept the call. 

But God did not coddle Moses and tell him how great he was to encourage him to answer the call. God’s response was “I will be with you.” (Exodus 3:12) Essentially, God is saying it doesn’t matter who you are, what matters more is that God is with Him. 

Often, we allow doubt to delay us from answering God’s call because we’re too focused on ourselves. As we remember our past mistakes, failures, and inadequacies, we talk ourselves out of our purposeful positions. But God knows what He gave you and what He didn’t give you. He knows what’s in your past and what’s not in your past. He knows what you’ve done and what you haven’t done and what’s been done to you, and He’s still calling you anyways, not because of who you are, but because of who He is. He can use any purpose, situation, or circumstance to do as He pleases. So if we want to answer God’s call with boldness, we need to take the focus off ourselves and place it back on God. 

2nd Excuse: Who Are You, God?

To answer Moses’ first excuse, God assures Moses He will be with him, so the second excuse Moses gives God is summarized in the question, “Who are You?” Moses is unsure how to let the Israelites know that it is God who sent him, because he’s like, well, who is this God? Moses asks, “what should I say when the people ask who sent me?”

To this, God responds, “I am who I am,” (Exodus 3:14 ESV) period. In short, this means the God Moses was talking to was not some other little “g” god, like the many other gods in Egypt. The God Moses was called by was the One and only God who created and ruled all. God explained to Moses that yes, He is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; the God of their ancestors, but He first introduces Himself as the “I Am.” The eternal, sovereign, omniscient, creator God of all. So it’s not a matter of determining which god sent Moses, but that God, the One and only God Almighty, sent him. 

Moses had to understand that the God sending him had the authority and power to back up his call. We, too, have to understand that whatever it is that God has called us to do, as our source, He has the authority and power to see it through. So we’re not answering in our own strength, we are walking in the authority that God has given us when we answer His call on our lives. Now how much more confidence and boldness would we walk in if we truly understood that we’re not doing this because we think it’s a good idea, or it just feels like the right thing to do, but that we are in alignment with the power and authority of God? 

3rd Excuse: What Will People Think?

The third excuse Moses gave God had nothing to do with himself or God, but his insecurity in how the people he was called to rescue would respond to him. He asks God, what if he goes back to Egypt to tell the Israelites that God called him to release them from slavery, and they don’t believe him? This excuse was rooted in the fear of people. Moses was afraid of how the people would respond to him. Once again, God graciously responds to Moses and gives him the ability to perform signs and wonders to get the people to believe him. The truth is that it was Moses’ job to lead the Israelites out of Egypt, and he would need influence over them because he would need their cooperation. Still, God could move the hearts of the people to do what He needed them to do. Proverbs 16:7 says:

“When a man's ways please the Lord, he makes even his enemies to be at peace with him.” (Proverbs 16:7 ESV)

God can give you influence and favor with people, especially when it’s necessary for answering His call. God was not worried about how the Israelites would respond, Moses was. As long as we’re being obedient, we don’t need to fear man because God can handle that too. It’s more important for us to fear God. Proverbs 29:25 says:

“Fearing people is a dangerous trap, but trusting the LORD means safety.” (Proverbs 29:25 NLT)

And Galatians 1:10 asks:

“For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ.” (Galatians 1:10 ESV)

THE FINAL STRAW

So God has addressed all of Moses’ excuses, but Moses is not satisfied. So he goes back to excuse one about him being inadequate for the call, but he goes into more detail this time. He explains that he’s not an eloquent speaker and has a speech impediment, to which God responds that He is the One who gives us our mouths and that He will help Moses to speak. 

Still, not enough for Moses, he finally expresses how he really feels by saying:

“Oh, my Lord, please send someone else.” (Exodus 4:12 ESV)

That’s what all Moses’ excuses were really about. He just didn’t want to do it. I’m sure Moses still wanted the Israelites to be free, he just didn’t want to be the one to do it. Now as patient as God had been in this entire conversation, He’s now angry with Moses because Moses was essentially saying, “God You made the wrong choice,” but God doesn’t do anything wrong. God was not wrong or mistaken to call Moses and He was not wrong or mistaken to call you. He made no mistake when He gave you your purpose. Our excuses reveal our shortcomings, not His.

His graciousness, even while angry, God accommodated Moses. He assigned Moses’ brother Aaron to speak to the people for Moses and serve as his mouth. Finally, Moses set out to answer God’s call and he does go on to lead God’s people to freedom. Are you having a similar conversation with God? Are you bringing more doubt than belief? More insecurity than boldness in the One who called you? More fear than faith? The only cure for your excuses is to stop looking at yourself and look to the all-powerful, sovereign, promise-keeping, gracious God that called you.

To help you learn even more about how to confidently answer God’s call on your life, I invite you to join our next Bible study series titled “Crazy or Called” as we look at the lives of ten ordinary people in the Bible called to extraordinary purposes. If you’re ready to find the boldness to confidently answer God’s call on your life, join now for free and get the study guide to follow along by visiting the links in the description of this video.

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As always, thank you so much for watching, and until next time, be beautiful, be blessed, and be loved.