Fear Not

Moses said to the LORD, "Oh, my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither 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 made man's mouth? Who made 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..." (Exodus 4:10-13)

Moses, a courageous hero of the faith, doubted the LORD. He doubted His supreme control - that He actually knew what He was doing. When the LORD planned to bring the Israelites out of bondage in Egypt, He chose Moses. For His own glory, He chose to use a man who had a speech hindrance to speak to Pharaoh and be the means of God's deliverance to His people.

The angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph... And the virgin's name was Mary. And he came to her and said, "Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you!" But she was greatly troubled... And the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to Him the throne of His father David, and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end." And Mary said to the angel, "How can this be, since I am a virgin?" And the angel said to her, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the Child to be born will be called Holy-- the Son of God... For nothing is impossible with God." And Mary said, "Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word." (Luke 1:26-38)

Mary, a young girl with a servant's heart, had found favor in the eyes of her Maker: He chose her to be the mother of the Son of God. That was a pretty big responsibility. From that moment on, her life would be forever changed. But the angel told her not to be afraid: God would be with her.

How about us? How will we respond when God gives us an important role to fill? 

Will we be remembered as Moses: doubting God's greatness to fulfill His purpose in us?

Maybe like Mary, who although was afraid, trusted that God knew what He was doing?

Will we eagerly say alongside Isaiah, "Here am I! Send me." (Isaiah 6:8)?

Sure, it will be scary. Yes, we are greatly inadequate. But remember:

Consider your calling brethren; not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even the things that are not, to bring to nothing the things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. And because of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that, as it is written, "Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord." (1 Corinthians 1:26-31)

God still has the power to work miracles. For some reason, modern day, first-world believers forget that we are not the exception. Maybe we're not 'wise according to worldly standards' or 'powerful' or of 'noble birth'. We might beg the excuse like Moses that we aren't good speakers. But God can still use us, even when we are weak in ourselves.

Let's learn from the grimace-inducing words that Bob Kauflin learned from a friend:

"You're not hopeless enough. If you were really hopeless, you'd stop trusting in yourself and what you can do and start trusting in what Jesus accomplished for you at the cross."

We need to be hopeless so we learn to fully thrust ourselves to the foot of the cross. When we fear, let us trust. Interestingly enough, 'fear not' is mentioned 365 times throughout the Bible; one for every day of our solar year. God isn't a God of coincidences; He is a God of providence. (See the earlier post titled: Providence)

"Do not fear, only believe." (Mark 5:36)

"Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand." (Isaiah 41:10)

"Obey My voice, and do according to all that I command you; so that you shall be My people, and I will be your God." (Jeremiah 11:4)

<3 Berea