No Excuse

But Moses asked God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and that I should bring the Israelites out of Egypt?” He answered, “I will certainly be with you, and this will be the sign to you that I have sent you: when you bring the people out of Egypt, you will all worship God at this mountain.” (Exodus 3:11,12)

The Lord God has a plan for each one of his people. His plan includes missions to carry out and responsibilities to fulfill. He does not have the exact same plan for everyone. When God issues marching orders, they correspond to the gifts he has given to the individual and the work that he wants to accomplish through that person.

Moses was ordered to personally go to Pharaoh to announce that the Israelites would leave Egypt under his leadership. Moses’ response was, “Who am I?” He was saying that he was not equal to the task. He was offering an excuse. God countered with the words: “I certainly will be with you.” He backed up those words of assurance by giving Moses a glimpse of the future. Moses had no excuse. Neither do we.

One of the greatest missions we can receive is to be a parent, to be responsible for the protection, nurture, and development of a child. Parents are charged with the task of being faithful to their assignment. It is not an easy job. It is tempting to say, “Who am I?” making the excuse that parenting is beyond our ability.

On Father’s Day we especially think of the serious responsibility God has assigned to fathers as the servant-leader of the family. If our grandfathers thought it was difficult to carry out that assignment years ago, how much more difficult in the world of today? But, difficulty is no excuse. Neither are personal inadequacies. As he said to Moses, so our God says to fathers today: “I will certainly be with you.” We have no excuse. What we do have is a promise! And that divine promise is more than enough to enable us to carry out our mission – successfully!