Out of Excuses

Context

Moses is eighty, herding someone else's sheep on the back side of a desert. Forty years earlier he was Egyptian royalty with a Hebrew secret. He killed a man, panicked, and ran. Now he's a fugitive shepherd, and the loudest thing in his life is wind.

Then a bush catches fire and won't burn up. He walks over. And God tells him the next chapter is confronting Pharaoh and walking two million enslaved people out of Egypt.

Story

Moses has four objections lined up like he rehearsed them in the shower. Who am I? God says, I'll be with you. Okay, but who are YOU, what's your name? God says, I AM. Tell them I AM sent you.

What if they don't believe me? God turns a staff into a snake and back, makes Moses's hand leprous and heals it. Three signs, custom-built, on the spot. Moses is still standing there.

Then the closer. I have never been eloquent. I'm slow of speech. This is the part where you can hear God exhale, because Moses isn't asking anymore. He's just saying no with extra steps.

So Moses, somehow, hits him with one more. Please, send someone else. That's when scripture says God's anger burns. Not at the fear. At the eighth no dressed up as the seventh excuse.

What We Learn

Every one of Moses's excuses was true. He wasn't qualified. He didn't know God's name. He wasn't a public speaker. They weren't lies, they were facts. And God answered every single one before getting frustrated.

What burned the bush wasn't the questioning. It was running out of real objections and still saying no.

• Maybe the thing you're dodging isn't waiting for you to feel ready.

• Maybe it's just waiting for you to run out of reasons.