Fearful to Faithful

“The elders will listen to you.   And then you and the elders will go to the Pharaoh.  You will tell him, YAHWEH is the God of the Hebrews.  He came to us and told us to travel three days into the desert.  There we must offer sacrifices to YAHWEH our God.’ “But I know that the Pharaoh will not let you go. Only a great power will force him to let you go,  so I will use my great power against Egypt.  I will cause amazing things to happen in that land. After I do this, he will let you go. And I will cause the Egyptians to be kind to the Israelites. They will give many gifts to your people when they leave Egypt.   (Exodus 3:18-21)

When you say the name Moses, what do you think of?

Man of Faith?
Great divider of the Red Sea.
Great leader who took Israel out of Egypt.
Great law giver of the Old Testament.
Extraordinary man of God?

Moses was all of those things.  He is not someone we think of in any way as ordinary, but even Moses had some ordinary times in his life.  And even for Moses, the great man of God, it was not he who was extraordinary, but it was the God he served who did extraordinary things through Moses.

In the Bible we see Moses described as: 

A faithful servant (Hebrews 3:5)

The servant of the Lord (Deuteronomy 34:5)

Faithful in all God’s house (Numbers 12:7)

Someone who spoke with God “as a man speaks with his friend” (Exodus 33:11)

He was definitely an extraordinary man of faith.

Imagine the Situation

Ok, you have got to get this picture in your head.  You are having a conversation with the God of the Universe, the creator of everything and He is telling you how He is going to rescue your countrymen through you.  He is showing you some unbelievable miracles and you are questioning Him concerning if He has the right person, or if it doesn’t go as God is expecting?

What are you thinking Moses!

But that is just the thing. When we are afraid sometimes, we stop thinking. Moses is focused on his fears and his fears are hindering him from doing what God is leading him to do.

Fear can Keep Us from Doing Things God Wants Us to Do

Have you ever been afraid of doing what you think God wants you to do?  So often we think if God would just tell us what He wants me to do, that would make life so much easier.

The problem is that we don’t want God to tell us to do what He wants us to do.  We want Him to tell us to do what we want to do and if it is something different from that, we start to do just what Moses does.  We try to question God about it.  God you don’t really mean me, do you?  Lord have you completely thought through what you are doing?  Let’s go over your plan and I will help you think it through.

Serving and Free Time - Maybe you feel God has been urging you to start serving him in the church, but you are afraid that it will eat up your free time and you won’t enjoy life.

Full Time Service vs. Provision - Maybe you are feeling that God has been calling you to full time service in the church or in the mission field and you are afraid that you will not be able to afford to live if you quit your job and follow that call.

Evangelism vs. Being Liked - Maybe your feeling that God has been urging you to share your faith with some neighbors or coworkers but are afraid that they might not respond favorably and they will think poorly of you.

Those things can all make us afraid and Moses faced some of these fears as well.  If fear keeps you from following God, then how do you overcome fear so you can follow God?  How do we move from Fear to Faith?

Well, God gives Moses some practical helps that ultimately helped him face these fears and obey the Lord and be used in such a way that he would be known as a great and extraordinary man of faith.

The first thing we see here is that we are told to focus on God’s presence with us.  ( Exodus 3:11-12)   When you have experienced the presence of the Lord, you know what a great comfort it is when we are facing fears, even the fear of death.  Not only does His presence give us comfort, it gives us courage.  After Moses had this experience with God, he finally understood that God’s presence in our life is an awesome thing, especially when we are facing a fear of following God.

Listen to what Moses said near the end of his life,   "Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the LORD your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you."  (Deuteronomy 31:6)

His Presence Provides Courage

We need to understand that having faith and experiencing God’s presence doesn’t mean that we are never fearful. It means that we can overcome our fear by our faith so our fear doesn’t incapacitate us.

When the Lord is leading us we can find comfort and take courage because He promises to be present with us.   Not only will His presence help us overcome our fears, but we are told also to focus on God’s Power through us.

Focus on His Power to Work Through You

Finally, if we are going to overcome fear to walk in obedience to the Lord, we need to focus on God’s provision for us.  There may be times when you just don’t think you can get through a circumstance and don’t think you can follow God in what He wants you to do.

He will provide just what you need to accomplish what He is calling you to do, just like He did for Moses.

Moses went out and followed the Lord and did the things God told him to do and God used this weak and fearful individual and built him into a great man of faith that was used to do the extraordinary.

Where are you today?  What Fears have got you to the point of thinking you aren’t able to follow the Lord in Faith?  Keep your focus on Him, on His presence, on His power to work in you and through you and on His provision for you during this time.

Live focused on God and live extraordinary.  God is good and desires to use us to not just do the ordinary but to accomplish extraordinary things through us for His own glory.

~Bits and pieces of sermon by Scott Kircher

(Exodus 3:2-22 and 4:1-17)