1.16.26 – Making It Personal

Moses, the future Hebrew deliverer, had the perfect life. Unlike his brethren suffering in slavery, Moses had been raised in the palace of the Pharaoh, and by the king's own daughter, Batya. A favorite of the king, as a child, he was not spared luxury. Moses could have easily chosen to isolate himself in the aristocratic life of a prince, oblivious to the hardship and suffering of the Hebrews targeted for abuse and annihilation. But Moses did not.

Moses left the palace, choosing to spend his time comforting and bringing relief to the Hebrew slaves. Quickly, he found himself unable to stand idly in the face of injustice—thanks to the lessons learned from the influence of the five women in his life. He felt compelled to protect an innocent man being beaten senselessly by his Egyptian tax collector. Moses killed the tormenting master, and then, to escape capital punishment, fled to the quiet land of Midian. There, he met his honey bunny, Zipporah, the daughter of one of the wealthiest and most influential men in town, Ruel/Jethro, and Moses settled down into the favorite biblical occupation: shepherding. After hitting a major roadblock, life was beautiful once again.

The past was the past. The suffering of his fellow Hebrews was no longer his problem. Moses' life in Midian, hundreds of miles away from Egypt, was now secure, domesticated, and peaceful. He built a family and grew old. At the age of 80, it was about time to retire.

At this point, take the time to reflect on your life and where you are NOW.

Life was about to change for Moses with his burning bush experience. But, as with Moses, excuses about why I cannot do the task at hand NOW come to the foreground of our minds.

Fundamentally, where we left off yesterday, there are three major handicaps that prevent people from finding themselves and living their lives to the fullest. There are three rationalizations for why we shirk our greatest responsibilities. And too often, these three produce paralysis through over-analysis.

Moses first said, "Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh? Who am I to redeem the Hebrew people?" (Ex. 3:11). In our modern-day vocabulary, this is the response of insecurity. We are afraid. We feel inadequate to meet the challenges of life. We blame ourselves or our mothers: I am helpless, I am incompetent, I am a victim, I stutter, I cannot communicate, nobody likes me, I am a small guy, a nobody, I repeated sixth grade too many times... But God did not accept Moses' insecure answer.

If we—speaking of me, myself, and I—shy away from responsibility due to feelings of inadequacy, it is not an act of humility, but one of cowardice. Because it excuses inaction, avoids accountability, and most importantly, it allows us to remain mediocre, living the status quo life while our brothers remain enslaved. How can we allow our mediocrity to cause the suffering of our brethren? The false pride of inadequacy. Ugh.

Another approach is not to blame ourselves, but to blame everyone else. In the words of Moses, "But the people won't believe me! They will say, 'Who is this God in whose name you speak?' What will I respond to them?" (Ex. 4:1). We often claim that we are ready, but what can we do? The world is not ready for us! We blame our spouses, our in-laws, our family, our community, the media, the government, the masses—for being unresponsive. We blame our families for being unappreciative and our communities for not respecting us. We—speaking of me, myself, and I—blame everyone but ourselves. Ugh. That blame game has been around a really long time, and some have gotten really good at it!

Finally, there is a third excuse, which does not come from one verse but from the entire story: modern-day perfectionism. "If I cannot be perfect, then I do not want to be anything at all. If there is One who is coming after me who will ultimately deliver God's people (Deut. 18:15), why waste my time on something that is not going to last?" In my mind's ear, I can hear Moses saying (or is that myself :-)? "I know that I am capable of fulfilling this mission to the fullest, and I know that the people will be responsive and will heed my call, but if my redemption is to be temporary, then I do not want to bother with it at all! For me, God, it is all or nothing!"

Thankfully, God once again disagrees. Moses, do not let the false humility of modern-day perfectionism deter you. For when it is misused, it is not a strength, but a weakness. It is the enemy of progress. Come on, we have work to do!

Shalom,
Alan

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