As a young boy, I can remember feverishly rubbing my face raw with a face cloth in an effort to erase the freckles that were so prominently staring back at me in the mirror. I can also remember envying all the boys in school who could spike their hair to stand up. As a kid with frizzy, curly hair, it just wasn’t possible until my mom reverse-engineered a perm to straighten my hair so I, too, could sport the spike.
Why do we always envy others and wish we looked like them, had what they have, or could do what they can do? It may not have been freckles or frizzy hair that made you feel inferior and insignificant, but perhaps something else did.
I believe it’s a tactic of the adversary to keep us distracted and derail us from fulfilling God’s call on our life.
In Exodus 3, we see Moses suffering from this same errant mindset when God calls Him to liberate His people from Egypt.
In this passage, God speaks to Moses, telling him that he has seen the oppression that His people are enduring under Egypt’s bondage, and He’s heard their cries. He tells Moses that He, Himself, will come down and deliver them out of the hands of the Egyptians (see Exodus 3:7-8).
This means that God sees you in your pain and hears your cries. Even if He seems distant, He has promised you that He would never leave nor forsake you. Despite how difficult things get and how dark things may appear to be, if you’ve made Jesus your savior, then your Heavenly Father is right there with you in the abyss. He’s with you to help lead you out – just like He promises to do for His chosen people that’s been stuck in slavery to the Egyptians for over 400 years.
God says in Exodus 3:8 that He will come down and rescue and deliver His people and lead them into a land of abundance, but what happens in verse ten is astounding to me–He instructs Moses to go!
In God’s eyes, when we are on assignment for Him and representing His Kingdom, it’s as if He Himself is doing it. Wow–that is incredible to me. We have an opportunity to partner with God and help bring His Will to pass on the Earth as it is in Heaven!
Like most of us would respond when faced with such an assignment, Moses begins telling God all the reasons why he isn’t qualified for such a task. He explains to God that he doesn’t have the reputation or authority, that he is not eloquent, and that he is slow in speech. Isn’t that how we tend to respond to God when He places something on our hearts to do? We can think of a thousand reasons why we don’t qualify and come up short, and a thousand other people who could do it better.
Something helped me years ago that I want to share with you; say it with me…
“God is smarter than me and He knows what He is doing.”
That seems simple. However, if we consider that God already knows everything about us and if He still chooses to call us to something, then He’s already taken everything into consideration. And since He knows best, then His instruction must be the best path forward–best for the situation, best for the other person, best for His plan, and best for you.
Notice the words in the NIV version of Exodus 3:10. God says, “So now go.” As I read this passage again, the Holy Spirit showed me something I had never seen before. These three words mean so much to what we’re exploring here. Let’s break it down. The word “so” is a conjunction that ties two different things together. God tells Moses that He has seen their affliction and heard their cries, and He will deliver them. In using the word “so,” God is connecting what He wants to do with what He is about to instruct Moses to do on His behalf.
The word “now” is so powerful in this context. Now can mean at this moment and in your current condition. God didn’t ask Moses to first get his act together. He didn’t tell him to practice his public speaking skills, or work on building up his courage. God is saying to him, “I can use you just as you are.” God excels at using imperfect vessels for His Glory. None of us qualify, and we all fall short.
2 Corinthians 12:9-10 says that God’s Grace is sufficient to see us through any challenge and that when we are weak, He will be strong on our behalf. This way, He gets all the Glory.
The final word in this phrase is “go.” This word essentially means to leave our current position and begin moving forward and making progress. This is why the enemy tries to get us to believe his lies about ourselves and focus on what we perceive to be our shortcomings so that we stay stuck and don’t go where the Lord would have us to go. You see, God can’t use us if we refuse to get up from our current position and step into what God has assigned us to do.
But that’s exactly what we celebrate at Easter time: victory over our current condition and our current position.
When Jesus arose and overcame death, hell, and the grave, He empowered His people to overcome the things that try to hold us back and keep us down. He arose so we could arise! Arise from spiritual death. Arise from being disconnected from God. Arise from doubt and unbelief. Arise from the doom and gloom of life. Arise from our flawed perspectives of ourselves and our abilities. Arise from everything that wants to paralyze us from walking in the fullness of all God has designed for us to experience and accomplish.
With this one little phrase, “So now go,” God has transferred authority to Moses and empowered Him to act on His behalf to deliver His people from Pharaoh even in his current state.
When Jesus busted that grave wide open, He busted every chain and form of containment that the enemy would try to shackle you with. He paid the price for you and me to be free from every satanic stronghold that would hinder us from living our best life to impact others for the Glory of God.
He made a way for God to partner with imperfect, broken vessels like you and me so He could flow His love, power, salvation, peace, healing, deliverance…etc., THROUGH US to those around us.
God wants to use you as a Divine Distribution Center. What He gets TO YOU, He wants to get THROUGH YOU–and your perceived flaws, faults, and failures aren’t big enough to stop Him (unless you allow them to be).
He wants to use your personality, skills, and demeanor to reach people that I’ll never be able to. God has placed specific people in your life who He knows will receive your words and actions better than they would someone else’s.
He Arose, Now Arise
So, I speak, Isaiah 60:1-3 (NIV) over you, “Arise, shine, for Your light has come, and the Glory of the Lord rises upon you. See, darkness covers the Earth, and thick darkness is over the peoples, but the Lord rises upon you, and His Glory appears over you. Nations will come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn.”
Look at verse 1 from the Amplified Bible, Classic Edition (AMPC) – “Arise [from the depression and prostration in which circumstances have kept you—rise to a new life]! Shine (be radiant with the glory of the Lord), for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you!”
Notice how it says that after we arise (from our current position and condition), the presence and glory of the Lord will then RISE UP on us. His light upon us changes how others see and respond to us. When His light and glory cover us, it overrides any flaws, faults, and failures, and people are drawn to us so that we can help and impact them as the Lord leads.
As we celebrate Easter this year, may we be awakened to another benefit of His Resurrection and challenged to step out further in faith.
Jesus arose, now arise, and allow the Lord to move you from where you are to where He wants you to be. Allow Him to use you to impact others and fulfill His plan for your life – freckles, frizzy-curly hair, and all.
Would you be bold and pray this prayer with me?
“Heavenly Father, open my eyes to see myself as You see me. Give me the courage to step out from where I am and continue on the path You have for me just as I am. I surrender to the assignment You have for my life, and with Your help, we’ll do great things together for Your Glory.
In Jesus’ Name, Amen!”
Feature Image: Olive Garden, Daffodil Field GENAI Text to Image; Scripture quotations marked NIV are taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.; Scripture quotations marked (AMPC) are from the Amplified Bible, Classic Edition Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation.
