What if...
This week I randomly felt a "what if" in my spirit. These two words have had me bound most of my life. Constantly obsessing over what if! What if things go wrong? What if this doesn’t work out for me Lord? What if they see me fail? It's so comforting to know that in my weakness and feelings of constant doubt, God still wants to use me and that I'm not alone! When we read the word, plenty of God's people had the same feelings and doubts.
Before Moses was instructed to free the children of Israel, he was like many of us. He lacked confidence, doubted himself, and wasn't the best at speaking. Nonetheless, God chose him, He had a plan for him and wanted to use him. In Exodus 4:1-11, we see where God spoke to Moses and told him to free the children of Israel. "But Moses protested again, “What if they won’t believe me or listen to me? What if they say, ‘The Lord never appeared to you’?”
2 Then the Lord asked him, “What is that in your hand?”
“A shepherd’s staff,” Moses replied.
3 “Throw it down on the ground,” the Lord told him. So Moses threw down the staff, and it turned into a snake! Moses jumped back.
4 Then the Lord told him, “Reach out and grab its tail.” So Moses reached out and grabbed it, and it turned back into a shepherd’s staff in his hand.
5 “Perform this sign,” the Lord told him. “Then they will believe that the Lord, the God of their ancestors—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob—really has appeared to you.”
6 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Now put your hand inside your cloak.” So Moses put his hand inside his cloak, and when he took it out again, his hand was white as snow with a severe skin disease.[a] 7 “Now put your hand back into your cloak,” the Lord said. So Moses put his hand back in, and when he took it out again, it was as healthy as the rest of his body.
8 The Lord said to Moses, “If they do not believe you and are not convinced by the first miraculous sign, they will be convinced by the second sign. 9 And if they don’t believe you or listen to you even after these two signs, then take some water from the Nile River and pour it out on the dry ground. When you do, the water from the Nile will turn to blood on the ground.”
10 But Moses pleaded with the Lord, “O Lord, I’m not very good with words. I never have been, and I’m not now, even though you have spoken to me. I get tongue-tied, and my words get tangled.”
11 Then the Lord asked Moses, “Who makes a person’s mouth? Who decides whether people speak or do not speak, hear or do not hear, see or do not see? Is it not I, the Lord? 12 Now go! I will be with you as you speak, and I will instruct you in what to say.”
Before Moses went and obeyed the Lord he had the same insecurities as many of us. When God tells us to do a thing, that same “what if” rises up. What if I told you God is saying to you, what if you had faith the size of a mustard seed? What if you believed everything in my Word. What if you believed that my promises are true, AND that I have a plan for you? (Jeremiah 29:11).
Ask yourself, are am I letting a what if keep me bound by fear? If so, cast your cares on the Lord. Just as He led Moses to free the children of Israel, He will be with you to do whatever He has called you to do! Fear and faith cannot coexist, trust God today with your future!
Matthew 17:20 He replied, “Because you have so little faith. Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”
XOXO love you all!
-Mary Barnett