All We Need

August 20, 2017

His heart was still right after all these years. He just didn’t know it. Forty years earlier, he had wanted to deliver his people from the slavery they had known for 400 years, but he botched it miserably, killing a man in cold blood. He thought he had covered his tracks, but was found out, and had to run for his life. Now, all these years later, years spent wondering what might have been, years of saying, “If only…,” years believing that he had blown it so badly that there could be no redemption, God kindles that lifelong dream once again, as Moses kneels before a burning bush, a bush that mirrored the burning in his soul.

“Moses, you are going to deliver my people,” God had whispered to him. “I’ve heard their cry, and I’m sending you.”

“Who? Me? Don’t you remember how badly I screwed things up back then? Now look at me! I’m just a shepherd. I don’t have what it takes.” It’s almost funny the excuses we can come up with when God is on the verge of handing us our heart’s desire. Sometimes we run from the very dream we want so badly. Maybe we’re afraid we’ll fail again; maybe we don’t think we deserve God’s trust; maybe we just don’t want to go through all the hard work. Whatever the reason, we throw before the Lord every excuse we can think of, including the one Moses used. 

“I can’t possibly do this. Nobody’s going to listen to me! I don’t have the credentials, the experience, the influence, or the resources to do what you’re asking.” Somehow, God isn’t concerned about any of that. He asks Moses what he has in his hand. A good question for us to consider. 

2 Peter 1:3 says, “His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.”

This is either true or false. If true, then we have everything we need for what God has called us to do. Everything! If we don’t have what we need for what we are doing, either it’s something we don’t need to be doing, or we haven’t prayed for provision, for James says, “We don’t have because we don’t ask.” (Jas. 4:2). 

Hear this clearly: We already have what we need to do what God is calling us to do. We can’t use the excuse that we don’t have enough talent, money, brains, connections, or strength to do what God wants us to do. If Jesus can feed 5,000 with five loaves and two small fish, he can provide what we need. After all, Psalm 50:10 says that he owns the cattle on a thousand hills; he can sell one any time he wants to provide for his children. God took what Moses had and repurposed it for eternity. The staff that used to guide sheep would part the Red Sea, provide water from the Rock, guide God’s people through the wilderness to the banks of the Jordan. The God who did this can take what is in our hands and use it for eternal purposes, if we simply offer it to him. And in the process, he gives us what our hearts have yearned for, even without our knowing it, often rekindling a fire that used to burn brightly, but which had cooled over the years. What a great God we serve with gratitude for not only stooping to partner with us, but for fulfilling our heart’s desire and equipping us for every good work.