Reluctance, protest, and excuses—we constantly face the temptation to have these reactions to God’s call on our lives.

Too many times we fear the consequences of being obedient to what God has called us to. Humanly speaking, this is a logical reaction. After all, we inhabit a world filled with “many dangers, toils, and snares.” But living a life of faith demands that we push ourselves beyond our human reluctance and respond with faith. 

Reluctance is natural: the world is unpredictable. Obeying God can bring its share of adversity and hard challenges. But, what about the heroes of the Old Testament? How did they respond to God’s call on their lives? The story of Moses gives us a very real example of a flawed man who was not immediately willing to do God’s will. When God told him to demand that Pharaoh release the Israelites, Moses was naturally reluctant. In Exodus 3 & 4 we find his protests:

“Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh, and that I should bring the children
of Israel out of Egypt?”

“And when they ask me ‘What is His name?’, what shall I say to them?”

“Suppose they say, ‘The Lord has not appeared to you.’”

“O my Lord, I am not eloquent…I am slow of speech and slow of tongue.”

God knew Moses’ limitations. He wanted to use Moses to do something awesome, so He met Moses where he was. He patiently molded him and pushed him to accomplish things far greater than what Moses had ever deemed himself capable of. We read that in His own way, in His own time, God did address each of Moses’ protests—even to the point that He assigned Aaron to be his spokesman.

God worked with Moses to help him past his reluctance. He does that with all of us. He addresses the protests. God delighted in Moses’ willingness to be available. He never expected or demanded perfection– in fact, Moses was clearly not even skilled in several key areas of effective leadership.

But Moses persevered.
He obeyed; as reluctant as he was at the start, he obeyed.
He trusted God.

Contrast that with a modern day believer who believes himself to be so talented, so highly educated, that God is lucky to have him on his team. Can the Lord bless ministry from a heart like that? Scripture tells us that “God resists the proud.” God is more likely to use a stumbling, bumbling, humble man that knows his own frame than He is to use the loud, proud man.

When it comes to obeying God’s call, reluctance, not pridefulness is the place to start—it shows humility, and a clear understanding of our weakness and the difficulty of the call. Then, moving forward from that point of dependency on God’s grace, we take our steps of faith. We don’t stop in the stage of reluctance, we press on. With God’s grace, we press on.

We persevere.
We obey.
We trust God.

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