Today's Devotional

August 19, 2003

Subject:  The Moses Complex

Exodus 3:10 - "Come now therefore, and I will send thee unto Pharaoh, that thou mayest bring forth my people the children of Israel out of Egypt."

Exodus 4:1 - "And Moses answered and said, But, behold, they will not believe me, nor hearken unto my voice: for they will say, The LORD hath not appeared unto thee."

Exodus 4:10 - "And Moses said unto the LORD, O my LORD, I am not eloquent, neither heretofore, nor since thou hast spoken unto thy servant: but I am slow of speech, and of a slow tongue."

A survey of many of the great biblical heroes often finds them not sounding so heroic.  Nevertheless, they were able to accomplish mighty things through God once they realized that their abilities didn't really matter once God gave the direction.  Such is the case of Moses and what I call "The Moses Complex."  That is, to hear God speak and give direct orders to us and for us to make excuses to the contrary.

In Exodus 3:10, God had directly spoken to Moses and told him that he would deliver the children of Israel out of their Egyptian captivity.  Almost immediately, Moses offers a couple of objections to his appointment to that job.  First he wonders about whether or not the people will believe him and secondly, he wonders about his ability to deliver the message.  Through a couple of miraculous displays, God convinces Moses that he is up to the task and not because of his own abilities, but because of the power of God.

At every intersection of life, God gives us direction and says what we are to do.  Our first move should be one of obedience.  Our job is to obey and the results of that obedience are left up to God.  In essence, He tells us what to do, which is our business and then He handles the rest of it.  

God tells someone to sacrifice money, food, or clothing by giving it away and immediately we think, "but what if I need it?"  God tells us to stand firm in the workplace on an issue where our Christian stance could be compromised and immediately we think, "but what if I lose my job?"  Someone does an evil deed towards us and God says, "turn the other cheek" and naturally, we are afraid to put ourselves in that position again.  All are examples of "The Moses Complex."

Remember it's not about our abilities, but His.  In modern vernacular, if God were more curt in His response, after Moses went through each excuse and when we go through each excuse of why perhaps we can't do what He told us to do, I'm sure he'd say simply, "you handle your business and I'll handle mine."

Carlen