Who am I to do this?

Have you tried to follow a path that feels right to you? Tried to do something that won't leave your mind and feels like the fulfillment of your heart?

When you see something that needs to be done, and no one is doing anything about it, do you wade in and start making it happen? Sometimes that is what you need to do. In particular, when it is one of your chores - mow the grass, take out the trash, pick up your things, wash the dishes, etc.

But what about the bigger things, the social injustices of the world, the economic plights of the country, even the hunger and health issues of a family you know about in your neighborhood? There are many needs that are not hard to find if we simply look up from the things that so easily distract us. Are they ours to do? Isn't there already someone doing something about them? Don't they have a program for that?

There will always be people willing to advise and direct you, but the ones who talk about the issues that you hold in your thoughts, the sorrows that burden your heart -- those are the ones whose words stay with you. They strike a chord inside you that resonates, and reinforces the passion you carry, the passion that you often never have the words which express what you feel to others intelligibly.

However, when you try to take steps to follow that passion, have you seen fruit come from it? Or has the hot, passionate blossom of expression wilted in the cold, frosty wind of others' indifferent reactions? Have you retreated into the safe isolation of daily routine, watching the changes of life occur about you and assumed that was "progress"?

It might help to know that you are not alone. This is the human condition, and each of us face the same problem. However, it may surprise you to realize what that problem is. If you feel that you simply need to muster the determination to push through the obstacles, heedless of opinions, until you see the results you need, you'll be a bit off target; if you decide that you only have to enlist enough resources, people and money to get the results that are required, you'll find the results are not what you expected.

Moses faced the same problem and dealt with it the same way that you and I do. Read his story in Exodus chapters 2 and 3.

Having a Hebrew boy brought up among Egyptian royalty gave the hard-laboring Israelites a reason to hope. They watched him for forty years, excitement growing each year, hope beginning to blossom as it appeared that the stories told from generation to generation of freedom and deliverance to come might be about to take place, only to have disappointment replace it when the man they had pinned their dreams on turned out to be a murderer and a fugitive, disappearing into the wilderness, leaving their lives of brutal labor filled with the added bitterness of  cruel heart-ache.

This is the burden Moses carried with him, never able to forget the expectations others placed on him, and the pain he had caused to so many with his failure. It is little wonder he sought the solace of isolation and embraced the busy solitude of shepherding to numb his own disappointment in himself.

He was so lost in the depressing routine of his own self-imposed exile, after the news of Pharoah's death, that a bush on fire only sparked a mild curiosity in him. And even when the voice of God spoke to Moses, revealing the Name of God, never before known, but henceforth to be used by all following generations, Moses could only say, "Who am I, that I should go?"

And he was right. His track record gave no reason for anyone to expect this to work out. But God gave the answer that matters. It was the answer that made the next forty years of Moses' life sustainable, and it made him the greatest hero of Hebrew tradition, exceeded only by the promise of the Messiah Who would be raised up later.

That same answer from God will make every difference in our lives, as well. It meets every need and makes every objection null and of no account, regardless of how publicly we fail or how hard we have fallen.

God said to Moses, "I will surely be with you," and He says that today to us. He has promised to be with us to the end of the age, and He has given His Spirit to watch over the word He gives us to speak so that it will perform all He intends.

If you have tested the waters and not found what you need, wait on God. His Word will stand, and He has not forgotten His promise or lost track of where you are. His presence is with you, and all you need to do is keep your eye on Him; stay where He stays, and move when He moves.

Lord God, thank You for Your faithfulness and endurance. You are trustworthy in Your power and faithful in Your word. Forgive us the times when we run ahead of You and trip, and encourage us when we lag behind, burdened with discouragement. Open our eyes to the sight of Your loving guidance and our ears to Your voice of compassionate mercy. We desire to be profitable to Your work and useful in Your kingdom, by the grace of Your beloved Son, Jesus. Amen.

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