The morning sun filtered through the plane windows as we made our way across the Pacific Ocean from Tokyo, Japan to Seattle. I was flying home from 3 fantastic weeks of missions and missions photography in Thailand, but God still had something to teach me on the last couple hours of that flight.
I pulled my Bible out of the seat pocket in front of me and opened to Exodus 3.
THE ANSWER = "I AM"
In the pages of Exodus 3, we find Moses on his face before God at the burning bush. Moses answers God's call to him with fear and surrender, "Here am I." GOD, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob proceeds to tell Moses that He has seen the afflictions and heard the cries of his people, the Israelites. He says, "I am come down to deliver them... and bring them... unto a good land flowing with milk and honey..." [Exodus 3:8] In verse ten, God calls Moses to lead the people out of Egypt. Moses replies like most of us, "Who am I that I should go?" God's simple answer is this: "I will be with thee; I have sent thee." [Wow, I love that. God doesn't reply in a way that Moses probably expected.] Moses then basically asks, "What am I going to tell the children of Israel when they ask me who sent me?" And then God says to Moses, "I AM THAT I AM."
Like Moses, we ask God questions that relate to, "Who? What? Why? When? Where? How?" But our answer can only be found in "I AM." I think so many times we, Called Missionaries, also wonder, "Who am I that I should be doing this? I'm not outgoing enough. I'm not naturally a leader! I'm don't have the right kind of personality." But God is bigger than an personality type, spiritual gift, or human limitation. He reveals to us in His word that HE is enough. If He is the one that called, won't He go all the way with us?
TAKE MY VOICE AND LET ME [SPEAK] ALWAYS ONLY FOR MY KING
As I continued further into the flight, the Lord brought my attention to Exodus 4:10. It is here where Moses said to the Lord, "O my Lord, I am not elequent...I am slow of speech, and of a slow tongue." I had NEVER seen that verse before -- and for so many years, I have told the Lord the same thing Moses did. I'm not talkative enough! How can I possibly be involved in ministry and be of few words? We find the Lord's amazing answer in the verse following, "And the Lord said unto him, Who hath made man's mouth? or who maketh the dumb, or deaf, or the seeing, or the blind? have not I the Lord? Now therefore go, and I will be thy mouth, and teach thee what thou shalt say." W.o.a.h. A chill ran down my spine. The Lord created my mouth! God created me to be of few words! No, I don't know why He made me to be quiet, but He did for His purpose and His plans. He could've made me completely deaf if He wanted to!
For the first time in my life perhaps, I was suddenly grateful the way the Lord made me, as an individual. Being outgoing doesn't matter. But it is important to use the words that we do speak [whether few or many] to glorify our King. He will put words into our mouth and speak through us when He wants to ... because it's in that moment that only He is glorified, and not us.
NEVER ALONE
So. Did God make Moses pack his bags and traverse along his merry way by himself?
Even just after 3 weeks in Thailand, I found myself getting lonsome. Being around people of a different nationality [even though I loved them all so very, very dearly!] and not being able to speak the language or converse with any people was a hard thing. Not being able to communicate to anyone after a long, trying, or discouraging day wasn't easy. But it was there on that early morning flight from Tokyo to Seattle that the the Lord reassured me that just as He sent Aaron to help Moses, He won't allow me to sojourn the path of the world changer's by myself. God didn't intend for us to walk alone. The Bible itself says that two is better than one, because more is accomplished for the Lord when many work together towards one goal. Praise God for encouraging friends who walk alongside of us!
So my friends, even though it was at the very tail end of the missions trip, God revealed beautiful truths to my heart and confirmed to me His calling on my life. He reminded me that every question that arises on our journey called Life, can only be found in Himself, because He is the great "I Am", worthy to be praised.
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