Does God ever get frustrated with us? Is there ever a point where our loving heavenly Father gets angry with his girls? Yes – but it’s likely not over the things you’ve been worried about.

We screw things up. We fail to get it right. We struggle. We fall short. These are the things we worry about within ourselves, so we continually dismiss ourselves. And let’s be clear – that’s not what God is upset over.

Girl, he knows you struggle – he created you to need him. He knows you fail – he forgave you before the first misstep. You can get over all of that, because God certainly has.

So, what is God upset over? When does he look at you with anger? It’s not when you’re unable – it’s when you’re UNWILLING.

The unwilling mind that continually makes excuses reveals the unwilling heart that simply DOESN’T WANT TO. You don’t want to be the one God chooses. You don’t want to be the one he sends. You don’t want to be the one called to do that work. And really you don’t want to be available because you don’t want to change. You don’t want to be uncomfortable.

This is where God grows angry with Moses. Moses didn’t want to be the one because he didn’t want to leave his comfortable life. He preferred to stay exactly where he had been hiding for 40 years. Why? Because there he was safe. No one hated him. No one was hunting him. His days were predictable and controllable. I wake up and I do the same things every day and I go to bed every night in the same way. Moses had a sense of control over his simple life with his family and the sheep. He was unwilling to give up his comforts, but ultimately he was really unwilling to give up control.

Is that you? You don’t want to be uncomfortable. And you certainly don’t want to be UNcertain. You need a sense of control, of knowing what’s going to happen and how it’s all going to work out. So any hint of discomfort, you just dismiss yourself. Any uncertain loose ends you’ve tied into knots that hold you steady (and stuck). You’re driven by a desire to control it all far more than a desire to follow God in it.

Ugly truths we don’t talk about. It’s easy to paint it pretty and declare we’re being faithful where we are with humility and perseverance … but sometimes when you chip through that paint you find an unwilling spirit to do anything different.

And THAT is what frustrates God. This is what gets him angry with his girls. Maybe you’re not unable, you’re really unwilling.

The Lord tells Moses to return to Egypt and lead his people to freedom. He’s promised to be with him. He’s promised his hand of victory over them. He’s even shown him 2 very clear miracles to give him confidence in God’s personal power over this mission. And here’s what happens next – Exodus 4:10, “But Moses pleaded with the Lord, ‘O Lord, I’m not very good with words. I have never been, and I’m not now, even though you have spoken to me. I get tongue-tied, and my words get tangled.'”

Moses had an insecurity. Ultimately he didn’t think he had anything good enough to say to the Israelietes to convince them to leave, or to the Egyptians to convince them to let his people go. So he points out his inadequacy to God.

God didn’t get mad about it. He understood Moses’ fear. He understood that he felt inadequate for such a huge job. And here’s God’s response to Moses, verses 11-12, “Who makes a person’s mouth? Who decides whether people speak or do not speak, hear or do not hear, see or do not see? Is it not I, the Lord? Now go! I will be with you as you speak, and I will instruct you in what to say.”

How awesome is that? God reassures Moses. Moses, I made you exactly as I wanted you. If you can’t do something it’s because I wanted to do something different through you. Remember what God says in 2 Corinthians 12:9, “My power works best in weakness.” God knows how he created Moses, and he knows if there’s a problem with his ability to speak – that’s just room for God to speak! That’s a person who is not self-sufficient so they can be God-sufficient!

God isn’t angry with Moses for not being self-sufficient. He’s reminding him he won’t have to do the speaking by himself – God will do it through him.

Girl, I don’t know what you’ve been saying you aren’t good enough to do – but maybe you need to be reminded right now that God’s power works best in your weakness. The exact areas where you’ve struggled and where you’ve failed can now be the perfect space to display God’s power.

Here’s the thing – I really don’t need to be impressed by all you can do. That doesn’t help me at all. In fact your super power of being self-sufficient simply leaves me feeling lacking and unworthy. What I really need to see is where you fall short, but God comes through. What the people around you need to see is how you can’t do it all, but God can. They need to see where you have struggled, God has provided. We desperately need to see that what you didn’t have the power to do on your own, God did it through you.

What – you think I wake up know exactly what you need to hear each day? Girl – NOT AT ALL. I fall so miserably short when I try to do this on my own. This is God’s space. I’m simply a mouthpiece for the Holy Spirit. This has been a journey of me showing up to do the work while staying out of the way. The second this becomes about me, I fail. You have to know, no matter what, this girl speaking to you every morning is just an ordinary girl like you with a Bible I’m willing to study and time I’ve created for the Holy Spirit to work every single day. Is it easy for me? No. I struggle every morning when I sit down to write the first word. You know why? Because I CAN’T DO THIS.

Moses couldn’t do what God was asking him to do. But it can’t end there. When God says, “Nope, you can’t – but I can”, that’s when you drop every excuse and make yourself available! Now, we will see what happens when you don’t drop your excuses.

Verse 13-14, “But Moses again pleased, ‘Lord, please! Send anyone else.’ Then the Lord became angry with Moses.”

God wasn’t angry with Moses’ insecurities and questions. He lovingly reassured Moses that his power would work through him. God became angry when Moses was UNWILLING. “No, Lord, send anyone else. I don’t want to do this. This so uncomfortable for me. I can’t be the one. I really just want to stay here in my predictable life where I’m in control.”

God can work with your inabilities. That’s not a problem for him at all. What is a problem for him is your unwillingness to step into the unknown, leave your comforts, and follow him into the hard stuff that’s out of your control.

What’s God asking you to do? Where has he asked you to get involved in his work? He’s not burdened by your doubts. He can handle your doubts. He’s not upset over your shortcomings. He sees room for his power all in you. But what he’s angry about is your unwillingness to follow him.

If you keep reading in the story, you see that ultimately God allows Moses to take his brother Aaron with him as his mouthpiece. God would tell Moses what to say, and Moses would tell Aaron what to say, then Aaron would be the one to say it. Okay, seems fair. So did God finally agree that Moses wasn’t good enough for the job alone? Did God need more than just Moses?

No – actually, Aaron became more of a problem than a help. God didn’t want that problem for Moses, he would have been far better to just trust God to speak through him directly. Aaron was more of a chastisement from God that Moses brought on himself when he was unwilling to go alone.

I don’t want to create problems for myself. I don’t want to do anything that makes the journey harder. So what God is showing me is I have to drop every excuse and believe he will do everything he says he will do, and he actually CAN do it through me. I must continually keep my heart open, my mind open, my hands open, and my plans open so I am WILLING to do anything and everything God asks of me.

It’s so easy to become busy, then my busy-ness leaves me unwilling. It’s so easy to become comfortable, then my love of comfort leaves me unwilling. It’s so easy to become lazy, then my laziness grows into a complete atrophy of what I was once able to do and everything gets so hard, that always leads to me being unwilling.

Busy has got to go! Clear the schedule. Make space. Remain available. Girl, you keep canceling where God is assigning you because you’re just too darn busy. Stop that!

Comfort is not your calling. When is the last time you did something hard? Stay ready! Be willing!

That laziness is rendering you incapable of simple things and the enemy is playing in your head as you just sit there. As you scroll, he’s eating away at your strength. Get up. Do something. Stay willing!

Don’t make this harder than it needs to be. If God says he’s with you, that’s enough. If God says his power will work through you, awesome, trust that. If God is prompting you to do something, be bold enough to tell him you’re in!

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