We’re good at rationalizing, aren’t we? It’s so easy to make fear or doubt sound like prudence or being careful. “God knows my strengths and abilities—He wouldn’t ask me to step out in faith in an area of weakness, would He?”

God goes against human expectations in many ways, as Moses discovered in today’s reading. As you’ve doubtless noticed, in our devotional study of strategies for fighting temptation, we’ve looked at some negative examples. We can also learn from people who experienced temptation, but they also resisted and obeyed.

Moses told God that he wasn’t a good leader and not suited for what God had called him to do (v. 11). He would rather remain in a safe place. But God wanted him to do the humanly impossible task of freeing the Israelites from four centuries of slavery to Egypt and taking them to a promised homeland (vv. 7–10).

Moses felt unworthy (v. 11). And he was right! God hadn’t chosen him for his personal awesomeness. The key to his success would be God’s presence and promises (v. 12). Moses also felt fearful for both spoken and unspoken reasons. Forty years had passed, but perhaps he was still wanted for murder. Perhaps he was afraid he was too old for this at age 80. How could he defeat one of the world superpowers of the day? And would the Israelites even listen to or follow him? This is the question behind the name question in verse 13 (see Ex. 4:1). In addition, he had no confidence in his public speaking ability (Ex. 4:10).

The bottom line? He didn’t want to go. “Please send someone else” (Ex. 4:13). But in the end, he trusted God’s answers, resisted the temptation to quit, and instead stepped out in faith.

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