In Moses’ Sandals

Chuck Hartman
Aug 8, 2017 · 3 min read

The last two weeks we have been talking about Moses and the five excuses he gave to God when God called him to lead the children of Israel out of Egypt. Today, I want to put myself in Moses’ sandals and looked at five excuses he gave God. The first excuse dealt with Moses’ lack of feeling qualified. The next two excuses deal with the topics of what if they doubt me, and suppose they do not believe me. The fourth excuse is like the three before it, I have never been eloquent, and I am slow of speech and tongue. Finally, please send someone else.

I can parallel this to my own life. Many years back I received a call to serve as the director of a boarding school for at risk and troubled teens. First, I was pastoring a church and very comfortable and happy at my post. Second, at that time, I had no formal training in education—I felt like an imposter, serving as the director of any school. Third, I had not experienced the life choices many of these teens had experienced—I was reared in a happy Christ honoring law abiding home. Fourth, I would give up my privacy, living and working the majority of the year at the boarding school. Fifth, like Moses, I wanted God to send someone other than my wife and me to those teens.

Here is what God taught me at the boarding school. The lives of all human’s matter. He used my wife and me to communicate Biblical truth to those teens. Some who, even after their time with us had run-ins with the law, but turned to us for help and encouragement. Some of the teens began a relationship with Christ while in our care and had not only grown spiritually but have maintained friendships with us over the years. God always put quality, qualified people around me to answer questions and help me with reports that I had to perform for the state. God was able to use me because I was willing to let Him use me. I was not qualified, I was willing, yet I was apprehensive not wanting to step outside my comfort zone. There was talk that the school might close if I didn’t take the helm. Had the school closed, there would have been several teens who would have served time in adult prison, at least one attempted suicide, and at least ten lives that might not now know Christ.

Perhaps Moses felt like an imposter too? He was Hebrew by birth, yet he had lived a life of privilege. Moses never knew the whip on his back, the forced slave labor, or the atrocities of slave life; he only knew privilege. Perhaps his feelings of being an “imposter” were the reasons he wanted God to send someone else?

The lesson to take from Moses’ life is this: move when God asks. Even though Moses made excuses, he moved when God asked—even when he did not want to move, he moved. God did not use Moses because he was qualified, but God qualified Moses as he continued to submit himself to God. The same applies to us, the more we submit ourselves to God the more usable we become in His hands.

Chuck Hartman

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Chuck lives with his wife Sonya, in Perquimans County, North Carolina. In addition to writing, Chuck is also an artist, puppeteer, pastor and musician.