Charles Stanley (April-30-2024) Daily Devotional: Equipped to Do His Will
We might be afraid to answer God's call, but He promises to equip us with everything we will need.
Exodus 3:1-14 - Now Moses was pasturing the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian; and he led the flock to the west side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. The angel of the LORD appeared to him in a blazing fire from the midst of a bush; and he looked, and behold, the bush was burning with fire, yet the bush was not consumed. So Moses said, ``I must turn aside now and see this marvelous sight, why the bush is not burned up." When the LORD saw that he turned aside to look, God called to him from the midst of the bush and said, ``Moses, Moses!" And he said, ``Here I am." Then He said, ``Do not come near here; remove your sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground." He said also, ``I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob." Then Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God. The LORD said, ``I have surely seen the affliction of My people who are in Egypt, and have given heed to their cry because of their taskmasters, for I am aware of their sufferings. ``So I have come down to deliver them from the power of the Egyptians, and to bring them up from that land to a good and spacious land, to a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanite and the Hittite and the Amorite and the Perizzite and the Hivite and the Jebusite. ``Now, behold, the cry of the sons of Israel has come to Me; furthermore, I have seen the oppression with which the Egyptians are oppressing them. ``Therefore, come now, and I will send you to Pharaoh, so that you may bring My people, the sons of Israel, out of Egypt." But Moses said to God, ``Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh, and that I should bring the sons of Israel out of Egypt?" And He said, ``Certainly I will be with you, and this shall be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall worship God at this mountain." Then Moses said to God, ``Behold, I am going to the sons of Israel, and I will say to them, `The God of your fathers has sent me to you.' Now they may say to me, `What is His name?' What shall I say to them?" God said to Moses, `` I AM WHO I AM"; and He said, ``Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, `I AM has sent me to you.'"
When he was called to lead the Israelites out of Egypt, Moses argued that he was the wrong person for the job because his speaking skills weren’t good (Exodus 4:10 - Then Moses said to the LORD, ``Please, Lord, I have never been eloquent, neither recently nor in time past, nor since You have spoken to Your servant; for I am slow of speech and slow of tongue."). I’ve met people who likewise knew the Lord had called them to do something, but they didn’t believe they could. This is actually a form of rebellion. It amounts to telling God that He isn’t powerful enough to equip you—and that for His will to be accomplished, it depends upon your ability.
God is more than able to equip His followers, but He can achieve His purposes with or without us. He promises that if we believe Him and move forward in obedience, He will reveal what He wants done and enable us to accomplish it. Philippians 2:13 (for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure) says that God Himself “is at work in you, both to desire and to work for His good pleasure.” There’s nothing to fear. We never have to take on His work in our own strength, and He won’t assign any task without enabling us. He is committed to equipping His children to do whatever He asks.
As a follower of Christ, you have a personal responsibility to say yes when God calls and to let Him achieve His purposes through you. He won’t let you down. Recalling how He’s worked in your past will strengthen your faith. And His continued work will conform you to the image of His Son.
