Faltering Lips

When I first went to Cambodia, I was often the only English-speaking person at the village clinic. It
was important to move beyond communicating with gesturing and grimacing, so, because I had both
the need and the opportunity to learn the Khmer language, I did so pretty quickly.
Fast forwarding a few years, I found myself voted person most likely to attend a meeting at the
Ministry of the Interior. ‘You’re a nurse and you speak great Khmer’ was the reasoning. The Khmer
office manager at the time saw how wide my eyes suddenly got and quickly said, ‘great, I will go with
you.’
Oh, the relief! You see not only was I to bring up an unpopular issue of injustice relating to prisoner
care, but I spoke fluent village slang. Great for patients and prisoners and sellers of produce.
However, no one at the Ministry would listen to me. I needed a translator.
I was reminded of this when I was reading the words of Moses, “since I speak with faltering lips, why
would Pharoah listen to me?”
When we are asked by God to do something and feel totally inadequate for the task, when prodded
to make His kingdom known and have thought ‘but who am I that they would listen to me?’, know
that we are in good company. And in even better hands. God had already prepared Aaron to come
alongside Moses, just like our office manager had already prepared to come and help me.
If you are reading along with our current Exodus series (aim for two chapters a week), you’ll have
recently read Exodus Chapters 7 and 8. Here God tells Moses that Aaron will be with him as the
plagues begin to be unleashed upon Egypt.
How have you seen God’s provision equipping you for a task before you? How have you seen God
working even through your faltering obedience? We can trust He will provide the resources and the
strength we need.
Colleen