Listen Live
St. Jude Give Monthly 2024
Praise 104.1
CLOSE
Despairing office worker

Source: Fuse / Getty

Fear is having faith, but it’s placing your faith in the wrong things. Fear is placing your faith in the “what ifs”. So much of our fears are focused on things that may or may not happen. There is no reason to fear things that might not even happen. Even people in the Bible struggled in fearing their own “what ifs”. You will read today about Moses’ “what if” fear and how God gave him strength to overcome his fear.

What are some of the “what ifs” that fuel your fears?

Scripture:
Exodus 4:1-17
1Moses objected, “They won’t trust me. They won’t listen to a word I say. They’re going to say, ‘God? Appear to him? Hardly!’”
2So God said, “What’s that in your hand?”
“A staff.”
3“Throw it on the ground.” He threw it. It became a snake; Moses jumped back—fast!

4-5God said to Moses, “Reach out and grab it by the tail.” He reached out and grabbed it—and he was holding his staff again. “That’s so they will trust that Godappeared to you, the God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.”
6God then said, “Put your hand inside your shirt.” He slipped his hand under his shirt, then took it out. His hand had turned leprous, like snow.
7He said, “Put your hand back under your shirt.” He did it, then took it back out—as healthy as before.
8-9“So if they don’t trust you and aren’t convinced by the first sign, the second sign should do it. But if it doesn’t, if even after these two signs they don’t trust you and listen to your message, take some water out of the Nile and pour it out on the dry land; the Nile water that you pour out will turn to blood when it hits the ground.”
10Moses raised another objection to God: “Master, please, I don’t talk well. I’ve never been good with words, neither before nor after you spoke to me. I stutter and stammer.”
11-12God said, “And who do you think made the human mouth? And who makes some mute, some deaf, some sighted, some blind? Isn’t it I, God? So, get going. I’ll be right there with you—with your mouth! I’ll be right there to teach you what to say.”
13He said, “Oh, Master, please! Send somebody else!”
14-17God got angry with Moses: “Don’t you have a brother, Aaron the Levite? He’s good with words, I know he is. He speaks very well. In fact, at this very moment he’s on his way to meet you. When he sees you he’s going to be glad. You’ll speak to him and tell him what to say. I’ll be right there with you as you speak and with him as he speaks, teaching you step by step. He will speak to the people for you. He’ll act as your mouth, but you’ll decide what comes out of it. Now take this staff in your hand; you’ll use it to do the signs.”