A New Day

By: Pastor Johnie Akers     

Exodus 4:10, “And Moses said unto the Lord, ‘O my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither heretofore, nor since thou hast spoken unto thy servant: but I am slow of speech, and of a slow tongue.’” Ted Engstrom in his book, A Time for Commitment, shared a story he had gleaned from Art Linkletter, about a once 19-year-old freshman at the University of Florida named Wendy Stoker. She had placed third, just 2.5 points from first place, in the Iowa girls’ state diving championship. She worked two hours a day for four years to get there. Linkletter said, “Now she’s at the University of Florida. She’s working twice as hard and has earned the number two position on the varsity diving squad. She’s aiming for the national finals. Wendy carries a full academic load, finds time for bowling, and is an accomplished water skier. But perhaps the most remarkable thing about Wendy Stoker is her typing. She bangs out 45 words a minute on her typewriter with her toes!” And then he says, “Oh, did I fail to mention? Wendy was born without arms!” In our Scripture lesson today, God has called Moses to be the deliverer of His people out of Egyptian captivity. Yet blanketed by insecurities, Moses begins to recount the reasons why he is not the person for the job. Moses has a pronounced speech impediment, and he wants to ensure that God is aware of it. The fact is that not only was God aware of Moses’ disabilities but chose him for the very reasons that Moses thought would disqualify him. God chooses us for the very reasons that we think would cause Him not to choose us. Contradictory? Not at all. Paul, the renowned apostle of the first-century Church reminds us in 2 Corinthians 12:9 that God’s strength is made perfect in our weakness. We are all flawed. We all have weaknesses. It is not an excuse it is a fact. Yet God calls us anyway. He does so that we might never lose sight of the true source of our strength. It is His grace that empowers us, in spite of our weaknesses, to live victorious and overcoming lives with each new day.