“Serve God Without Excuses”

Sunday, January 19, 2025

When God called Moses to lead the Israelites out of Egypt (Exodus 3-4), Moses was understandably nervous to answer the great calling. But his understandable nervousness turned into unfaithful excuses. Four times in the conversation at the burning bush, he gave God reasons why he didn’t think he was the one for this task (and the fifth time, he simply said, “Please send someone else.”). His fearfulness had turned into disrespect. What may have started as humility had become cowardice. It’s no wonder that by Exodus 4:14, God was getting angry with Moses.

We often do the same thing with God’s commandments. We do not have the chance to argue verbally with him, but we go back and forth in our minds, rationalizing whether we will obey or make excuses for disobeying.

• God says: “Give to those who are in need.” We respond: “But I don’t have enough, and they wouldn’t appreciate it properly anyway.”
• God says: “Teach the lost about salvation thru my son.” We respond: “But evangelism isn’t my gift, and I don’t even know any non-Christians.”
• God says: “Keep far away from sexual immorality.” We respond: “But I have needs that aren’t being met,” or “How will I find my soulmate if I don’t…?”
• God says: “Don’t be greedy for money.” We respond: “I’m not being greedy; I just need enough money to give me security and joy in life.”

Our excuses do nothing to change what God has commanded; they only serve to anger our Father when we behave as disobedient children. We must have humble hearts to simply trust and obey—to do what God asks of us and make no excuses. Moses eventually obeyed God’s commands. Let’s strive to be more compliant than he was.

- Dan Lankford, minister

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