I have a plan for you……………

I have a plan for you…………

                                                        Shibu Joseph

                                                              

Exodus 3:10  Come now therefore, and I will send thee unto Pharaoh, that thou may  bring forth my people the children of Israel out of Egypt.

Now, after forty years of banishment God calls Moses, and says leave thy flock, thy family, and the land of Midian for I have a plan for you, I have been following you in the wilderness now it is the time for you to get out of this place. I have a vision for you; hence, your job, your position, reputation and life are going to be changed. I do not want you to always wander in this wilderness. All what you did in the past was just a training for your future. Your future is not in this wilderness, your lonely life will come to an end, I am going to bring you to the light where you are going to be a greatest leader whom the people of Israel had ever seen in their lives.

God does not start anything which He cannot finish, because He does not start anything from the beginning but from the last. If we write a 400 pages book we start with page no. 1 but when God writes he starts from page no.400 and when He finishes He says man to start. So God had completed your end, you may wonder what your end will be, but God does not, He says your end is a blessing. In Psalm 139: 13-16 God says ‘Before you were born My eyes have seen you and your days are ordained by Me”.

According to Eusebius when God called Moses, the Pharaoh who was ruling Egypt was Cenchres, the successor of Achoris. Now Moses is 80 years old, weak in the body, left alone in the wilderness, nobody to take care. Moses must have thought everything is over, He must have  had remembered all the stories his mother said while he was very young in the palace, that God has a purpose for him, when all his contemporaries were killed by the soldiers of Pharaoh He miraculously delivered him, and one day He will  make him a great man. But now, Moses is frustrated thinking that everything is over.  If God wanted to make me a leader, He could have made me when I had everything in the palace, but now nothing is possible, one day I will strike myself against a stone and die here.

Thinking of his fate, Moses reached the valley of the Mount Horeb, which is called the mountain of God. He saw something supernatural on the top of the mountain. He had seen so many wild fires but this was something different, a bush is being burnt but not being consumed. I believe, God was speaking to Moses, ‘Moses your life also was in the same condition for many years, you were burning in and out but just as this bush is not being consumed I did not allow you to be consumed’.

I do not know how many of you have this experience but I have experienced it. There were many times where I thought I am going to be ashes. Fire came  in and out of my life but my God did not allow me to be consumed.

When God called Moses, he was not ready to accept what God told him, because according to human perspective, he was good for nothing as an eighty years old man. He placed three significant excuses before God.

Who am I? (3:11)

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?

He thinks himself unworthy to do what God demanded from him. He thinks about his background and his situation, an 80 years old man, in the wilderness for 40 years, no one to take care, no position in the society, no good background to be a leader of the people. He thinks he wants courage and skill. The children of Israel are unarmed, undisciplined, quite dispirited, utterly unable to help themselves; it is morally impossible to bring them out. Therefore, he said who am I God?

May be it happens to our lives we are bound with our limitations and inabilities. We miss many opportunities because we count ourselves unworthy. Nevertheless, God says ‘Before you were born I consecrated you and I appointed you’ (Jer. 1:4). Angel came to a small city, Galilee with a special message from God to Mary, she said ‘How can it be, I am a virgin’, virgin can cook, sing, pray but cannot give birth to a child, that is not common or natural. When God chooses you, He chooses you to do some supernatural things, which you cannot do naturally. Angel said to Mary, I know you cannot do it by yourself but ‘Power of God will come upon you”. All what we need is “His Power”. And the angel asked her, ‘Is there anything impossible for God?’ Even today, God is asking the same question to us, is there anything? anything? anything impossible for God?

God said to Moses ‘I will be with you’. The creator of the universe, the El-Shaddai - ‘one who is more than sufficient’ the Almighty God will be with you.

God knows you are subject to the natural limitations, but God wants you to do supernatural things (1 Cor. 1:27).

They will not believe me (4:1)

Now Moses started thinking about his past life, that he is not a good person, and that people may not accept him because he is a murderer. He is worried about his past sinful life. God asked to Moses, cast the stick on ground and when he did, it became a living serpent. He says, if I can turn this dry stick into a living creature how much more will I be able to use you if you obey My words. Secondly, God asked Moses to put his hand onto your bosom, and when he did the same, his hand was leprous as snow. God indirectly tells to Moses that He knew what he meant. I know what you have done with this hand, I know your hand is bloody and sinful, God asked him, put it again on your bosom when he did it his hand became like other flesh of his body, God says I am the one who cleansed you. Do not worry about your past I have washed it and made you worthy to carry out my mission. Many times it happens to us also. Our past life limits us, it becomes an obstacle for us from excelling in our mission. But God says ‘My everlasting mercy is upon you’. Before you committed your first sin I knew you and loved you.

You may have disappointed God but He does not change His plans for you. He still loves you and wants to use you for His will. God says, take out the limitations off your life, stop limiting yourself, “It is not what you think of you, but it is what I think of you”.

People use different doors to come to a hall, it does not matter which door you came but what matters is that you are in the hall. Your background is just an entry for you to come to life, your unworthiness may be the quality that God found in you to carry out His mission.

I am not good in speech (4:10)

Then Moses said to the Lord, “Please, Lord, I have never been eloquent, either recently nor in time past, not since Thou hast spoken to Thy servant; for I am slow of speech and slow of tongue.

Here Moses is worried about his physical weakness. He thinks that it is necessary to be eloquent in order to be a leader. Many times we also look at our physical appearance and underestimate ourselves for God’s purpose.

God answered to Moses with a question, ‘ Moses who made you mouth?’, which means you or your parents came to know that you have a stammering tongue when you were 2 or 3 years old, i.e., when you started speaking, but I am the One who created your mouth and I knew it even before you were formed in the womb of your mother. By knowing everything about you I have called you for My purpose. God said, ‘I will be with your tongue’. He will be with your problems, with your weakness, with your disabilities. His grace is sufficient for you.

My dear ones, God knows everything about our lives much more than we know about our lives. You may have hundreds of problems in your life but God is not worried about your illness, weakness, or disabilities. They are the qualities that God has found in your life. He has a plan and a vision for your life, He does not look at your life like others look at your life, even He does not look at your life as you look at your life. Are you ready to stand for Him, you may have a lot of excuses but still He needs you, He has a plan for you.