Choosing the Right Path

 When I was in college and home for the holidays, my dad and I visited a farmer who was selling some livestock. After negotiations were settled and we were enjoying coffee, the conversation turned personal. With tear-filled eyes, the farmer related how he, as a young adult, believed God meant for him to be a minister, but he had refused God’s call and remained on the family farm.

Everyone decides which path they should follow in life. Every choice requires some significant sacrifice. Moses would have to renounce a secure shepherd’s life before experiencing the future God planned for him. He offered numerous excuses for remaining a shepherd.

One was, "I have never been a good speaker, and nothing has changed since you, God, have been speaking to me from this burning bush."  God responded, "I will be with you to inspire your words.” Caution is normal when the future cannot be known, but remember this: God's adequacy is greater than your feelings of inadequacy.

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The steps of the godly are directed by the Lord. He delights in each step they take. If they fall, it isn’t fatal, for the Lord holds them with his hand.

~Psalm 37:23-24 The Living Bible

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Communications Limitations

Communication is often limited by prescribed rules. At school children learn to refrain from speaking until permission is granted. These limitations become more restrictive with age and maturity. At home a child is prohibited from speaking in a disrespectable tone of voice. These and other limitations will continue throughout life.

There are self-imposed limitations to communication. Members of certain families may go for days, even months, without speaking. These self-imposed limitations usually are anchored in some level of anger, or even hatred. Shyness grounded in anxiety and fear or in embarrassment can also diminish communication.

Moses believed he was handicapped as a speaker and would be a liability to God. When he realized what God could do with a handicap, his confidence improved. He later became God’s most distinguished prophet. The Apostle Paul declared, “I can do all things through Christ Jesus, who gives me strength.” Never doubt what God can do with you. 

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Moses replied, “I have never been a good speaker. I wasn’t one before you spoke to me, and I’m not one now. I am slow at speaking, and I can never think of what to say.” But the Lord answered, “Who makes people able to speak or makes them deaf or unable to speak? Who gives them sight or makes them blind? Don’t you know that I am the one who does these things? Now go! When you speak, I will be with you and give you the words to say.”  

~Exodus 4:10-12 Contemporary English Version

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Subscribe to the Attitudes Answers podcast on your favorite podcast platform to hear this and other 2-minute features 3 days every week.