The Danger of Questioning God...

I am really bad about it...questioning God that is.  I want to second guess everything. 

"Was that really what He said? Maybe He wasn't talking to me.  Does He know I am not qualified to do this?  Maybe He thought I was someone else. Can you give me some MORE confirmation?!"

The Lord has used several scriptures lately to teach me a very, hard lesson.

A couple of weeks ago, Pastor Brian preached on Exodus 3-4 when God asked Moses to lead the Israelites out of Egypt.  Moses questioned God MORE THAN once.  God reassured him again and again and even gave Moses some miracles in his back pocket just in case.  He still questioned God and told Him he was not eloquent enough to do the task.  Wasn't there someone else?!?!

In chapters 3 and 4 of Exodus, these are the times Moses questioned God......

• 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?”  

•  ¹³ Then Moses said to God, “Behold, I am going to the sons of Israel, and I will say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you.’ Now they may say to me, ‘What is His name?’ What shall I say to them?" 

• 4 Then Moses said, “What if they will not believe me or listen ^[n]to what I say? For they may say, ‘The Lord has not appeared to you.’”  

• ¹⁰ Then Moses said to the Lord, “Please, Lord, I have never been ^[s]eloquent, neither ^[t]recently nor in time past, nor since You have spoken to Your servant; for I am ^[u]slow of speech and ^[v]slow of tongue.” 

• ¹³ But he said, “Please, Lord, now ^[w]send the message by whomever You will.”

¹⁴ Then the anger of the Lord burned against Moses, and He said, “Is there not your brother Aaron the Levite? I know that ^[x]he speaks fluently. And moreover, behold, he is coming out to meet you; when he sees you, he will be glad in his heart. ¹⁵ You are to speak to him and put the words in his mouth; and I, even I, will be with your mouth and his mouth, and I will teach you what you are to do. ¹⁶ Moreover, he shall speak for you to the people; and he will be as a mouth for you and you will be as God to him. ¹⁷ You shall take in your hand this staff, with which you shall perform the signs.”

God got so tired of Moses second guessing or questioning God that He gave the job to someone else, Moses' brother Aaron.  The Lord was fully prepared to equip Moses however Moses continued to question.   

One of my favorite quotes remains,"God doesn't call the qualified, He qualifies the call!"

If you don't take Him at His word, He will choose someone else!  OUCH!

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Then as I was reading this past week in Luke 1 when an angel of the Lord appears to Zechariah to tell him that he and his barren wife Elizabeth would have a child to prepare the way of the Lord (John the Baptist).  After God had told him that "Your son will be a joy and delight to you and many will rejoice because of his birth.  For he will do great in the sight of the Lord", he questioned God as well.  He replied....

• ¹⁸ Zacharias said to the angel, “How will I know this for certain? For I am an old man and my wife is advanced in ^[n]years.” 

¹⁹ The angel answered and said to him, “I am Gabriel, who ^[o]stands in the presence of God, and I have been sent to speak to you and to bring you this good news. ²⁰ And behold, you shall be silent and unable to speak until the day when these things take place, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their proper time.” 

Zechariah questioned God enough that He made him MUTE.  And because of his lack of faith, I am sure that his wife suffered too.  I mean, she couldn't speak to her husband for the rest of the pregnancy. That has to be tough!  So it not only affected him, but others as well.

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And of course we all know the story of Jonah and how God told him to go to Nineveh and he chose to run the other direction.  God was intent on fulfilling his purpose through Jonah, so he took him on a LONG, gross (in the belly of a whale...yuck!) trip around the world for him to give in and surrender to what God had called him to do.

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In all of these instances, God's purpose was fulfilled WITH or WITHOUT Moses, Zechariah, Jonah (or Amanda).  The Lord has taught me that whatever it is He has called me to do, He WILL equip me, expects me to TRUST Him completely, and take Him at His WORD...without questioning!  It is hard to do yet if we don't He will choose someone else to fulfill his purpose.  And someone else will in turn receive the blessing from obedience instead of you. 

Here I am, LORD, send me!