Availability

Ever since I was a kid, I wanted to be someone everyone could count on.

I always wanted to be available to help or serve in any way I could. I wanted to be the guy. But sometimes, wanting to be the guy causes me to miss hearing from THE GUY. Sometimes, I’m so worried or concerned with pleasing those around me that I completely miss the call from God. See, God isn’t always looking for the most popular, the busiest, or the most put-together people. He uses the humble. The lowly and the weak. The nobody’s. Think of Moses, a man who is described as not eloquent and who is a sluggish speaker. He led the Israelites out of Egypt and through The Red Sea. Why? Because he didn’t miss the call.  

Exodus 3:1-4 says:

“Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro, his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the far side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. There, the angel of the Lord appeared to him in flames of fire from within a bush. Moses saw that though the bush was on fire, it did not burn up.  So Moses thought, “I will go over and see this strange sight—why the bush does not burn up.” When the Lord saw that he had gone over to look, God called to him from within the bush, “Moses! Moses!” And Moses said, “Here I am.”

I wish that I answered like Moses does every time God calls me. But often, I respond like Adam.

Genesis 3:9 says, “But the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?”

God called to Adam with the question, “Where are you?” God knew where he was. Adam was being given a chance. But having just sinned, in verse 8, he says, “I heard the sound of You in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid myself.”

We worship God by doing what he says. God has a purpose, and we have a choice. We can say “Here I am, Lord,” as Moses did, and God will use us. Or we can repeat Adam’s reaction and run from God. I pray that today and every day, we strive to answer the call with “Here I am, Lord.” Here I am.