Hudson Taylor was scheduled to speak at a large Presbyterian church in Melbourne, Australia. The moderator of the service introduced the missionary in eloquent and glowing terms. He told the congregation all that Taylor had accomplished in China, and then presented him as “our illustrious guest.”

Taylor stood quietly for a moment, then opened his message by saying, “Dear friends, I am the little servant of an illustrious Master.”

There are times when we hesitate to do God’s will because of feelings of inadequacy.

“And Moses said unto God, Who am I, that I should go unto Pharaoh, and that I should bring forth the children of Israel out of Egypt?” (Exodus 3:11).

Moses, in today’s text, felt so inadequate to lead the children of Israel that he offered several excuses to God. He was such a humble man who saw himself not up to the task of bringing Israel out of Egypt. But God had found His man in Moses; therefore, He assured him and persuaded him to accept the task.

God not only reminded Moses of His covenantal promise to Abraham, but used the name “I AM” to teach him about His unchanging nature.

This is because a right concept of God is essential to serving Him with proper perspective. Moses was soon ready to undertake the task. The scepter of Egypt which he had stood to inherit was replaced with the staff of a simple shepherd.

The self-appointed vigilante who had slain an Egyptian taskmaster had, over the space of four decades, become the meekest man on the face of the earth.

We may have at one time acted rashly and took laws into our hands in our zeal to carry out our self appointed tasks in the vineyard of God. Trying to do the work of God ourselves without His mandate is not a very practical plan and God is definitely not in it.

But the Lord will qualify us for the task ahead if we truly and sincerely seek Him, with the mind-set to serve on His terms only.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY: True servants of God are groomed in the furnace of affliction.

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