The Lord said to him, "Who placed a mouth on humans? Who makes a person mute or deaf, seeing or blind? Is it not I, the Lord?" (Exodus 4:11)
I took my first crack at public speaking at age seven. It was the Christmas dinner party for my dad’s business. One of the more creative—or sadistic—executives in the company decided it would be a good idea to have a family talent show as the after-dinner program. This was the same clever ladder-climbing, brown-nosing executive who always tousled my hair and called me “the president’s young son.”
Somehow, my parents convinced me that my dramatic soliloquy of the words to “O Little Town of Bethlehem” would be a showstopper. And because I believed grown-ups are never wrong, I naively agreed to perform.
Like it was last month, I remember how I felt walking out on the stage, gazing around the room filled mostly with grown-ups who were total strangers, and beginning to speak: “O little . . . town of . . . uh (swallow) . . . Bethlehem, how still . . . er . . . uh (gasp). . . we see thee . . . lie.”
I could hardly breathe. My head was spinning out of control. Then dizziness was replaced by nausea. Will I ever get through this? I remember wondering. I’m amazed that I lived to tell the story. But I did.
In the once-in-a-lifetime conversation with God, we mentioned yesterday, the Lord told Moses to give a speech—one that was much more difficult than reciting the lyrics to a familiar Christmas carol at an office dinner party. God told Moses to stand in front of the intimidating pharaoh—the ruler of what was then the greatest nation on earth—and order him to release the Jews from captivity.
Who can blame Moses for arguing with God? Who wouldn’t find themselves cotton-mouthed and spit-less in the face of such an unbelievable assignment? After several minutes of dialogue, God delivered the clincher (see v. 11): “Hey Moses, who made your mouth?”
The argument came to a screeching halt.
This just might be a day for such a dramatic reminder. No matter how tough the assignment—speaking, writing, thinking, creating, a phone call with an adversary—God can accomplish anything through your mouth, your hands, your intellect, or your mind. After all, He made them. And He can make them work.
This will be a big help to you and me today