Friday, August 15, 2025
This devotion pairs with this weekend’s Lutheran Hour sermon, which can be found at lhm.org.
Exodus 3:12 – He [God] said [to Moses], “But I will be with you, and this shall be the sign for you, that I have sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain.”
The story of Moses shows how God can use one person in marvelous ways.
After his mother placed her baby, Moses, in some Nile River bulrushes to conceal him from Pharoah’s devilish plan to murder Israel’s newborn males, the boy survived and over time thrived. Raised and educated as an Egyptian, young Moses did not forget his Hebrew ancestry. So much so, that one day he killed an Egyptian who was mistreating a fellow Hebrew. When this was discovered, Moses fled to the land of Midian.
It was there that God had bigger things for Moses. One day, while tending the family’s sheepfold, God encountered Moses in a burning bush. He wanted Moses to re-enter Egypt, contact Pharoah, and lead the children of Israel toward the Promised Land.
This man of destiny was not impressed, though. He balked at God’s commission for his life. “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?” (Exodus 3:11b). Even after God’s reassurance of His presence for the task ahead, Moses hesitated: “They will not believe me or listen to my voice, for they will say, ‘The Lord did not appear to you’” (Exodus 3:1b).
When Moses again challenged God with his lack of speaking ability, God said, “Now therefore go, and I will be with your mouth and will teach you what you shall speak” (Exodus 4:12). Moses was a real man. And the real man that he was, he had one more suggestion: “Oh, my Lord, please, please send someone else” (Exodus 4:13b). Eventually, God enlisted Moses’ brother Aaron to help Moses do what Moses could have done himself.
Now, finally, the stuttering man of destiny fell silent. His unwillingness had had its say and his stubbornness its little day. But no matter what, God was going to have His way. God does not always call the most gifted to serve Him. His heroes have flaws big enough to spoil the whole business. And here it appears that Moses did his best to derail his part of the operation.
God has His way with people in spite of their flaws and failures. His servants are vessels of clay, turned by His grace into instruments of glory. It is in human weakness rather than in human strength that the power of God is made known. The apostle Paul understood this truth. Knowing God’s grace and power, he said, “For when I am weak, then I am strong” (1 Corinthians 12:10b).
There is only One whom God did send without flaw of any kind: the Lamb of God Himself, without blemish or spot (see 1 Peter 1:19), a prophet like unto Moses but greater than Moses (see Hebrews 3:1-6), who is like all of us in all points except one—He was without sin (see Hebrews 4:14-16).
Jesus gave Himself freely and unselfishly in obedience to the Father “who desires all people to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Timothy 2:4). Jesus is our committed Servant and Savior! No stammerer or stutterer is He! Have faith in Christ and follow Him. “In Him was life, and the life was the light of men” (John 1:4).
WE PRAY: Heavenly Father, bless my mouth to tell others about Jesus. In His Name I pray. Amen.
This Daily Devotion is based on a sermon, “The Stuttering Man of Destiny,” by Rev. Dr. Oswald Hoffmann, former Speaker of The Lutheran Hour.
Reflection Questions: