Online Reporter
Pastor Sikhumbuzo Dube
Dark clouds swept across the sky, swirling in slate and charcoal colours, looming menacingly overhead. The light was absorbed by their vast, billowing forms, resulting in darkness enveloping the surrounding area. Distant thunder echoes drummed through the hills, and the cool easterly breeze felt heavy with the fresh, delightful scent of approaching rain, blended with a subtle hint of earthiness. The clouds began to take on a life of their own as they gathered, moving and morphing like a vast tapestry of nature’s fury, foreshadowing the impending storm that would unleash its force upon the globe.
The ground swallowed the droplets as the rain began to pour down heavily and ceaselessly. Thirsty from the prolonged drought, it enthusiastically took them in, filling every underground belly. Overfed by the water she received, the ground started to release it into the connected streams and rivers, which surged furiously as they uprooted trees and shrubs in their path.
Nearby, a boy watched the flooded river act out. Excited by the swirling water as it shredded the trees like paper, he threw a stick to see what would happen. Unfortunately, he slipped and was submerged by the furious river. His courageous brother, seeing what had happened, did not take a moment to think but acted like a warrior. He plunged headlong into the furious river searching for his drowning brother. After a long struggle, he grabbed him and brought him to the bank. He helped his little brother to vomit all the water he had swallowed. The little brother survived because of the brother’s care.
This big brother demonstrated what I call courageous care. The 21st century has raised men who are afraid to stand up for the right things. I will use a biblical example to illustrate what fear does to a man. Moses with all his training refused to be called by God. This is what I call the Mosaic Stages of Fear.
Figuratively speaking, Moses Levi graduated from Midian State University; a university whose professors were: Jethro, his wife and children and the Chancellor was God himself. The Chancellor called him in a burning bush. It was a charge for his life assignment.
Have you ever been asked to take up a challenging post? God was interviewing you to take up the post to save “troubled Israel”. No one can fit into your shoes. God’s call is to everyone. He says: “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?”
He is waiting for you to shout, “Here I am, Lord send me”. There is a shortage of manpower in the churches, schools, hospitals, and other institutions because someone has refused to accept God’s calling. Consider the following interview with God:
Stage One: False Introspection
God: I am able.
“Come now therefore, and I will send thee unto Pharaoh, that thou mayest bring forth my people the children of Israel out of Egypt” (Exodus 3 verse 10).
Moses: But I have no ability.
“Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh, and that I should bring forth the children of Israel out of Egypt?” (Exodus 3 verse 11).
Moses looked at who he was — although he was a mighty army general — he downgraded himself to a man of no abilities.
This is the first stage of fear where you compare your abilities with the task. When God tells you, “It can be done,” do not ask how. He will do it through you! Paul did not suffer from this stage. He said, “I can do it through Christ’s unlimited power!” When duty calls, the Lord does not only send, he gives enabling power. Doesn’t inspiration say, “His biddings are his enablings?”
Stage Two: False Judgment
God: I will give the message.
“Certainly I will be with thee” (Exodus 3 verse 12)
Moses: What if they don’t hear my message?
“Behold when I come unto the children of Israel and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you, and they shall say to me, what is his name? What shall I say unto them?” (Exodus 3 verse 13)
Stage Three: False Self-Concept
Moses: What if they doubt my authority?
“But behold, they will not believe me nor hearken unto my voice: for they will say, the Lord hath not appeared unto thee” (Exodus 4 verse 1)
Moses seems to be disqualifying himself. He is reducing himself to nonentity. This is what many Christian motivational writers call, “grasshopper mentality”. Someone said, “Grasshopper mentality refuses that you can grow beyond two inches long.”
Stage Four: False Affirmation
Moses: But I am not eloquent.
“O my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither heretofore, nor since thou hast spoken unto thy servant: but I am slow of speech, and of slow tongue” (Exodus 4 verse 10)
Excuses make God very angry. He says, “Who hath made man’s mouth? Or who maketh the dumb, or deaf, or the seeing, or the blind? Have not I the LORD?” (Exodus 4 verse 11). Moses was not telling the truth. He had been a general for the armies of Egypt. A general should be able to speak clearly. When Steven was preaching he said, “Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and was mighty in words and in deeds” (Acts 7 verse 22).
Stage Five: Rejection of the Call
God: I want you to go!
“Now therefore go, I will be thy mouth, and teach thee what thou shalt say” (Exodus 4 verse 12).
Moses: But I don’t want to go!
“O my Lord, send I pray thee by the hand of him whom thou wilt send” (Exodus 4 verse 13).
Stop filling your basket with “ifs, what ifs and buts of fear” from Lucifer’s hypermarket. Fear not! God has made a provision. God bless you on your royal road to the realms of success. Be the man that God has called you to be.
*Pastor Sikhumbuzo Dube is a chaplain, counsellor, marriage coach and founder of Shunem Care, a ministry to the involuntarily childless and emotionally wounded. He has published several articles on spiritual care, mental health, chaplaincy, and involuntary childlessness.
