Weekly Devotional
They Also Serve
Read Exodus 4:10-16 (NRSV)
But Moses said to the LORD, "O my Lord, I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor even now that you have spoken to your servant; but I am slow of speech and slow of tongue." Then the LORD said to him, "Who gives speech to mortals? Who makes them mute or deaf, seeing or blind? Is it not I, the LORD? Now go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you are to speak." But he said, "O my Lord, please send someone else." Then the anger of the LORD was kindled against Moses and he said, "What of your brother Aaron the Levite? I know that he can speak fluently; even now he is coming out to meet you, and when he sees you his heart will be glad. You shall speak to him and put the words in his mouth; and I will be with your mouth and with his mouth, and will teach you what you shall do. He indeed shall speak for you to the people; he shall serve as a mouth for you, and you shall serve as God for him.
GOD would not allow Moses to use a handicap as an excuse to back away from what God asked him to do. After Moses reluctantly agreed, he found that with God's guidance, he was able to lead the people out of bondage.
Through the ages, God has strengthened and worked through those with impairments. Their accomplishments have been a witness to what is possible when we realize that God is with us. John Milton, the British poet who wrote Paradise Lost, was blind. Speaker and writer Helen Keller was both deaf and blind. Both are awesome examples of the power of God. When we have an emptiness, God fills it.
When I become despondent because of the physical impairments of my advancing years, I remember the nation that grew from Abraham and Sarah, who seemed too old to have a child. If I give myself to my church and community, God will still work through me. In whatever I do, I can serve as a witness that God will use my gifts and talents, despite the limitations that come with aging.
Raymond Bottom (Mississippi, USA)
Prayer
O Lord, help us to see our opportunities to help others. Amen.
Thought for the Day
At every stage of our lives, God can use our talents to serve others.
-from The Upper Room, Daily Devotional Guide, May-June 2009
