It is the Lord

“Then the LORD said to him, “Who has made man's mouth? Who makes him mute, or deaf, or seeing, or blind? Is it not I, the LORD? Now therefore go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall speak.” -Exodus 4:11–12

Moses the stutterer can't believe that God would choose him to speak on his behalf to the Hebrews enslaved in Egypt but he does. In his choosing, there is equipping and empowering. Moses won't have to figure it out himself, and God will even use Aaron alongside his brother to be the mouthpiece. This is a great account of God working redemption of his people with the most unlikely of characters.

There is a message here for you too. You are an unlikely character. God has called you to live and pursue certain things that will seem ridiculous, as if he should find someone else. But he has chosen you. He is your Creator, so can you doubt that he will “be with your mouth,” or whatever else he will use for his glory. So jump in. Live out that calling, because it comes from the Lord.

But there is also something else here, a little deeper, that reveals the way God always works and specifically how your salvation and sanctification take place.

God, in his grace, comes to the incapable, the ill-equipped, the weak. He comes to those who could never come to him. That is all of us. He does the work. Jesus lives the life of obedience. Jesus covers you in his righteousness by his blood that conquers wrath for you. He empowers your new life through the Spirit. He is the agent of accomplishment and transformation. It is all of the Lord.

It really never was about your ability or resume. It has always been about the Lord. Because you have faith in him, and his life is yours, you can jump in and live out your calling. Fully secure, fully known, and fully empowered.

Today, know it is the Lord.

Sustained and Guiltless

“I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus, that in every way you were enriched in him in all speech and all knowledge — even as the testimony about Christ was confirmed among you — so that you are not lacking in any gift, as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will sustain you to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.” -1 Corinthians 1:4–8

The opening prayer in this letter to the Corinthian church is one of thankfulness. They have been given grace by God in Jesus, and Paul prays that they would be enriched in the faith and not lack.

Jesus will sustain you to the end, and in him, you are guiltless. These words are not only for this first century church—they are for you today if you believe in Jesus.

For the journey of life, the ups and downs, the path that is before you — in all of it, Jesus will sustain you. He brings you to the end on purpose, empowered by him for life. This is a tremendous relief. He doesn't start us off and just hope we will finish well. He maintains and sustains us through all of life. Face whatever comes your way know this: Jesus will sustain you.

And he will make you guiltless in the day of judgment (1 Cor. 1:8). As you stand before his throne, you wear his righteousness, his perfection, his guiltlessness. This is ours when we believe that Jesus is the God-man, and he only saves sinners for whom he lived a perfect life, died a substitutionary death, and rose from the dead.

What good news this is indeed