Daily Bread 6.24.20

By June 24, 2020Daily Bread

Good morning! I hope this day finds you and your family well, and I want you to know that you are in my prayers daily during this difficult time.

I invite you to take a few moments with me to reflect on today’s Upper Room Devotional below — as well as on the theology woven into “It is well with my soul.”

Special thanks to Peggy Graff and her guests for providing this uplifting and inspiring addition to us in her Hymn-a-Day May series. I pray that these paired daily selections will uplift your spirits and feed your soul as much as it does mine.

Today’s Scripture:

Exodus 4:10-13 New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

10 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.” 11 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? 12 Now go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you are to speak.” 13 But he said, “O my Lord, please send someone else.”

One of the beloved hymns in our United Methodist Hymnal is “Here I am, Lord.”  It is based on the call of the prophet Isaiah in Isaiah 6:8 and his answer:  “Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, ‘Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?’ And I said, ‘Here am I; send me!’”

We want to be that responsive to God’s call on our lives, so we sing that hymn to remind ourselves and to voice our readiness to respond to God’s call.  However, if we are honest, we know that answering that call isn’t always east and we don’t always respond like Isaiah.  Sometimes our response is more like Moses when God calls him to lead the people out of slavery in Egypt.  At first he says, “Suppose they do not believe me or listen to me.”  A valid concern, don’t you think?  In response, God equips Moses to demonstrate the power of God to set the people free.

Then, there’s this concern that Moses has:  “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.”  In response, God reminds Moses who have him the ability to speak in the first place and that he would give him the words to speak when the time came, saying, “Now go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you are to speak.”

Then, how did Moses respond?  Like Isaiah would respond much later to his call?  Hardly.  Moses replied, “O my Lord, please send someone else.”

So, there is always before us this choice in our own response when we know that God is calling us to serve in some way:  “O my Lord, please send someone else” or “Here I am, Lord; send me.”

Thank you for sharing this early moment of your day with me, with God, and with the words and music that I hope you will carry with you throughout the coming day and night.

I am so grateful for you, for our church, and for the Love that will see us all through this very difficult time. Please stay safe and well and we’ll be together again in spirit tomorrow morning!

Grace and Peace,


Dr. Tim Bruster
Senior Pastor

Here’s more about this passage of scripture via Upper Room devotionals:

GOD’S CALL

Even when I feel uncertain, God will equip me to serve others.

read more