Tim’s Daily Bread Devotional 6.26.22

By June 26, 2022Daily Bread

Good morning!

I hope this day finds you and your family well. I invite you to take a few moments with me to read and reflect upon today’s scripture selection — and to carry these thoughts with you into your day.

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.”

 

Tim’s Devotional Reflection for Today

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 voice our readiness to respond to God’s call.  However, if we are honest, we know that answering that call isn’t always easy, 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, Moses has this concern: “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 gave 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.”

 

Hymn: “God of Love and God of Power”

by Gerald H. Kennedy (ca. 1939)

God of love and God of power,
grant us in this burning hour
grace to ask these gifts of thee,
daring hearts and spirits free.
God of love and God of power,
thou hast called us for this hour.

We are not the first to be
banished by our fears from thee;
give us courage, let us hear
heaven’s trumpets ringing clear.
God of love and God of power,
thou hast called us for this hour.

All our lives belong to thee,
thou our final loyalty;
slaves are we whene’er we share
that devotion anywhere.
God of love and God of power,
thou hast called us for this hour.

God of love and God of power,
make us worthy of this hour;
offering lives if it’s thy will,
keeping free our spirits still.
God of love and God of power,
thou hast called us for this hour.

Thank you for sharing this moment of your day with me, with God, and with these reflections on a portion of scripture.  I hope you will carry these with you throughout your day and night.

Grace and Peace,


Dr. Tim Bruster
Senior Pastor