Narrative Lectionary Key Verse for Today
“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.’”
NL Daily Devotion for Sunday, September 28, 2025
by Pr. Matthias Lorimor, Clergy Stuff
Main Idea: Believers minister not because of who we are, but because God is with us.
Moses is the patron saint of every reluctant, nervous, and unqualified person who ever resisted a call to ministry. While it’s typical for those whom God calls in scripture to protest at least once before they agree to serve, Moses’ protests seem endless. Moses says he’s too insignificant to speak to Pharoah (3:10), that he doesn’t know enough (3:12), that he’s a terrible public speaker (4:10), and even after he runs through his list of reasons, Moses still just begs “please send someone else” (4:13). It’s perhaps understandable why God would get a little frustrated with Moses (4:14). And while it will no doubt be a comfort for any anxious minister to know they are not the first person to feel under-qualified or under-equipped to answer God’s call, perhaps what is most encouraging are the reassurances God gives.
To Moses’ objection that he’s an unqualified nobody, God reassures him that what matters most is that “I will be with you” and God will see it through (3:12). To the protest that he doesn’t know God well enough, God gives Moses God’s own name, “I AM,” because God is the One who is there for Moses (3:14). Moses isn’t eloquent enough, so God determines to teach Moses what to say (4:12). Moses still begs not to go, so God assures him he won’t minister alone (4:14). For every potential problem, anxious short-coming, and logical reason Moses has not to answer God’s call, God gives Moses the reassurance of knowing that he can, not because of who Moses is, but because of who God is. In the end, that is the hope and the confidence that every believer who hears God’s call to serve, to feed, to teach, to heal, to minister can hold onto. We minister not because of who we are, but because of who God is and because God goes with us.
—Pr. Mattheis Lorimor
