Mustard Stains and Stuttering Speech

Mike Leake

One mustard stain can ruin everything.  It doesn’t really matter that 99.4% of my shirt is clean.  It’s that .6% of mustard stain (or maybe 15% pending on how I tackled that sandwich) that my eyes immediately go to. 

We are like that aren’t we?  Some more than others.  We tend to focus on the blemishes.  Blemishes have a tendency to register a pretty hefty on the “am I cool or not” scale.  Enough blemishes (whether perceived or real) and you won’t feel adequate even if you have a staff that turns into a snake or a hand that can change from leprosy to healed quicker than a Hollywood “marriage”. 

In Exodus 4 an insecure Moses tells the LORD that he is afraid the people will not listen to him.  To help Moses God empowers his staff to turn into a serpent and back again.  If that doesn’t do the trick then he will do his sweet leprosy-hands trick.  If even then they do not listen God assures him that this third thing will certainly garner their confidence…he will turn water from the Nile into blood. 

To this Moses responds:

“Oh, my Lord, I am not eloquent, either in the past or since you have spoken to your servant, but I am slow of speech and tongue.” 

Seriously, Moses?  You have a staff that can turn into a snake and you are afraid people will laugh at your lisp? 

But maybe Moses is on to something.  I mean what do you remember about Mike Tyson?  Of course you remember that he was a beast in the ring, he bit a guys ear, he did time in prison, etc.  But you also remember his voice don’t you?  It kind of made it hard to take him all that seriously because no matter how hard he could punch his voice didn’t match the muscle and we couldn’t take him serious.

His Grace is Sufficient

So, why then doesn’t God change Moses’ speech?  That seems to be something that Moses is sort of asking when he says, “or since you have spoken to your servant”.  It seems as if Moses is saying, “heal my tongue and I’m all yours”. “Cure my blemish, God, and I’ll jaunt into Pharaoh’s house right now and tell him what’s up”. 

But that is not what God does is it?  Instead he says, “I’ll be with your mouth and teach you what you shall speak”. 

Fast forward a few millenniums to the apostle Paul, who has a thorn in the flesh.  We have really no idea what this thorn is other than that it was a “messenger of Satan sent to torment”.  This is Paul’s “blemish”.  He, like Moses, pleaded with God to take it away.  And just like with Moses, God’s response was, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness”. 

What does this mean for you and I?  It means that God probably is not going to fix all of our weaknesses or cure all of our blemishes.  It also means that He doesn’t need to.  Our life is about magnifying the Lord—His power is made perfect in our weaknesses.  So, may we like Paul

“boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.  For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities.  For when I am weak, then I am strong. 

In other words God loves, uses, and magnifies himself in the midst of mustard stains—no matter how many or how large.  His grace truly is sufficient. 

Jesus Did Not Call You to Quit

Mike Leake

In the very last lines of Dave Kraft’s book Leaders Who Last he says this:

My fellow leader, Jesus did not call, equip, and put you into a leadership role to have you start and then quit, plateau, or be disqualified.  He called you to finish the race, and finish it well.  It is my prayer that you, with his help, will be a leader who lasts, a leader who will hear those wonderful words as you hit the ribbon in full stride: ‘Well done, good and faithful servant.’”

I really needed to hear this today.  Perhaps you do to.  Keep pressing on…

Quick Review of Life of John Knox

Mike Leake

I love books.  I especially love old books.  I am beginning to use e-readers a little more but I am confident that nothing will ever be able to replace the look and feel of having a book in your hand; especially an old book. 

Attic Books (a division of the New Leaf Publishing Group) is doing something amazing; they are taking old biographies and putting them back in print.  A few months ago I had the opportunity to review The Life of Luther by Barnas Sears.  Shortly after that review I requested a copy of The Life of John Knox in exchange for a review. 

I will repeat here what I said in my review of Life of Luther:

As a bibliophile (that’s book lover) I have to say that the look of these books is amazing.  I love the “old” feel to them, with their somewhat dilapidated looking edges and rustic covers.  There is something that makes reading history feel more significant when the book feels older. 

This Life of John Knox was originally published in 1833 by the American Sunday-School Union.  Because it comes from a different time period the biographer is able to be a little more slanted that what is accepted in our day.  That is part of what I love about these older biographies.  As an example, rather than commenting as a neutral observer on the Mary Queen of Scots’ involvement in the religious issues of Scotland, the author of this work leaves no doubt where he stands:

In the mean while the reformation was still making progress, and its secret enemy, the queen-regent, from political causes, was under the necessity of wearing the mask a little longer, in order to accomplish her schemes…but as soon as the artful regent attained her wishes she began to throw off the mask.  (46)

I love reading history that is written not from a detached observer but from someone that is passionate about the subject.  One certainly has to be careful in reading this type of history—but it is engaging and at times very helpful nonetheless. 

Reading the Life of Knox is not drudgery.  It is actually only 140 short pages.  It is a very quick read, but sometimes a little difficult because the paragraphs sometimes take up three to four pages.  If you plan on reading this in a couple of sittings or chapters at a time you will not find the longer paragraphs too burdensome. 

Who is John Knox?

I will not assume that all of my readers know of John Knox.  Knox is mostly known as the father of the Scottish Reformation.  As many of the Reformers in this period did, Knox spent a good amount of time in and out of prison or exile for non-conformity.  One area where Knox did conform however, was in wearing a sweet beard like many other Scots in his day.  Every man would hope to have his beard a subject of his eulogy—Knox is one of those fortunate ones, as one biographer notes:

John Knox was a man of small stature, and of a weakly constitution; and according to the custom of the times, wore a long beard reaching down to this middle.  (129)

Knox was a bold man that not only preached the gospel boldly before congregations each Lord’s Day but also did not tickle the Queen’s ears.  Knox boldly proclaimed the truth of Jesus to a Mary Queen of Scots and it did not gain him many friends. 

His life is a fascinating story and a model of faithfulness to Jesus despite persecution. 

At only 140 pages this biography is certainly one that is worth adding to your library.  You can do so here. 

You’ll Know When You Get There

Mike Leake

I tend to give the type of directions that people hate.  Actually, I give the type of directions that I hate.  You know the ones that are never detailed and usually end with something like, “don’t worry you’ll know when you get there—you can’t miss it”. 

Well, what if I do miss it?  What if I’m a total moron?  I am the guy that once stopped at a gas station to get directions for the building across the street.  It is possible that I could totally miss the obvious building that even a monkey could drive to. 

These type of directions stress me out because they require a good amount of trust in the person giving them.  First of all, I have to trust that he/she knows my level of imbecility.  I have to trust that if he says I cannot miss it—he genuinely knows that I CANNOT miss it this time.  Secondly, I have to trust that he/she really can guide me to this “obvious” location. 

God’s Answer to Moses

“Trust me” type of directions can be really disconcerting.  And it is precisely these type of directions that God gives Moses in Exodus 3. 

Moses says to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?”  His question is certainly sensible.  Who is Moses that he—a stuttering murderer—should lead Israel out of Egypt? 

If I were Moses and God responded to me in this way, I’m not sure that I would have found what he said helpful.  Check out God’s response:

“But I will be with you, and this shall be a sign for you, that I have sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain”.

In other words God is saying, “once you’ve brought them out of Egypt then you will know that I called you to bring them out of Egypt”. 

Is “I will be with you” enough?

I wouldn’t have been cool with this response.  I should be cool with this response—but I’m not.  The problem is with me, not with God’s answer.  But I don’t want God to say, “trust me, you’ll know it when you get there”.  I want God to give me a picture now, map it out.  Don’t just tell me—once this has been accomplished you’ll look back and say—see I told you so.  I don’t like that because that takes some serious trust. 

The key to this text—the foundation of what God said to Moses—is this statement: “But I will be with you”.  That should be enough shouldn’t it?  Moses asks, “who am I”, to which God responds, “It’s not who you are, Moses, that matters.  What matters is that I AM, and I am going with you.” 

Is it enough for me today that God says, I am with you?  Because in Jesus I have the certain promise, “I am with you always”.  Christ has not left us as orphans—through His Spirit, He is now with us always.  Is that enough?  Is God’s presence enough for me today or do I need a map?

Do I trust God enough for him to say, “You’ll know when you get there”?