"I don't know what to say."
In Exodus 4:12 Moses has been giving his excuses to God about why the idea of sending him back to Egypt to deliver the Israelites from slavery is not going to work. His main objection centers around his INABILITY to speak...to say the right words in such a way that both Pharaoh and the Israelites would listen to him.
God's response is repeated: "I will be with your mouth, and teach you what you are to say.”
God's response is repeated: "I will be with your mouth, and teach you what you are to say.”
Moses didn't have to figure out what words to use. God was going to give him the exact script to deliver. Moses' job was just to repeat what God said.
"They won't believe."
God has told him in Exodus 3:18 that "the people will listen," but that Pharaoh won't let them go "except under compulsion." Having nothing to go on but his prior failed experience (plus 40 years of thinking of the failure!), Moses requests some sort of sign that the people will believe his words, and that Pharaoh will let the people go. Even after the signs, Moses comes back to "I've never been eloquent."
Hard hearts won't respond to words or signs.
As the story plays out, it becomes apparent that Moses' ability or inability at saying "the right thing"...or saying it in "the right way" had no bearing at all on persuading Pharaoh. Why not? Because his words merely uncovered the hard stubborn rebellion that Pharaoh harbored against God. The "unresponsiveness" of Pharaoh was a fight he was in with God...not Moses.
The message was very simple: "God says, 'Let My people go that they may worship Me."
The message was very simple: "God says, 'Let My people go that they may worship Me."
The message was very simple. It did not need an eloquent speaker, it needed an obedient repeater.
Moses never "persuaded" Pharaoh by his words to release the Israelite slaves. When viewing the task from his imagination in the desert, he was consumed by his inability. But the thing that he saw as essential for God's plan to work was a non-factor, because the goal was not to win Pharaoh to a reasoned understanding of God's plan, but was to showcase the glory of God in redeeming the Israelites out of their helpless slavery.
How easy it is to think that there is "something more" than the simple Word of God that will persuade a proud and stubborn heart. To imagine that if only I had "the right words" a "more winsome personality" or "said it in just the right way" it would produce some amazing result in the heart of someone who has rejected God.
The truth is that if someone has a stubborn heart toward God, they will not respond to His simple and clear words, no matter how those words are said.
What is our response to be? Not to trust in a new method or change the message to be "more appealing" but to continue obediently speaking the simple words of God with clarity, knowing that God is working out His own purposes. Paul provided an example in II Cor. 5:20 when he said, "Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God."
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