Exodus 4.
It’s the moment God calls Moses into leadership, it’s big, Holy ground kind of stuff. But instead of stepping up with confidence, Moses spirals into self-doubt:
“What if they won’t listen?”
“I’ve never been good with words.”
“Please send someone else.”
What’s going on here? Moses wasn’t lazy or uninterested. He was insecure. But that insecurity didn’t appear out of nowhere, It started with comparison.
Moses was focused on who he wasn’t…not who God is. He compared himself to the people he thought would be better suited, and the spiral began.
Comparison leads to insecurity. Insecurity leads to excuses. And excuses keep us stuck.
We see this every day.
In ministry, and parenting and our jobs.
We see someone else’s gifting, platform, or confidence, and it paralyzes us. We think, “I could never do it like them,” so we don’t do it at all.
But that mindset isn’t humility….it’s disobedience dressed in insecurity.
Tim Keller once said,
“If you’re afraid of other people’s opinions, you’re not really humble. You’re just being controlled by pride in a different form.”
And C.S. Lewis reminds us,
“Humility is not thinking less of yourself, it’s thinking of yourself less.”
God doesn’t call Moses to be Aaron. He calls Moses to trust. To use what’s already in his hand.
“What’s that in your hand?” (Ex. 4:2)
“A staff,” Moses replies.
It’s just so….ordinary…but in God’s hands, it becomes a sign, a symbol, a turning point. What was once just a stick becomes a staff of authority, parting seas and striking rocks.
And that’s the point!
God isn’t asking you to use what someone else has. He’s asking you to surrender what’s already yours.
You don’t need to wait for your voice to sound like someone else’s or your skills to match someone else’s resume. That kind of waiting is just a dressed-up way of saying “no” to God.
So here’s the question:
What excuses have you been holding onto that started with comparison?
What’s in your hand right now that God could actually use if you stopped playing small?
You weren’t meant to live stuck.
And I believe this story is a reminder that God does extraordinary things through ordinary people…when they stop making excuses and just say “yes.”
Lucas Leibforth 
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