Where He Drew The Line

On Sunday night as I prayed and cried for Bethany and Erin, God gave me a word for Bethany. One simple word:

Moses.

Honestly, I soon dozed off to sleep with sweet dreams of Bethany laughing before I had time to consider what this word meant. But Monday morning, as I awoke, it was the first word on my mind.

When I began to pray about this word and what it means for Bethany, I had a vision of  God using Bethany as a modern-day Moses. As I think about the story of Moses found in the book of Exodus, I see a lot of similarities between Bethany and Moses.

Moses was adopted, as Bethany will soon be. Moses belonged to a group of oppressed people, Bethany was born with special needs in a region where people with special needs are considered subhuman. God created Moses to bring change in a specific time and place, as I believe is true for Bethany. It may be small and nothing but coincidental, but Moses had his brother Aaron by his side, as Bethany has her sister Erin.

But the one attribute of Moses that God really impressed on my heart while re-reading his story was Moses' slowness of speech.

Moses said to the Lord, “Pardon your servant, Lord. I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since you have spoken to your servant. I am slow of speech and tongue.”



The Lord said to him, “Who gave human beings their mouths? Who makes them deaf or mute? Who gives them sight or makes them blind? Is it not I, the Lord? Now go; I will help you speak and will teach you what to say.” Exodus 4:10-12

Moses had a disability, and God wanted to use this physical weakness in Moses to further bring glory to the Lord, his Creator.

But Moses refused.

God did not force Moses to speak. Moses was willing to risk many things, including his life, yet the vulnerability he feared in exposing his disability is where he drew the line.

We all know that God did great things through Moses' obedience, but I can't help but wonder what God would have done if Moses would have surrendered that one last thing.

For Bethany, I see many Egytian armies to face and seas to be parted: The treatment of special needs children,  the rights of orphans, the stigma of being HIV+., government officials and adoption regulations.

I don't know which battle God has specifically created her for, but I do believe that He created Bethany for His purpose, and placed her strategically in the right time and in the right place, as He did Moses.

My prayer is that when Bethany is asked to face Pharoah, that she will be obedient with everything, even that one last thing.

Even her disabilities.

Because in her surrender, I believe that God can and will do incredible (write-it-down-in-history-books) kind of things.

Where do you draw the line in your surrender?