Who Made Your Mouth?
“Oh my Lord!” That was how objection #4 started. I cannot do this, Moses said, because I am not a good speaker. I am not eloquent. I am slow of speech and of tongue. Much has been written about what he meant by this, and the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Old Testament, says that Moses stuttered and stammered. We simply don’t know. I am glad we don’t, because it really doesn’t matter. Moses’ excuse is one of the most prevalent among Christians since the cross first came up as a matter of conversation. When it comes to proclaiming the truth of the Gospel, we say we cannot do it, we are not confident, we don’t know what to say, we don’t know how to answer objections, we aren’t wise or powerful or noble or… “Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?… For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong…” That is how God responds to us.
In Moses’ case, God answers his excuse with a question, a deeply theological one: “Who made man’s mouth? Who makes him mute, or deaf, or seeing, or blind? Is it not I, the Lord?” Profound truth here, that our abilities, our inabilities, and our disabilities are all ordained by God. But not one of them is a problem for God, just for us until we reconcile them with the sovereignty and the mercy of God. It reminded me of John 9 when the disciples asked why the man born blind was born blind. Was it his sin? His parents’ sin? Surely someone is to blame for this! Jesus said the man was born blind “that the works of God might be displayed in him.”
I am God, the Lord said to Moses. I made each person as I made them. No mistakes. Donald Grey Barnhouse used to tell the story of a pastor’s wife he knew who had given birth to a baby with Down’s Syndrome. And the pastor was deeply ashamed, devastated, and he told Barnhouse the news and said that his wife didn’t know yet. The nurse had only told the father the news. He said, “I don’t know what I am going to tell her.” Pastor Barnhouse said to him, “My friend, this is of the Lord.” He turned to this same chapter in Exodus and read to him this text. “Who made man’s mouth? Who makes him mute, or deaf, or seeing, or blind? Is it not I, the Lord?” The he said, “My friend, you know the promise of Romans 8 that all things, including this child with Downs Syndrome, work together for good for those who are called according to his purpose.” The man returned to the hospital and told his wife, “My darling, the Lord has blessed us with a child with Downs Syndrome.” After she cried, she asked him where he got that from and he shared with her the same passage from Exodus 4. Later when she called her mother, she shared the news, “Mother, the Lord has blessed us with a baby with Downs Syndrome.” Word spread in the hospital of the pastor and his wife rejoicing over this gift from God and the next Sunday more than 70 nurses from that hospital attended this pastor’s church, and thirty of them came to faith in Christ that day.
Who made your mouth, and mine? The Lord God did.