One little word... two BIG connotations

'"But" is a versatile word in English, primarily functioning as a coordinating conjunction to express contrast, exception, or contradiction...." (definition: AI Overview)

I think I mentioned before that I've been trying to make my way through a one year Bible reading program called "Follow the Word," a program being used by my daughter's church in Cypress, Texas. Anyway, last Friday's reading took me through Exodus 3 and 4, the portion of Scripture where God "calls" Moses to go back to Egypt, confront Pharaoh, and demand he let the captive children of Israel go free.

This section of Scripture really drew me in, because in it, I saw my own humanity, my sinful frailty... my self-doubt and fear.

Chapter three begins with Moses' encounter with God. Here God speaks to Moses directly, through the flames of a burning bush no less. You can't get more personal, more awe-inspiring, more motivating than that, and yet... Moses hesitates. Actually, Moses not only hesitates to do what God is asking, he tries to weasel out of doing it at all.

I can't really point any fingers.

God lays out His plan before Moses and concludes with this command, "Come, I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt," to which Moses replies, "But who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?"

Moses resists.

Wow! Really? I mean, how does one tell the God of the universe, "I think I'll pass." I don't know about you, but I found myself wanting to comment at this point, "Dude, this wasn't really a request; it was a command, and God chose you of all people to do it!"

God could have struck Moses dead right there on the spot. He could have recoiled in anger... but He didn't. Instead, God responds with a contradiction of His own. One powerful, all-encompassing exception that makes all the difference, "But I will be with you."

You'd think that "But" would have been enough to convince Moses that all would be well.

It wasn't.

What drives that hesitation?

In chapter four we see it three more times:

4:1 "But behold, they will not believe me or listen to my voice."

4:10 "But... Oh, my Lord, I am not eloquent."

4:13 "But... Oh, my Lord, please send someone else."

Three more times God must convince Moses that he's the man for the job. Three more times Moses will need God's assurance. In reality, Moses only needed to believe God's first response; "But I will be with you."

The thing that fueled Moses' resistance, his hesitation, his doubt?

FEAR

Isn't that the thing lurking behind our own resistance to whatever God has called us to?

Whether it's to a ministry or to a moment in time, we often let fear paralyze us. We can't imagine that we would ever have the capacity to do the thing God is asking us to do, or to go through the moment or day or year of trial or difficulty that is looming before us. Like Moses, we doubt, we resist, we beg God to leave the task to someone better equipped. We plead for the obstace to be removed. In effect, we're also telling God, "That'll be a hard pass for me."

But God is patient. He knows that though we alone could not accomplish anything, with Him nothing is impossible.

God responds to us just as He did to Moses. He answers our doubts... all our "But, Lord..." fears with a single, simple statement of proof: "But I will be with you."

Isn't that really all we need, no matter what it is that God is laying before us? We go not alone. Mountain or valley, daylight or dark, calm or storm... He is there in the midst. He will never, never call us to something and then shove us onward without Him. He is not a God of abandonment. He is the God of refuge, a very present help in danger.

One little word... two very different connotations. The difference is altogether in Who it is...

that is speaking.