Stop Trying to Figure It All Out
Moses, ever the reluctant leader, hemmed and hawed when God told him to lead the people out of Egypt. Moses asks several questions of the Lord throughout the entire conversation found in Exodus 3-4 but one particular question made me think. In Exodus 4:1, Moses asks the Lord: "What if they will not believe me or listen to what I say? For they may say, 'The Lord has not appeared to you.'" At first this might seem like a reasonable question to ask. How can you explain God appearing in a burning bush? Who would believe a story like that? Moses' response is understandable--and completely wrong.
Moses goes wrong when he starts projecting his worries onto the future. His prognostications seem so reasonable. He wants to be successful and well-received. He wants the people to believe God's message and he worries that they will not. As it turned out, when Moses went to the people they believed him. They were convinced. Moses' worries were completely unfounded.
Can't you relate to this? A good 90% of the things we worry about never actually happen. If we could catalog all the things we have worried about over the course of our lives we would be astounded at how much time and emotional energy we have completely wasted. As bad as that is, worry takes an even greater toll.
The worst thing about worry is when it keeps us from taking action. Sometimes our worries keep us from obeying God. Regularly we presume outcomes that never happen. We presume to know how people will respond so we never act. We know God calls us to share the Gospel but we worry that someone might not respond well so we don't speak. We feel like we should step out and lead but we're afraid of how people might respond. We have a desire to serve God in a certain area but we worry that people won't think we are qualified so we hold back.
The "what if" game isn't worth playing. The most important question is not how I think others might respond. The most important question is what God is calling you to do? Step out in faith and stop trying to figure it all out. That's God's department anyway.