Moses uses a strange excuse when God calls him to go and speak to Pharaoh. In Exodus 6:30, he tells God he can’t do what God called him to do because, “I am of uncircumcised lips.” I’ve always puzzled over that phrase. Isaiah used a similar phrase when confronted with the presence of God in his vision in Isaiah chapter six. God sent him to go and speak for Him as well, and he said, “I am a man of unclean lips.” I expect that what this means from both Isaiah and Moses is that, because of my past failures, I’m now unusable by God. Isaiah may have had some unknown sin. Moses surely had murdered an Egyptian and buried his body in the sand. Because of my past, both Isaiah and Moses, are saying that I am now disqualified for God’s service.
But that’s not the way God sees it. “Who made man’s lips,” God asks Moses. For that matter, who made man’s hands, feet, mind, etc. Moses is just an instrument in God’s hands, and if he allows God to weild that instrument, it can be used for great deeds.
So too with you. Don’t let your past cripple you for your future. Max Lucado writes, “I will not let past failures haunt me. Even though my life is scarred with mistakes, I refuse to rummage through my trash heap of failures. I will admit them. I will correct them. I will press on. Victoriously. No failure is fatal. It’s OK to stumble… . I will get up. It’s OK to fail… . I will rise again. Today I will make a difference.”
Go, be like Moses, make a difference.