Article December 15, 1986 Issue

Moses wasn't qualified (as I run over my favourite characters...

Madeleine L'Engle

Moses wasn't qualified (as I run over my favourite characters in both Old and New Testaments, I can't find one who was in any worldly way qualified to do the job which was nevertheless accomplished): Moses was past middle age when God called him to lead his children out of Egypt, and he spoke with a stutter. He was reluctant and unwilling and he couldn't control his temper. But he saw the bush that burned and was not consumed. He spoke with God in the cloud on Mount Sinai, and afterwards his face glowed with such brilliant light that the people could not bear to look at him. ...

If we are qualified, we tend to think that we have done the job ourselves. If we are forced to accept our evident lack of qualification, then there's no danger that we will confuse God's work with our own, or God's glory with our own.

Madeleine L'Engle

Reprinted from Walking on Water: Reflections on Faith and Art (p. 62) by Madeleine L'Engle. © 1982 by Crosswicks. Used by permission of Harold Shaw Publishers, Wheaton, Illinois.

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