We Are All Reluctant Prophets

Moses said to the Lord, “Pardon your servant, Lord. I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since you have spoken to your servant. I am slow of speech and tongue.”

The Lord said to him, “Who gave human beings their mouths? Who makes them deaf or mute? Who gives them sight or makes them blind? Is it not I, the Lord? 12 Now go; I will help you speak and will teach you what to say.”

But Moses said, “Pardon your servant, Lord. Please send someone else.” - Exodus 4:10-13

Moses didn’t want to do what God called him to do. Or perhaps it would be better put to say that Moses didn’t have it in him to do it. His opening line in the conversation with God was “Who am I to do this?” after all. Moses struggled with perceiving himself as a leader, as a rescuer, as a healer. So maybe it’s not that he didn’t want to do it, it’s that he couldn’t see himself as the kind of person who could do it.

This isn’t so different than us, is it? As one scholar puts it:

I believe that we are all on some level, prophets, women and men, and that all prophets are reluctant prophets. - Mirabai Starr, Wild Mercy: Living the Fierce and Tender Wisdom of the Women Mystics

Think with God, or perhaps with a friend, about the ways in which you are a reluctant prophet. You might come up with some places where you are not hesitant to step in to what God is calling you to do. Celebrate those! And try being really gentle with yourself in the areas where you are recluctant - the last thing you need is any more self-condemnation.