Steadying Nerves
Stepping into the unfamiliar without waiting to feel ready.
Have you ever stood outside a door, about to walk into something new, and felt your hands go cold? Nervousness is not terror. It is the unease of not knowing how it will go, whether you will say the wrong thing, whether you belong in the room at all.
Now therefore go, and I will be with thy mouth, and teach thee what thou shalt say.
Exodus 4:12
Moses had just been told to speak to the most powerful man in Egypt, and his objection was not laziness. He told God plainly that he was not a speaker, that he was slow of speech. God neither argues him out of the feeling nor tells him he is wrong about himself. He tells Moses to go, and promises to be with his mouth and teach him what to say.
Nervousness asks one question, am I enough for this, and waits for a yes before it moves. God’s answer is not that Moses is more capable than he thinks. It is an instruction to go. The promise is attached to the going, not to feeling ready first. You may walk in still nervous and find the help arrives while you are speaking.
Today, name the thing making you nervous and take the next small step toward it while you still feel nervous: send the message, make the call, walk through the door. First pray one line: “Lord, be with my mouth. I am going anyway.”
God’s help arrives in the going, not before it.
Exodus 4:12