When World War I began, nobody was more apprehensive than Alvin C. York, a Tennessee country bumpkin who believed Scripture required him to be a pacifist. “I was worried clean through,” he later recalled. “I didn’t want to go and kill. I believed in my Bible.” Later, York came to understand that he had a duty to defend his country and its godly heritage against tyranny and oppression. And when he did, he became a soldier of tremendous courage and valor, winning the Congressional Medal of Honor and ultimately the subject of the Oscar-winning film Sergeant York.

But he said, “Oh, my Lord, please send someone else.”

Exodus 4:13

When Moses was called by God to lead, his reaction was much like Sergeant York‘s. You can probably relate, because at one time or another every Christian has prayed the honest – albeit somewhat cowardly – prayer of Moses from today’s verse. But God, as has often been said, does not call the qualified. He qualifies the called. Sergeant York is just one of many thousands of Americans who have risen to the greatness of the occasion.

As you pray today, ask for God to ignite His courage in your life – and then express your gratitude for those who have served and sacrificed so much so that you may live and worship freely.

Recommended Reading: II Timothy 1:3-9