what if they do not lsiten to me?

Victoria Hutchinson encourages us to speak God’s words into our places of work

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? Now go; I will help you speak and will teach you what to say.’ Exodus 4:10-12

Let this sink in.
‘Now go; I will help you speak and will teach you what to say’. We have all been there. Bearers of bad, sad, or difficult news. Caring for a frightened patient who wants to pick a fight or a relative whose fists are raised at the NHS. Many of us may have endured a frank conversation with a colleague or worse.

I recall very clearly in high definition, as if only yesterday, as a student midwife, auscultating a fetal heart that was no longer beating. I questioned my fledgling skill, telling myself I was being incompetent whilst knowing that this was bad news. Impossible news. Painful words, barely daring to make eye contact, panic rising inside my whole being. What do I say next?

In the beginning, God spoke, and all creation came to be, every intricate, tiny, microscopic detail, every atom, every grain, every cell, every mountain peak, and each torrent of the sea. ‘Let there be’ he said, and there was. This mighty breath, this magnificent voice, something like the roar of rushing waters, this divine speech like the sound of harpists playing, this gentle whisper after the storm, this sacrificial silence – The Living Word – says ‘Go!’ With our hearts bent to his, he will teach us what to say. He will put his words on our lips. He will be our eloquence.

Creator God, as we arrive at our place of work to minister and to serve, give us your words today. Amen.

Victoria Hutchinson is a recently retired midwife