Passage: Exodus 3:1-12
1 Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the far side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. 2 There the angel of the LORD appeared to him in flames of fire from within a bush. Moses saw that though the bush was on fire it did not burn up. 3 So Moses thought, “I will go over and see this strange sight—why the bush does not burn up.” 4 When the LORD saw that he had gone over to look, God called to him from within the bush, “Moses! Moses!”
And Moses said, “Here I am.”
5 “Do not come any closer,” God said. “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.” 6 Then he said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.” At this, Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look at God.
7 The LORD said, “I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering. 8 So I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey—the home of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. 9 And now the cry of the Israelites has reached me, and I have seen the way the Egyptians are oppressing them. 10 So now, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt.”
11 But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?”
12 And God said, “I will be with you. And this will be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you will worship God on this mountain.”
Reflect:
In this holy encounter, God shares with Moses that He has heard the cries of His people, that He is concerned, and that He is about to act on their behalf to rescue them. And God chooses Moses to be involved in his great plan of salvation for a people He deeply cares about. It is amazing that Moses hears from God and experiences Him in this
supernatural way, but then makes everything about himself by asking God, “Who am I that I should go…?” Yet it’s not hard to identify with Moses’ question and to see that in some ways Moses is just being honest before God. In fact, we do the same thing all the time, placing limitations on the calling we receive from God because all we can see is ourselves. The important thing to note though is the Lord’s answer to Moses – it is His Presence and Promise! ”I will be with you and you will worship one day.” Hasn’t this been our story and experience again and again? And we can trust that this will continue
to be so as we live as God’s called people.
Respond:
Just as God chose to involve Moses in the salvation of a entire nation, God involves us in a calling that is so much greater than us. Like Moses though, we may question God, asking “But what about my issues and inabilities…and who am I to influence anything let alone anyone?” Be humbled and encouraged to know that the answer is the same for us as it was for Moses, it’s God’s Presence and His Promise! It is God who is involving us and enabling us in His story, immaterial of our own abilities or inabilities. As we humble ourselves, we are actually able to be more bold, more confident because we understand that everything is rooted in the truth and promise, “I will be with you”. This God who is with us makes all things possible. In response, let’s pray to receive a proper view of who we are, leading to greater trust and dependence on God’s empowering presence. As we receive in this way, we can say yes to the Lord once again, to live
fully in the ways He has called us.
