Creation to Christ: Reading 16 - August 23, 2016 – Exodus 3-4 God Reveals Himself

Today’s Readings

Context 

This is one of the most significant passages in the Old Testament because it reveals the name of God. God appears to Moses and reveals his plan to free Israel from its bondage in Egypt. Then, it gets real as God calls Moses to be the deliverer, sending him to Egypt to confront the Pharaoh - the most powerful man on earth with the most powerful army on earth. Once, in his self-confidence, Moses would have thought he could handle it. Now, he's scared to death, so he asks a series of 5 questions to God.

• Who am I? Moses realizes (3:11) that he is now a nobody and wonders how he's supposed to face down Pharaoh. God gives him one promise only, "I will be with you." 
• Who are you? It's a legitimate question. (3:13) If God is sending him on a mission like that and his only promise is "I am with you" then it is a fair question to ask who God is. God answers in 3:14 by revealing his name, "I Am who I Am" - the basis of the great Hebrew name YHWH. 
• What about them? Moses asks in 4:1 what he is supposed to do if the Israelites refuse to listen. God gives powerful signs and promises to show himself awesome to the people of Israel. 
• But I can't. Moses returns to his own inadequacies (4:10) and God responds by giving him help - his own brother. I've always thought this was ironic. :God called Moses as his spokesman, and Moses claims he doesn't speak well. A spokesman with a speech impediment? That is just like God. 
• Get someone else. This (4:13) makes God angry and finally Moses agrees to go!

The most significant aspect of this passage is God's self-revelation. He is the great I Am, the self-existent one. I exist because of him, dependent on him. But he exists dependent on no one. He exists in and of himself, the uncaused cause of all things. All things come from him and exist for him, but he needs nothing. He is Yahweh. 

That name is above every name and is given only to those who enter into covenant relationship with God. It represents not only his awesome power but also the fact that he reveals himself personally to those who come to him in faith. 

Of course, the rest of the Bible shows HOW we come to him in faith - the failure of the law and the revelation of grace in Christ, but this passage shows that we have a God who is both powerful and personal. 

Devotional - And Then It Got Real

In Exodus 3, Moses saw something that no one in the history of humanity has seen except him - a bush that was engulfed in fire but was not being consumed. It was the presence of God and Moses knew it, taking off his shoes as God demanded and hiding his face in a fearful awe. Then, God spoke to him out of the fire.

I have observed the misery of My people in Egypt, and have heard them crying out because of their oppressors, and I know about their sufferings. have come down to rescue them from the power of the Egyptians and to bring them from that land to a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey—the territory of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites. The Israelites’ cry for help has come to Me, and I have also seen the way the Egyptians are oppressing them. (Exodus 3:7-9) 

Moses could not have been happier as he heard the Lord himself reveal his purposes. He had heard the cries of suffering of his people Israel and was moved by them. The rescue of the people of God was imminent; they would be freed from slavery in Israel and taken the Promised Land that was God's gift to them. This was great news for Moses. He cared about his people, even if he had messed things up completely 40 years earlier as he had tried to do something about it. It is likely that during the forty years of shepherding in Midian he carried a great burden of failure and guilt over his botched attempt at being a deliverer. Now, God was telling him that the time had come and Israel would be delivered.

Moses was thrilled with God's purpose, but he was not so happy about God's personal call on his life. God's speech continued in verse 10.

Therefore, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh so that you may lead My people, the Israelites, out of Egypt.

Suddenly, everything got real.

It was great that God was going to deliver Israel from its slavery, but the part God wanted him to play in the deliverance was most definitely not good. Moses spent the rest of chapter 3 and all of chapter 4 giving God one excuse after the other why he was not the right man for the job, why God should choose someone else. But God was undeterred and finally, Moses acquiesced and agreed to do the job that God had set before him.

The problem was simple. Moses was thrilled with what God was doing but was not thrilled that God wanted him to be an integral part of that plan.

Sound familiar? Are you happy that God saves sinners from their wickedness? Of course, you are. But are you thrilled that God has called you to be the one who shares that message with your family, friends, neighbors and others? Are you happy that there is great openness to the gospel around the world? I bet you are. But are you willing to give sacrificially to aid that process.? No, more than that, are you ready to go if God calls?

We are thrilled with the purposes of God, but often we want God to work those purposes through someone else as we remain at ease and in comfort.

 "Do your work, God, just do it through someone else." 

But God's great plan of redemption in this world involves a call to each and every one of us to die to self daily, to take up our cross and to follow Christ. We are not just saved to enjoy Christ, but to make him known in this world.

Father, I thank you for what you are doing in this world. Forgive me for those moments in which I have mimicked Moses, making excuses for my non-participation in your work. Use me, Lord, in your work, according to your purpose and plan. Wherever you want me to go. Whenever you need me. Whatever you call me to do. 

Think and Pray

Are you willing to take whatever part God chooses to give you in the great work he is doing in this world, or are looking for God to do great things...through someone else?
Do you know God personally and intimately?