Most people know something about Moses… Charleton Heston, Christian Bale, Christian Slater, Ben Kingsley & Val Kilmer all played Moses in movies, TV series or Animations.
He is a well-covered topic, even conspiracy theorists like the “Moses” accounts… so you must have at least heard of him?
Anyhoo…
Without going into too much detail. Moses started life exciting. He was left as a baby on the river, saved by Egyptian royalty, grew up like a prince, stuffed that up and ended up learning how to keep sheep alive in the desert for a few years.
Until the day he met God (in a burning bush), and God gave him a task: Go and fetch my people.
There is so much to unpack here, but I just want to focus on one thing:
God gives Moses his calling and purpose and says to Moses: Go
And Moses says: But who am I that I should go? That I could go?
(Exodus 3:11 NIV)
Isn’t that just exactly our response? When we are alone with our own thoughts, and we roll back and think about what God has actually said and the implications?
Who am I, really? What qualifies me? Moses was already playing scenarios in his head. questions others might ask, and challenges against him. Opposition.
But then… God’s Response is not man’s response.
God is not a coach, He doesn’t go our typically expected route of motivation or convincing.
“You can do it Moses!”
“You grew up in the Pharoah’s court”
“You have the contacts”
“You are a trained fighter”
“You know diplomacy and politics”
“You know the desert”
“You are perfect for the job”
Nope… God’s response is simple and to the point and accurate:
“You will succeed because I will be with you”
It doesn’t matter what Moses’s skills are. It is because God has attached Himself to Moses that the whole thing will work.
“You didn’t choose me, but I’ve chosen and commissioned you to go into the world to bear fruit. And your fruit will last, because whatever you ask of my Father, for my sake, he will give it to you!”
(John 15:16 TPT)
“If God is for us, who can be against us?”
(Romans 8:31 NIV)
And then… one last thing that I think we frequently miss. God’s Declaration of Proof to Moses.
God does not prove to Moses that Moses will be able to accomplish those tasks. Why not? Because Moses WILL NOT accomplish the tasks. GOD WILL. God will bring the plagues, God will part the sea, God will change people’s hearts, and God will feed them in the desert.
GOD does all the heavy lifting!
God doesn’t give Moses a sign that he will be able to do it. God gives him a sign that it is God, Yahweh, I AM, who is with Moses. (And the sign is that once they have left Egypt, the nation will come and worship at this here same mountain.) So after the traumatic experiences of Egypt, Moses will know that God is who He says He is… and the big work can begin.
Like a baptism. God creates a tangible point in time for Moses to look back to and touch for the rest of his life, for every time it gets difficult. Remember Egypt. Remember the Red Sea. I proved to you that I will walk with you. Let’s do this thing!
Let’s do this!
