Day 6

“Moses said to God, ‘Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ Then what shall I tell them?’ God said to Moses, ‘I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: I AM has sent me to you’.”  — EXODUS 3:13 -14

Moses was born to a Hebrew slave couple, but through unusual circumstances, had been raised in the Egyptian palace as the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, and enjoying all the privileges of royalty. At the age of forty, aware of his true identity and seeing the terrible bondage of his own people, Moses reasoned that God was using him to free his people. Acts 7:25 tells us, “Moses thought that his own people would realize that God was using him to rescue them, but they did not.” 

 Moses wanted to do the will of God. Like Abraham, his motivation was good, his sincerity genuine, but his actions were disastrous. When he saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew slave, he took it upon himself to kill the Egyptian. He first looked this way and that to see that no one was looking, but had failed to look upwards to God. After killing the Egyptian, he hid the body, burying it in the sand. When Pharaoh heard of this, Moses was forced to flee for his life, and spent the next forty years on the backside of the Midian Desert, tending sheep. His dream of liberating the Hebrew people had died with the Egyptian, yet at the time, Moses truly believed God was using him.

At the burning bush, God was dealing with a different man. No longer rich in resources, ability and influence, Moses’ first question to God after being instructed to go back to Egypt and free his people was, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?” God answered, “I will be with you.” Moses then asked, “Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you’, and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ Then what shall I tell them?” God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites; ‘I AM has sent me to you.’” (Exodus 3:11-14) 

The issue is never who we are, but who God is. The resources, the strength and direction for the task were not to be found in Moses, but in God, and God had made Himself known as the Eternally Present One. Not a God at the burning bush, giving instructions, and not a God who will be at the final destination, but a God who is at all times operating in the present tense. “Moses, I am everything you need. Past, present, future, I am sufficient. You need nothing else.” 1 Thessalonians 5:24 says, “The one who calls you is faithful and He will do it.” That’s a verse that has meant a lot to me. We need to believe it!

PRAYER: Dear Heavenly Father, I never want to question who I am when You call me to a task. I know it is who You are that will accomplish the task through me, and I thank You, Lord, for being totally sufficient and all I’ll ever need.

TO REFLECT UPON: Have I shied away from something God has called me to do because of inadequacies in myself?  Have I stopped to really think of who God is and am I assured of His sufficiency in all He has called me to do?