Who Am I? Series

Years ago there was a comedian named Milton Berle who wrote this poem:

“I'd rather be a could-be if I cannot be an are; because a could-be is a maybe who is reaching for a star. I'd rather be a has-been than a might-have-been, by far; for a might have-been has never been, but a has was once an are.”

In our text this morning we read of a “has been” who became an “are.” Moses "had been" a great man - the adopted grandson of the Pharaoh; a man destined for power and prestige until… well until one day he saw a cruel Egyptian taskmaster beating a Hebrew. And Moses struck the Egyptian and killed him. When Pharaoh found out what Moses had done, he put a price on his head and Moses fled into the desert where he lived for the next 40 years as a shepherd taking care of his Father-in-law’s sheep. In a matter of weeks, Moses went from being a powerful prince of Egypt to become a lowly shepherd caring for flocks he didn’t even own.

Someone once noted that Moses spent forty years in Egypt thinking he was somebody; And forty years in Exile learning that he was a nobody. (Shortened version of an observation by D.L. Moody)

So now he’s 80 years old. He lives in a tent out in the middle of nowhere. He has no hopes, no prospects, no future. Years ago, the Beatles wrote a song that summed up Moses’ life to that point: “He's a real nowhere man, sitting in his nowhere land. Making all his nowhere plans for nobody.”

Moses was a nowhere man - going nowhere, doing nothing, being nothing… but then he meets God. And God tells Moses I want you to do something for me! “I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.” Exodus 3:10

And Moses responded to God with these words: “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?”

WHO AM I? I’m just a nobody. A has-been. A failure. You don’t want me. I’m not worthy of your attention. At one time I could have made a difference. At one time, I might have led a mighty army into battle. But now… now I’m just an old man who can’t seem to do anything right. You need to find someone else.

And for the next few verses Moses makes all kind of excuses about why he can’t do what God wants him to do: The people won’t believe you’ve talked with me; I stutter; and I don’t really want to go.

The thing about Moses was… he was right… and he was wrong.

Moses was right that he WASN’T WORTHY to do what God asked. He was an old man, he’s a failure (that’s why he fled Egypt), and apparently he did stutter. But God wanted him anyway. Moses was kind of like us. Romans 3:23 says we’ve “all sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” We’ve all failed and messed up and, we all have corners of our lives that are dark and disappointing.

The group Casting Crowns sang the song we played at the beginning of our worship: “Who am I, that the Lord of all the earth would care to know my name? Would care to feel my hurt. Who am I, that the Bright and Morning Star would choose to light the way for my ever wandering heart? Who am I, that the eyes that see my sin would look on me with love and watch me rise again? Who am I, that the voice that calmed the sea would call out through the rain and calm the storm in me?

And in the chorus of that song, they tell you why God would do that: “Not because of who I am but because of what You've done; Not because of what I've done but because of who You are.”

You see, God is in the business of fixing people who are broken. He’s in the business of cleaning up the messes in our lives. He’s in the business of taking that which is old & useless… and making us new again.

2 Corinthians 5:17 declares “… if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!

And Romans 8:1 tells us “there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus”

That’s WHO we are!

So, here we have God choosing Moses to something great, and Moses nearly turns God down because Moses doesn’t think he’s capable. What Moses didn’t understand was… that he didn’t have to be capable!

ILLUS: Back in 1959 Charleston Heston starred in Movie Classic called “Ben Hur”. One of the most powerful part of the movie was a climatic chariot race that required 5 weeks of filming, 15,000 extras, and 18 chariots. Heston was a committed actor who practiced for weeks learning to drive his chariot. But after weeks of practice he pulled the STUNT coordinator aside and said: “I can drive the chariot… but I’m not sure I can win.” The stunt coordinator smiled at him and said “Chuck, you just make sure you stay in the chariot. I’ll make sure you win the race.”