Called To Lead (Exodus 3)

How did God get Moses’ attention? Has God gotten our attention? Did God have a task for him? Does God have a task for us? Do we also have a people to lead out of slavery, slavery to sin?

After 40 years of sheep tending, was Moses finally ready to lead his people out of Egyptian slavery? Was the time right?

Meanwhile, Moses continued tending the sheep that belonged to his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian. He led the sheep to the western desert and came to Horeb, God’s mountain, where the angel of the Lord appeared to him in flaming fire from the center of a bush. As Moses continued to watch, amazingly the bush kept on burning, but was not consumed. Then Moses told himself, “I’ll go over and see this remarkable sight. Why isn’t the bush burning up?” (Exodus 3:1-3 ISV)

What did Moses’ encounter with God entail? Was the ground holy?

And when the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called unto him out of the midst of the bush, and said, Moses, Moses. And he said, Here am I. And he said, Draw not nigh hither: put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground. (Exodus 3:4-5 KJV)

What else did God say to Moses? Was it time to rescue Israel from their sufferings in Egypt?

He said also, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” Then Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God. And Yahweh said, “I have surely seen the affliction of My people who are in Egypt, and I have heard their cry because of their taskmasters, for I know their sufferings. So I have come down to deliver them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up from that land to a good and spacious land, to a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanite and the Hittite and the Amorite and the Perizzite and the Hivite and the Jebusite. (Exodus 3:6-8 LSB)

Did God know of Israel’s suffering? Was the time right for Moses to be involved in God’s plan?

And now, behold, the cry of the sons of Israel has come to Me; furthermore, I have seen the oppression with which the Egyptians are oppressing them. And now come, and I will send you to Pharaoh, so that you may bring My people, the sons of Israel, out of Egypt.” (Exodus 3:9-10 NASB)

Had Moses become so humble as to think he was not up to the task? How did God encourage him?

But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?” 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.” (Exodus 3:11-12 NIV)

What was Moses' next question? What did God say that His name is?

But Moses protested, “If I go to the people of Israel and tell them, ‘The God of your ancestors has sent me to you,’ they will ask me, ‘What is his name?’ Then what should I tell them?” God replied to Moses, “I am who I am. Say this to the people of Israel: I am has sent me to you.” God also said to Moses, “Say this to the people of Israel: Yahweh, the God of your ancestors—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob—has sent me to you. This is my eternal name, my name to remember for all generations. (Exodus 3:13-15 NLT)

Who was Moses to speak with? What was he to say on God’s behalf?

Go and gather the elders of Israel together, and tell them, ‘Yahweh, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, has appeared to me, saying, “I have surely visited you, and seen that which is done to you in Egypt. I have said, I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt to the land of the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite, to a land flowing with milk and honey.”’ (Exodus 3:16-17 WEB)

Would they believe Moses? Would Pharaoh let them go? Would God hit Egypt powerfully, until their king finally lets them go?

They will accept what you say to them. Then you and Israel’s elders will go to Egypt’s king and say to him, ‘The Lord, the Hebrews’ God, has met with us. So now let us go on a three-day journey into the desert so that we can offer sacrifices to the Lord our God.’ However, I know that Egypt’s king won’t let you go unless he’s forced to do it. So I’ll use my strength and hit Egypt with dramatic displays of my power. After that, he’ll let you go. (Exodus 3:18-20 CEB)