When God Calls Your Name… Twice: Moses
Scott Bayles, pastor
Blooming Grove Christian Church: 7/31/2016
For the last couple of weeks, we’ve been talking about how you might respond if God called your name—not just once, but twice. As I mentioned before, God calls plenty of people in the Bible often by name, but I’ve only found seven times where God calls out someone’s name twice in a row—Abraham, Abraham! Jacob, Jacob! Martha, Martha!
Each time that God calls someone by name twice, he follows it with something profound and powerful. He called Abraham to remind him that God must be first in his heart and life. He called Jacob in order to calm his fears and assure him that God is always with him. The third person God calls by name twice is Moses.
Moses’s story is as memorable as your first kiss and as familiar as your own living room. It’s the story of a baby saved by the providence of God and prudence of his mother, the story a stubborn king who refuses to submit to any higher power, and a story of redemption and freedom as Moses returns to Egypt and leads his people to the Promised Land. Before Moses ever stood upon Mount Sinai to receive the 10 Commandments or stood before the throne of Pharaoh to deliver his people, however, Moses stood before a burning bush in the desert wilderness of Midian. It was out of this burning bush that God called Moses by name twice and total transformed his life.
Our family recently had the opportunity to see the story of Moses told on stage at the Sight & Sound Theater in Branson. The performance just blew us away. The parting of the Red Sea ... the Burning Bush ... the Plagues ... the Ten Commandments ... the whole experience was completely immersive and spectacular. I’d love to bring the whole cast and crew here to retell the story for all of you, but that’s just a little outside my budget. However, my favorite retelling of the story of Moses is actually the animate epic, Prince of Egypt. So rather than simply reading this familiar scene to you, I’d like to play a short clip from Prince of Egypt when Moses hears God call his name.
• Play Video Clip: Prince of Egypt – Burning Bush
In Exodus 3, God calls out from the burning bush, “Moses! Moses!” (Exodus 3:4). Both mystified and astonished, Moses replies, “Here I am!” Once God had Moses’s full and undivided attention, he shared a message that would change the course of Moses’s life.
First, God tells Moses, “I have certainly seen the oppression of my people in Egypt. I have heard their cries of distress because of their harsh slave drivers. Yes, I am aware of their suffering” (Exodus 3:7 NLT).
Four hundred years earlier, Jacob and all his children and grandchildren moved to Egypt to be with Joseph in relative safety. Generations passed and the Hebrews multiplied. Eventually a new Pharaoh came to power who knew nothing about Joseph or what he’d done for Egypt. He saw the Hebrews as a threat. So he used them as forced labor, making bricks for the great Egyptian monuments. Despite crushing labor and cruel slave drivers, the Hebrews continued to thrive and multiple. So Pharaoh ordered the slaughter of every baby boy born to the Hebrews. So many times, they must have wondered, “Where is God? Does he even know or care what’s happening to us?”
And, honestly, isn’t that something we all wonder about at times?
When we look at all the tragedy and suffering in our world, don’t you sometimes wonder—in the back of your mind—if God’s paying any attention? Just last week, police officers were targeted and gunned down in Baton Rouge and Dallas. Multiple mass shootings and civil unrest seem to make headlines every week. That’s on top of the everyday pain and suffering experienced in individual lives – maybe including yours. There’s illness, abuse, broken relationships, betrayal, sorrow, injuries, disappointment, heartache, crime and death.
When you’re in the midst of some crisis or hurt, you may think, "Nobody knows what I'm going through, nobody feels the pain I'm experiencing."
But God knows! He wanted Moses (and us) to know he sees our suffering.
He knows your feelings and frustrations. He's seen the crisis in your soul. There's no hurt that goes unnoticed by God. The psalmist writes, “You keep track of all my sorrows. You have collected all my tears in your bottle. You have recorded each one in your book” (Psalm 56:8 NLT).
Jesus knows every heartache and headache—every sob, sniffle, and sorrow. Often when we're hurting, we feel very isolated and lonely. Maybe there's been a death in the family, a divorce, maybe we've been fired, and we start to think, “Nobody understands the way I feel” or worse, “Nobody cares!”
God not only sees our suffering, he sympathizes!
The Bible says, “The LORD is like a father to his children, tender and compassionate to those who fear him” (Psalms 103:13 NLT).
He knows the causes, the reasons, the things that brought you to this point. He understands because he made you, and he sees the hurt in your heart like nobody else can.
Because God knows our frustrations and despair, we can give those feelings to God. In fact, he invites us to do just that: “Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about what happens to you” (1 Peter 5:7 NLT)
But God doesn’t just see and sympathize with our suffering. He actually wants to do something about it. So what’s God’s solution? How does he respond to the suffering he sees in the world? Well, that’s where you and I come in.
Getting back to God’s conversation with Moses, He says, “Look! The cry of the people of Israel has reached me, and I have seen how harshly the Egyptians abuse them. Now go, for I am sending you to Pharaoh. You must lead my people Israel out of Egypt” (Exodus 3:9-10 NLT).
God had a solution to the Hebrew’s suffering—it was Moses. God has a habit of using ordinary people to do extraordinary things. In an interview with New Release Today, Matthew West tells the story of girl named Andrea:
If I were judging a book by its cover, I'd say she looked like a college girl, maybe in a sorority or something, lots of friends, bound to be successful someday. And in a way, that would be a correct assessment. But that is not the whole story. Andrea, a former University of Colorado student, had chosen to spend a semester abroad learning micro-financing in Uganda. While there, she happened upon an orphanage in critical condition. The children were being badly neglected and even abused. Her heart broke for these orphans who had no advocate. That's when this college student decided to do something. She called her parents and said, "I'm not coming home." She refused to leave these children until something was done to improve the conditions.
That story inspired Matthew West’s song Do Something. I love this song because it’s a call to action with a convicting message. In the opening verses, Matthew sings:
I woke up this morning
Saw a world full of trouble now
Thought, how'd we ever get so far down
How's it ever gonna turn around
So I turned my eyes to Heaven
I thought, “God, why don't You do something?”
Well, I just couldn't bear the thought of
People living in poverty
Children sold into slavery
The thought disgusted me
So, I shook my fist at Heaven
Said, “God, why don't You do something?”
He said, “I did, I created you!”
That’s essentially what God said to Moses. He’s said the same thing to you and to me. God didn’t create you just to eat, drink and take up space. He made you to make a difference, to do something. He’s called each one of us to make the world a better place. God has given us the same responsibility he gave Moses. He may not have spoken to you from flaming shrubbery, but he has spoken to you through Scripture.
In the psalms, God commands us, “Give justice to the poor and the orphan; uphold the rights of the oppressed and the destitute. Rescue the poor and helpless; deliver them from the grasp of evil people” (Psalm 82:3-4 NLT).
Jesus put it most succinctly when he said simply, “Love your neighbor as yourself” (Matthew 22:39 NIV). These are devastating times: Nearly 2 billion people are desperately poor, 1 billion are hungry. Lonely hearts indwell our neighborhoods and schools. In the midst of it all, here we stand thinking, “What can I do?”
Moses responded the same way. He didn’t jump at the chance to become Israel’s deliverer. Instead, he made excuses. “God, you’ve got the wrong guy. I’m a nobody. The people won’t believe me. I stutter when I speak. Lord, please send someone else!”
Excuses are like armpits. Everyone has a couple and they usually stink! We’ve all got a long list of excuses, but God’s commandments are his enablement. God not only answered each excuse Moses gave, but he empowered Moses to perform mighty miracles in order to accomplish his task.
You may not be able to turn a staff into a snake, the river into blood, or call down a plague of locusts to devour the landscape, but God gives each one of us talents and abilities that can be used to help others. The Bible says, “God has given each of you a gift from his great variety of spiritual gifts. Use them well to serve one another” (1 Peter 4:10 NLT). What kind of gifts has God given us?
Paul answers that question for us. He writes, “In his grace, God has given us different gifts for doing certain things well. So if God has given you the ability to prophesy, speak out with as much faith as God has given you. If your gift is serving others, serve them well. If you are a teacher, teach well. If your gift is to encourage others, be encouraging. If it is giving, give generously. If God has given you leadership ability, take the responsibility seriously. And if you have a gift for showing kindness to others, do it gladly” (Romans 12:6-8 NLT).
You see, none of us can do everything, but all of us can do something! When we use the gifts God has given us to minister to one another and to the community around us, we begin to make a real difference in the world.
The best way for you to make the world a better place and relieve the suffering that surrounds you is by serving in your strengths. In fact, your greatest ministry will likely come out of your greatest misery. The Bible says, “God is our merciful Father and the source of all comfort. He comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others. When they are troubled, we will be able to give them the same comfort God has given us” (2 Corinthians 1:3-4 NLT).
This might go without saying, but whatever you’re going through, you’re not the first person to go through it and you won’t be the last. Seventy-six percent of Americans are living paycheck to paycheck. Many marriages end in divorce. Over 1,000,000 Americans filed bankruptcy last year. Almost 3,000,000 women are treated for breast cancer every year. And each year Americans buy over 3,000,000,000 Tylenol®. In other words, we’re all in the same boat. Who knows how many people have experienced your same struggles? And who better to help them than you? Who better to encourage an alcoholic than a recovered alcoholic? Who better to comfort someone suffering the heartache of divorce than a fellow divorcée? Who better to tend to a cancer victim than a cancer survivor?
Don’t let your experiences—good or bad—go to waste. When bad things happen to you, turn to God for comfort—He cares about what happens to you. When bad things happen to others, comfort them the way God comforts you.
Conclusion
Out of the burning bush, God called Moses to tell him: “I see the suffering of my people and so I’m sending you!” Reluctantly, nervously, Moses answered that call and became part of one the greatest epics in biblical history. What might happen if you answer God’s call?
Next week, we’ll explore another time when God called someone’s name twice.
Invitation
In the meantime, if you feel like God is calling you do something, I want to encourage you to answer that call—whatever it may be. Maybe he’s calling you to ministry. Maybe he’s calling you to help someone in need. Maybe he’s calling you to pick up your cross and follow him. Whatever it is—I hope you’ll answer that call because when God calls your name, everything changes. If you’re ready to answer his call, why don’t you come forward while we stand and sing?
Hearing your name called can evoke different responses depending on the circumstances. There is a sense of pride and accomplishment when you’re wearing your cap and gown and you hear your name called before rising to receive your diploma. On the other hand…
