Exodus 3:1-4:17
If you’ve ever read missionary biographies, they’re full of stories of people who have given up a normal life, and in many cases extraordinary careers, to go to other parts of the world to tell people about Jesus. I guess most of us are familiar with the film Chariots of Fire: about Eric Liddell, the runner who refused to compete on the Sabbath and so was unable to win the 100 metres Gold Medal in the Olympics. But I wonder how many people realise that not only did he give up that medal, but a couple of years later he went off to China as a missionary, giving up his athletic ambitions altogether. I was given a book of biographies a few years ago by Isabel Kuhn, who was also a missionary in China. One of the biographies is of a man named Fraser, who was a brilliant musician, able to memorise whole symphonies and concertos, yet who gave up all thought of fame and fortune on the concert stage in order to serve God in preaching the gospel to the people of China. And there are countless other examples.
But as I read these sorts of biographies I sometimes wonder what sort of process these people went through before deciding to take such a huge step. Did they decide instantaneously or did they think about it for a long time? For many I imagine the decision may have been very difficult. For most of us there are all sorts of stumbling blocks that spring to mind when God calls. What’s more, God’s call isn’t always completely clear. Sometimes it’s as clear as a bell, sometimes it comes in the form of a general call to Christian service.
Today’s reading from Exodus 3 is an example of someone receiving a clear call to service, yet, as we’ll see, his response isn’t immediate. Moses is like so many of us. He’s plagued with self doubt, with fear, and with a sense of inadequacy. But God deals patiently with him, just as he does with us, until Moses agrees to do what God asks. (Exod 3)
Israel’s Need - God’s Concern
Moses is tending his Father-in-law’s flocks one day out in the desert near Mt Horeb, when he sees an amazing thing. There, over on the side of the mountain is a bush on fire, but not being burnt up. So he goes over to investigate and discovers that the reason it’s burning is because God is present within it. God speaks to him and explains why he’s come to speak to Moses. In the 40 years that Moses has been living in the Sinai Desert, things have grown worse and worse for the people of Israel. As we saw last week at the end of chapter 2, the Israelites were groaning under the yoke of slavery, and God had heard them and remembered the covenant, the agreement, he’d made with their ancestors, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, 400 years before. God had seen their suffering and was concerned about them. "And so", he tells Moses, "I’ve come down to rescue them."
Well, Moses must have thought, "Great! About time! I’ve been worried about them myself." He may even have been praying that God would come and rescue his people. And listen to what God’s going to do: He’s going to bring them out of Egypt and take them to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey. Sounds too good to be true doesn’t it? But then comes the catch. He says to Moses "The cry of the Israelites has now come to me; I have also seen how the Egyptians oppress them. 10So come, I will send you to Pharaoh to bring my people, the Israelites, out of Egypt."
God cares about his people so he’s going to rescue them, but the way he’s going to rescue them is by sending Moses to do it. Just as last week we saw that he used the two Hebrew midwives along with Moses mother and Pharaoh’s daughter to start the process, so he was about to continue it with Moses help. Well, this isn’t what Moses had in mind at all. He was quite happy tending Jethro’s sheep. Like many of us, when God’s call came, he wasn’t sure he wanted to hear it.
And the sorts of things he comes up with as objections to doing what God says are the same sorts of things that often stop us. Let’s have a look at them, and at the way God answers each of his objections.
Self Doubt - God’s Presence and God’s Name
Moses has spent the last 40 years or so working as a shepherd, and shepherds weren’t particularly high on the social ladder in the Middle East at the time. He knew what life was like in the Pharaoh’s palace and he knew very well that his chosen trade wouldn’t go down well when he was presented to the King.
So he asks, "Who am I? I’m a nobody!" And what’s God’s answer? "I will be with you." You may be a nobody, but you’ll have the creator of the world with you. But that doesn’t seem to reassure Moses. He still doubts that that’s enough. He wants to know what name he should give to the God of Israel. You see, all the other nations had gods with names. Moses had grown up as an Egyptian and they had numerous gods, all with names. Yet the God of Israel had never been referred to by name. Oh, they knew he existed. They prayed to him, but he was only ever referred to as the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Moses wanted to know what to call him. He wanted to be able to put a tag on him that would carry some weight with the Israelites and with Pharaoh. But God won’t be drawn in. He won’t be tied down by a name. All he’ll tell Moses is that he is who he is. The only name he’ll give him is "I am": a name that seems to imply an eternal existence, yet one that’s always relevant to the present. One who has always been, yet one who continues to be active at every instant of time.
So Moses is told to go and assemble the elders of Israel and tell them that their God has sent him to them. And he’s assured of God’s presence with him.
I wonder do you ever suffer from self doubt when it comes to doing the sorts of things that God calls us to do. That is, living as God’s people in the face of opposition from the world around us, telling people about Jesus, caring for people in need. Well, the message to Moses is also a message to us. God is with us. Paul reminds us in Romans 8 (Rom 8:31-32 NRSV) that "If God is for us, who is against us? 32He who did not withhold his own Son, but gave him up for all of us, will he not with him also give us everything else?" ... (Rom 8:38-39 NRSV) "For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, 39nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord." God is with us. He’s revealed himself to us in his Son Jesus Christ, and he’s given us his Holy Spirit to be with at every moment. Nothing can separate us from God. So we can respond to God’s call with confidence.
But of course that isn’t what happens in Moses’ case is it? He has more objections to raise.
Fear of Rejection and Failure - God’s Power
One of Moses problems, and often one of ours is that he’s afraid. And what’s he afraid of? Well, he’s afraid of rejection. He’s afraid of failure. What if they don’t believe me or won’t listen to me? This is the recurring fear of most preachers and bible teachers, and most evangelists, I would guess. What if they don’t accept what I say? What if they won’t believe that what I say is true? How am I going to prove it?
To this God answers with a demonstration of his power. He gives Moses the ability to perform real magic. His staff turns into a snake and then back into a staff again. His hand becomes leprous and then is restored to healthy pink flesh. He’s told to pour some water from the Nile onto the dry ground and it will become blood. Demonstrations of God’s power, intended to convince the people that God is indeed with him.
It’s very hard isn’t it, to speak to people about Jesus? He sometimes seems so irrelevant to their daily lives. The gospel seems so foolish at times. Fancy talking to someone about a person who lived 2000 years ago and was executed on a Roman gallows! Wouldn’t it be good if we could do some miracles like Moses did? When Jesus first sent his disciples out to preach the gospel here’s what happened: (Luke 9:1-12 NRSV) "Jesus called the twelve together and gave them power and authority over all demons and to cure diseases, 2and he sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal." And what was the result? (Mark 6:12-13 NRSV) "they went out and proclaimed that all should repent. 13They cast out many demons, and anointed with oil many who were sick and cured them." There was a revelation of God’s power as they preached the gospel. But you know, the real power wasn’t in the healing of illnesses or the casting out of demons. The real power of the gospel is that it changes people’s lives. It enables them to be able to relate freely with God without guilt or shame, and it brings reconciliation with other men and women. Paul says in Rom 1: (Rom 1:16 NRSV) "For I am not ashamed of the gospel; it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who has faith, to the Jew first and also to the Greek."
The power of God is present in the gospel whenever it’s preached. We don’t need to fear failure or rejection. If the message is rejected, it’s not us who are being rejected, but God, who calls people everywhere to turn back to him in faith and obedience.
But still, you may feel, like Moses that you can’t do it.
A Sense of Inadequacy - God’s Help and the Provision of Fellow Believers.
You see even after this demonstration of power with the staff turning into a snake, etc., Moses still wasn’t convinced. He had a great sense of personal inadequacy. He wasn’t a good speaker. He was a doer, not a talker. He wasn’t one of those people who could sell refrigerators to an Eskimo. How could he ever convince the Pharaoh to let his people go? Now I relate to this last objection of Moses. I used to hate public speaking. I think the first real speech I ever gave was at my wedding and I only did that because I couldn’t get out of it. I remember the minister in a church we belonged to coming up to me after I’d led the service one day and suggesting that it might be good if I stuck to playing my guitar and leading the singing, because I wasn’t very good with words. And he was right. I was very uncomfortable up front. And that was one reason why I didn’t go into ordained ministry until I was in my 40s.
But what does God say to Moses? "Have you forgotten where the gift of speech comes from? Go, I’ll help you speak. I’ll teach you what to say." Moses didn’t need to worry about whether he could convince Pharaoh. God would do the convincing. God would give him the words to say.
Jesus promised the same thing to Christians. Listen to what he said: (Luke 12:1-13 NRSV) " 11When they bring you before the synagogues, the rulers, and the authorities, do not worry about how you are to defend yourselves or what you are to say; 12for the Holy Spirit will teach you at that very hour what you ought to say." God promises us that when we need to speak on his behalf the Holy Spirit will give us the words to say. That applies to all of us, whether we’re called to stand up here and preach or simply to tell our next door neighbour how God has been good to us. We don’t need to feel that sense of inadequacy.
And look at what else God does for Moses. He sees that Moses fear is real. He isn’t just giving excuses. So he says "How about I send your brother Aaron with you. He speaks well. In fact I’m bringing him here right now. Just be ready to go when he arrives. He can be your mouthpiece. You tell him what to say and he’ll say it."
Again, this is something that God does for us. He gives us the help and encouragement of fellow believers who can share the load, who can support us when we need a word of encouragement or when we don’t know what to do or say, and who understand how hard it is sometimes to be faithful followers of Christ.
Israel’s Need - God’s Imperative
By now, notice, God is becoming angry. The situation demands action and Moses’ procrastination isn’t helping. Israel’s need is great so God commands Moses to go. But just to reassure Moses he reminds him to take his staff so he can do the miraculous signs God has shown him
As we read on in the chapters to come, an amazing transformation takes place. The hesitant Moses becomes an assured leader. Although God has sent Aaron to act as his mouthpiece, by the middle of chapter 8 Moses is speaking up before Pharaoh by himself. His confidence grows as he sees God fulfilling his promise to be with him, to give him the power he needs to oppose Pharaoh, and as he learns to trust God to protect him. God is good to us, in that he never asks us to do something we’re unable to cope with. But as we learn to do one thing he may push us to do another that’s slightly harder, and so on until we become stronger and stronger and more and more able to stand on our own feet as followers of Christ.
If you’re someone who is afraid to stand up as a disciple of Christ then let the experience of Moses be an encouragement for you. You don’t need to let your fear of rejection, or failure, or your sense of inadequacy, stop you from stepping out in faith. Rather learn to rely on the power of the gospel, to trust God to be with you, to give you the words you need, and to give you fellow believers to support and encourage you.
