The Incomparable “I am”
Opening Prayer
Lord of All, to You I pray: “Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory for ever and ever. Amen” (1 Tim. 1:17).
Read EXODUS 3
Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the far side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. 2 There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in flames of fire from within a bush. Moses saw that though the bush was on fire it did not burn up. 3 So Moses thought, “I will go over and see this strange sight—why the bush does not burn up.”
4 When the Lord saw that he had gone over to look, God called to him from within the bush, “Moses! Moses!”
And Moses said, “Here I am.”
5 “Do not come any closer,” God said. “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.” 6 Then he said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.” At this, Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look at God.
7 The Lord said, “I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering. 8 So I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey—the home of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. 9 And now the cry of the Israelites has reached me, and I have seen the way the Egyptians are oppressing them. 10 So now, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt.”
11 But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?”
12 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.”
13 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?”
14 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.’”
15 God also said to Moses, “Say to the Israelites, ‘The Lord, the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob—has sent me to you.’
“This is my name forever,
the name you shall call me
from generation to generation.
16 “Go, assemble the elders of Israel and say to them, ‘The Lord, the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob—appeared to me and said: I have watched over you and have seen what has been done to you in Egypt. 17 And I have promised to bring you up out of your misery in Egypt into the land of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites—a land flowing with milk and honey.’
18 “The elders of Israel will listen to you. Then you and the elders are to go to the king of Egypt and say to him, ‘The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, has met with us. Let us take a three-day journey into the wilderness to offer sacrifices to the Lord our God.’ 19 But I know that the king of Egypt will not let you go unless a mighty hand compels him. 20 So I will stretch out my hand and strike the Egyptians with all the wonders that I will perform among them. After that, he will let you go.
21 “And I will make the Egyptians favorably disposed toward this people, so that when you leave you will not go empty-handed. 22 Every woman is to ask her neighbor and any woman living in her house for articles of silver and gold and for clothing, which you will put on your sons and daughters. And so you will plunder the Egyptians.”
New International Version (NIV)
Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Meditate
“We need to see God as the Great Attender, the One who pays attention (to Israel, to us) and calls us to attention” (Leighton Ford). Because Moses paid attention to the burning bush, God met him and spoke to him.
Think Further
So far, God has remained behind the scenes, rewarding the bravery of midwives and hearing and responding with concern to the Israelites’ “groaning” (Exod. 2:24). Now he comes center stage!
We have had no indication so far that Moses had any concept of relationship with God, or any real knowledge of him. It is interesting, therefore, that although we see Moses doubting himself and his suitability for the assigned task, he displays no doubt that the one speaking from the ever-burning bush really is who he says he is, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Moses may not yet know much about God but he has heard about the Hebrews’ ancestors! Moses may not yet be ready to act, but he is certainly ready to believe. Perhaps that readiness, alongside his concern for justice, his cross-cultural education in Egypt and Midian, and the self-doubt apparently picked up during his long years of exile made him the ideal person to fulfill the role God was setting out for him.
By coming to Moses like this in Midian, God makes it clear that his presence and power is not limited geographically or in any other way. God’s reply to Moses’ doubting question, “Who am I” to do this job? (11), focuses not on Moses’ abilities but on the fact that God will be with him. The further information God gives about himself and the name he reveals also emphasize that sense of presence and action. God is the one who is and the one who acts: that is all you need to know! I’m not sure that the “sign” (12), to be given when Moses had done what God asked and had come back to the mountain, was exactly what Moses was looking for—but the principle that obedience often comes before assurance is worth noting!
Apply
Asking questions is not wrong; God responds patiently to Moses’ doubts. But questioning needs to come in the context of knowing who God is and what he can do. What are your questions of God at this time?
Closing prayer
Holy Father, forgive my small faith and narrow vision, my blindness to Your guiding hand and my insensitivity to Your call. Help me to pay attention to You.
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