Meditation on Exodus 3:1-15
***
Moses was keeping the flock of his
father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian; he led his flock beyond the
wilderness, and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. There the angel of
the Lord appeared to him
in a flame of fire out of a bush; he looked, and the bush was blazing, yet it
was not consumed. Then Moses said, ‘I must turn aside and look at this
great sight, and see why the bush is not burned up.’ When the Lord saw that he had turned aside
to see, God called to him out of the bush, ‘Moses, Moses!’ And he said, ‘Here I
am.’ Then he said, ‘Come no closer! Remove the sandals from your feet, for
the place on which you are standing is holy ground.’ He said further, ‘I
am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of
Jacob.’ And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God. Then
the Lord said, ‘I have
observed the misery of my people who are in Egypt; I have heard their cry on
account of their taskmasters. Indeed, I know their sufferings, and I have
come down to deliver them from the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that
land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey, to the
country of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the
Hivites, and the Jebusites. The cry of the Israelites has now come to me;
I have also seen how the Egyptians oppress them. So come, I will send you
to Pharaoh to bring my people, the Israelites, out of Egypt.’
But Moses said to God, ‘Who am I that I
should go to Pharaoh, and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?’ God said, ‘I
will be with you; and this shall be the sign for you that it is I who sent you:
when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall worship God on this
mountain.’ But Moses said to God, ‘If I come to the Israelites and say to
them, “The God of your ancestors has sent me to you”, and they ask me, “What is
his name?” what shall I say to them?’ God said to Moses, ‘I am who I am.’
He added, ‘Thus you shall say to the Israelites, “I am has sent me to
you.” ’ God also said to Moses, ‘Thus you shall say to the
Israelites, “The Lord, 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 name forever, and this my title for all
generations.
***
Before I began my sermon work yesterday, I
spent some time preparing for Rally Day next Sunday. I was writing notes in
each of the Bibles we will be presenting to four young children in our Sunday
school. The one thing I have learned about Rally Day is that in the busy-ness
of the day, and in the excitement of having so many people back together again after
being away for summer vacations, the presenting of the Bibles can be almost
overlooked.
And yet today
I stand before you saying that one of the most important things we do as a
church is give Bibles to the children entering 2nd—or 3rd
or 4th grades, if they were not here in 2nd grade to receive
one. This way, every child in our Sunday school will have a Bible as they are
learning to read, to keep for their very own. I always ask the parents and
grandparents to come up with the children as we present the Bibles. Then, we
pray for the children and their
families—that the Spirit would open God’s Word to them. And that they would be
strengthened to live lives of faith. I would like to share one of the notes
that I wrote inside a Bible that one of the children will receive next Sunday.
“Dear Riley, I am happy to give you this Bible today from all of us at
Ebenezer Presbyterian Church in Renville, Minnesota. I pray that your parents
will read this Bible to you a little every day and help you with the “hard”
words until you are old enough to read it on your own. We give this to you not
because we think you don’t have enough homework to do already, but because we
love you and want you to hear about God’s love for you in Jesus Christ. May
you treasure God’s Word always. May it be for you a guide—a ‘lamp unto your
feet, a light unto your path,’ as Psalm 119:105 says—all the days of your life.
May the Spirit in the Bible speak to your heart, whispering your call to follow
after Jesus and be the young man God has planned for you to be! God will use
you to do great things for Him, if you choose to love Him and listen to His
Word. Love and blessings to you in Jesus Christ, Pastor Karen Crawford and your
family at Ebenezer Presbyterian Church.”
Yes, the more I think about Rally Day and the
children receiving these Bibles, the more I think that this may be THE most
important thing we do for our children on Rally Sunday! What we are saying when
we present them with Bibles is that we believe
God has chosen them for His great work! What we are saying to them is that
we believe they have been called by God!
***
Today, we hear another
call story—the dramatic account of Moses and the burning bush! Unlike Samuel,
who hears the call of the Lord when he is a child, Moses is a senior citizen
when he encounters the Lord. He has already lived for many years with God’s
protection and favor, without realizing that God has chosen him for a special
purpose. And yet the Lord’s gifts of compassion for the oppressed and courage
to take on the oppressor are evident in Moses beginning as a young man.
Miracles seem to happen
wherever Moses is. He survives infancy and the pharaoh’s command that all the
male infants born to Hebrew parents be thrown into the Nile. But Moses’
courageous mother hides him for 3 months, then places him in a papyrus basket in
the reeds near the riverbank. And who
comes along but the pharaoh’s daughter, who hears the baby crying and takes
pity on him. She hires his older sister to care for him until he is grown.
When his sister
delivers Moses as a young man to the palace, he begins a whole new life as the adopted
son of pharaoh’s daughter. But we learn little of this life of wealth and
privilege. The story jumps from his Nile rescue and adoption to that horrible
day, when he goes out and sees the suffering and oppression of “his people.” Moses
watches an Egyptian beating one of his “kinfolk.” And he can’t stand idly by;
he kills the Egyptian and hides him in the sand. He thinks no one has seen him,
but people find out anyway and are talking about it. Moses flees Egypt in fear.
He settles in a new place—the land of Midian—and begins a new life all over
again—this time, a quiet, seemingly “ordinary life” married to the daughter of
a Jewish priest named Jethro. And then one day, during the seemingly “ordinary
life,” Moses is shepherding Jethro’s flock, and they go to Mt. Horeb, “the
mountain of God.” And Moses encounters the Lord—face to face. Moses’ call story
is typical of most other call stories in the Bible in that there is a divine
appearance, an introductory word or greeting by name, the commission, the objection,
the reassurance, and a sign. An angel appears to Moses in a flame on a bush
that burns, without being consumed. And God calls out to him by name. Not once
but twice! “Moses, Moses!” And Moses, still not sure to whom he speaks, responds,
“Here I am.” It is not an
enthusiastic, “Here I am, send me!” Moses is simply drawn to the curious sight,
and is saying, “Yes, I am Moses. I am listening.” But when the Lord reveals His
identity, telling him to “Come no closer!” and “Remove your sandals” for Moses
is standing on holy ground, Moses is afraid. He does what anyone would do in the
presence of the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. He hides his face. Then God
tells him how he will be part of His plan to set the captives free. “So come,”
says the Lord, “I will send you to Pharaoh to bring my people, the Israelites,
out of Egypt.”
Moses, painfully aware of his
unworthiness, voices his objection. “Who
am I?” he asks. “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites
out?” But instead of answering Moses’ question, the Lord reassures him of His
own faithfulness. For this is what matters—that God is God and has chosen to
use Moses to accomplish His work. “I will be with you,” says the Lord. Still,
Moses is not convinced. “Whom shall I say has sent me?” he asks. “Who are you?” And God says, “I am who I
am.” This may also be translated, “I will be who I will be.” What this means is
that the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob has never changed—and never will. And
then God tells Moses that there will be a sign that it
is the Lord who has sent Him, “When you have brought the people out of Egypt,”
He says. “You shall worship God on this mountain.”
One remarkable
thing about Moses’ call story is that he is the first person in the Bible to be
called as a messenger of the word of God.
God promises to speak through Moses—to supply him with all the words he will
need to say.
***
Friends, I know that
some of you may hear the story of Moses and God’s call on his life, and think,
“But that was Moses. God doesn’t have special plans to use me for His work!”
First Peter 2:21 assures us that all
Christians have a calling—to seek to be like Christ: “To this you were
called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you
should follow in his steps.” You and I probably won’t hear the voice of an angel
coming from a burning bush. But we WILL hear God whisper in our hearts if we
seek Him in His Word and through prayer, wherever we are. We will hear God’s
voice and know His will if we listen with faith that the One who was always
with Moses, will always be with us, too!
I think we can all learn from the children as
they receive their Bibles on Rally Day next Sunday. They all seem to understand
how special the Bible is—how it is God’s Word for them. They connect it to Jesus—who loves them. The Bible tells
them so! And when they smile and
reach out their hands to accept their Bibles eagerly and promise to love Jesus—as they all do—they are
responding to God’s call, trusting Him, without knowing all that it will mean
for their lives. They are saying, before
God and His witnesses, “Here I am, Lord!
Send me!”
Let us pray.
O God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Moses, we praise your
Holy Name! Thank you for being our God—for your faithfulness to every
generation. Thank you for your Word and Spirit that teach us everything we need
for salvation and for our lives of faith. Thank you for forgiving us for all of
our sins—especially for when we are not confident that you will use us to
accomplish your amazing work in this world. Lord, we thank you that all of us are
called to be your followers, that all of us are called to love you and obey
your commandments. Help us to accept and receive this call with joy and peace,
never fearing what answering a call to take up our crosses and follow you might
mean for our lives. Reassure us that we don’t have to think of all the words to
say and the places you want us to go; for you will give us all the words we
need and guide us by your Spirit. In
Your Son’s name we pray. Amen!
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