Moses: Message 2 Hearing and Avoiding God’s Call
3 Now Moses was pasturing the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian; and he led the flock to the [a]west side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. 2 And the angel of [b]Yahweh appeared to him in a blazing fire from the midst of the bush; and he looked, and behold, the bush was burning with fire, yet the bush was not consumed. 3 So Moses said, “[c]I must turn aside now and see this [d]marvelous sight. Why is the bush not burned up?” 4 And Yahweh saw that he turned aside to look, so God called to him from the midst of the bush and said, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.” 5 Then He said, “Do not come near here. Remove your sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.” 6 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.
7 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. 8 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. 9 So now, behold, the cry of the sons of Israel has come to Me; and I have also seen the oppression with which the Egyptians are oppressing them. 10 So now, come and I will send you to Pharaoh, and so you shall bring My people, the sons of Israel, out of Egypt.”
We started looking at the book of Exodus a couple of weeks ago as part of our series considering the major stories of the Bible. And the book of Exodus is a book chock full of important foundational events for Israel and for the later Church. There are all kinds of allusions and foreshadowing’s of Christian doctrine in the book of Exodus.
Jesus reinterpreted the Passover to make Himself the Passover lamb that takes away the sin of the world.
Paul directly compares the Israelite journey through the Red Sea to baptism in 1 Corinthians 10:1–2.
Jesus called Himself “the bread from heaven” directly alluding to the manna the Children of Israel ate in the wilderness.
And John 1:14 says Jesus “tabernacled among us.” A direct comparison to the tabernacle in the wilderness.
And the story of Israel being called out of Egypt mirrors the calling of the sinner out of darkness into His marvelous light.
And Moses calling to go into Egypt to liberate the Israelites mirrors the call to all believers to go to the world and preach the gospel. And, to tie in something we can relate to more readily, your spiritual gifts are your calling.
So, a lot of the events and doctrines in the book of Exodus are the seeds of later Christian teachings.
Well, today we are going to explore the next part of the story of Moses in the book of Exodus. But before we open with prayer this morning, I got to thinking about how much background I needed to cover and I thought that’s a whole other sermon. Those of you’ll who know the story know details like Israel’s enslavement, hard labor, Pharaoh’s edict to kill the male babies, Moses mother hiding him, floating him in an ark of bulrushes on the Nile, the daughter of Pharaoh finding him and raising him as her own. That’s a lot of story. So, to make sure that we were caught up on the story, without spending an incredible amount of time retelling the background story, I am going to tell it to you in a limerick.
A new Pharaoh rose full of dread, For the Israelites grew and they spread. He said, “They’re too strong! They won’t serve us for long—Let us crush them with labor instead.”
So he burdened their backs with great weight, Built up cities with bricks and with hate. But the more that they groaned, The more babies were born—Their growth only quickened their fate.
Then he summoned the midwives one day, And commanded them, grimly, to slay— “Kill each Hebrew boy, Crush their future and joy, But let all the daughters still stay.”
Yet the midwives in secret said “No,” For they feared God more than Pharaoh. They let the boys live, And God chose to give Them families and favor to show.
So the king made a harsh new decree: “Throw the boys in the Nile—they must flee! Every son that is born Must be drowned and forlorn!” A dark tide swept over the sea.
But one Levite woman was brave, She refused to just dig her son’s grave. For three months she hid Her small, crying kid, Then made him a boat on a wave.
She wove a small basket with care, Sealed with pitch, sent it out with a prayer. In the reeds it did rest, As her heart beat her chest—Would her son find a fate that was fair?
Then the daughter of Pharaoh came down, To bathe by the river in gown. She heard the babe cry, And her heart gave a sigh— She would raise him within Pharaoh’s crown.
So Moses grew up in their halls, In the palace with dancers and walls. But his people he knew, And in time, his heart grew To respond when the Lord gave him calls.
By the way, I am not taking credit for writing that.
prayer
Now all of that is the background to what we are looking at today. Today, we fast forward 40 years in Moses life. He has grown up having a dual identity. On the one hand, he was raised and educated in the royal household. On the other hand, he was ethnically and religiously an Israelite. And Scripture indicates that he had chosen the Hebrews and the God of the Hebrews over the Egyptians.
Hebrews 11: 24 By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, 25 choosing rather to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin,
In fact, he gets into trouble for his identification with the Hebrews and is forced to flee from Egypt, on threat of his life. And he remains an exile for 40 more years.
In the land of Midian, he settles down with the family of Reuel, the priest of Midian, and marries his daughter Zipporah. He is a shepherd in the land of Midian. Moses is now 80 years old. We pick up the story in the third chapter of Exodus 3 with God’s calling.
And the main lesson we want to get to today is in the title for this sermon, “Hearing and Avoiding God’s Call.” You see, sometimes, as believers, we don’t want to do what God called us to do. We are like Jonah, who was sent by God to preach to the Ninevites. But Jonah didn’t want to, so he got on a boat headed in the opposite direction. But the lesson today is that refusing God’s call can be a dangerous place to put yourself. You may end up in the belly of a big fish. Let’s look at the story.
I. The call
A. Moses encounters God
Exodus 3 Now Moses was pasturing the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian; and he led the flock to the [a]west side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God.
40 years after fleeing Egypt, Moses finds himself serving as shepherd in the household of Jethro. His life is quite different than what it had been in the house of Pharaoh. Pharaoh’s house and the nation of Egypt was filled with activity, and the pleasures of riches, and bustling with people. His life now has become mundane, filled with labor, and quiet and the bleating of sheep.
So, he has ventured with Jethro’s flock, on this occasion, one to two days journey from their usual camp. This would be the normal course for a shepherd. Search for green pastureland to feed the flock, daily moving from field to field. So, in this trek he finds himself coming up on the mountain of Horeb. Horeb is the mountain range of which Mount Sinai was a part. You might remember that Mount Sinai was the mountain under which the Israelites camped while Moses went up in the Mount to receive the ten commandments from God. But, maybe in the low light of dusk, as he approaches the rocky base of this mountain, he sees a far off flame. This is what the text says.
2 And the angel of [b]Yahweh appeared to him in a blazing fire from the midst of the bush; and he looked, and behold, the bush was burning with fire, yet the bush was not consumed. 3 So Moses said, “[c]I must turn aside now and see this [d]marvelous sight. Why is the bush not burned up?”
He approaches and sees a bush or group of bushes on fire. The bushes are probably the dry thorny acacias, which are characteristic of the country. But there’s something strange. Normally such a bush on fire in the heat, would have passed in flash, and left only grey ashes in a matter of seconds or minutes. But this fire remained constant. In the minutes from when he first spotted the flame far off, in the time he continued to observe it as he walked, as he turned aside to get a closer look. It does not burn out.
And then, as he comes close to see that bush is not only, not burning out, it is continually blazing, as though it is fueled by some invisible source, he hears a thunderous voice coming out of the bush.
4 And Yahweh saw that he turned aside to look, so God called to him from the midst of the bush and said, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.”
God was speaking to him from the bush. It had been 200 years, from Abraham until now, since God had verbally spoken to anyone. And Moses responds with “Here I am.”
5 Then He (God) said, “Do not come near here. Remove your sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.”
It was customary in many cultures of the east to remove your shoes or sandals when entering any place that required honor or reverence. For the Jews they didn’t want to bring the defiled dirt from outside the temple into the sanctuary or even the synagogue. In like manner, God is indicating to Moses that he is treading on the holy ground of God’s presence.
6 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 now we read about the purpose for God manifesting Himself to Moses.
B. God calls Moses
7 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. 8 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. 9 So now, behold, the cry of the sons of Israel has come to Me; and I have also seen the oppression with which the Egyptians are oppressing them. 10 So now, come and I will send you to Pharaoh, and so you shall bring My people, the sons of Israel, out of Egypt.”
If you don’t remember, when Moses left the community of Israelites in Egypt, they had been subjected to hard labor by the Pharaoh. He had effectively enslaved them. They had originally come to Egypt 400 years prior to sojourn in the land. The Pharaoh then received them as honored guests, and gave them a possession of land in Goshen, the northeast region of Egypt. But when their population had grown large, a new Pharaoh began viewing them as a threat. So he enslaved them and put them to hard labor building and digging canals.
So, God comes to Moses now, and says, “Moses, I’ve seen the suffering of my people. This is what you are going to do. You are going to march back into Egypt. Convince your own people who you haven’t seen in forty years, that God sent you as their deliverer. Then you will go to Pharaoh, the ruler of the largest and mightiest kingdom in the world, and ask that you be allowed to lead 2 million people out of the land.”
No biggie, right?
Now we get to the third part of our message. The 5 excuses.
Moses is taken aback by the job that God has for him. And he begins to give God excuses for why God should get someone else to do the job.
And sometimes we offer God excuses don’t we. Or sometimes we just drag our feet and don’t do the work God called us to.
Lawyer and statesman Daniel Webster was a powerful orator who gave early evidence of his quick mind and way with words. One day Webster's father, who was to be absent from home, left Daniel and his brother Ezekiel specific work instructions. But on his return he found the task still undone, and questioned his sons about their idleness. "What have you been doing, Ezekiel?" he asked. "Nothing, sir." "Well, Daniel, what have you been doing?" "Helping Zeke, sir."
Today in the Word, September 19, 1992.
Well, Moses made 5 excuses for why God should get someone else to go to the Pharaoh and speak for the freedom of the nation of Israel.
II. The 5 excuses: Who am I? Who are You? What if they don’t believe? I Can’t Speak. Send anyone else.
We use these same excuses when God calls us out.
A. Who am I?
11 But Moses said to God, “Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh, and that I should bring the sons of Israel out of Egypt?”
At first glance, this seems to be such a flimsy response to God’s calling. “Who am I?” What do you mean Moses? Who is better suited to go and be a spokesman for the children of Israel? You were born and raised for this. You were born a Hebrew under an oppressive regime. You were saved by God from death by being scooped up out of death and into the household of the Pharaoh’s daughter. You have been trained and educated in the best that the world had to offer at the time.
If you think about it, Moses was ideally suited for the job of not only going to Pharaoh, but for the subsequent job of leading a million and a half people through the wilderness to a new land. Moses, of all people, had the skills. I was reading a commentary about this subject and they pointed out that Moses would have been educated in Egypt like the son of a princess. As a child, he would have been educated in literature, as Stephen would say later he was “learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians.” He would be educated in the proper use of written language for the purpose of communicating law and legal matters and governing a nation. This would be quite useful later when he was charged with recording all of God’s law in Leviticus and Deuteronomy.
We know from Scripture that Moses composed poetry and narratives. This was very useful because Moses became the author of the first five books of the Bible, compiling the history of the world and Israel, from creation to the Promised land.
He would have been educated in arithmetic, geometry and in number operations. Which is helpful when you are putting together census information like that in the book of Numbers.
He would be further instructed in Egyptian morality, spirituality, and worship. He would have been acquainted with Egyptian customs and royal procedures. In other words, Moses was uniquely qualified for this task. But he begins to make excuses. And why does he make excuses? For the same reason that we do. He didn’t want to do it. He was afraid. So his first excuse is given in the form of a question; Who am I?
What was Moses saying with this statement? Who am I? What is it that he is saying without actually saying it? See if any of this sounds familiar, like excuses we make. I’m just a shepherd. I’m justa this. I’m justa that. I’m the son-in-law of a priest in some backwater village. I’m nobody. And even if I was somebody at some time, that was 40 years ago. Too much water under the bridge. I’m too old. I’m 80. And the last time I tried to do something, I failed. Moses is saying, last time I attempted to stand up against the oppression of a Hebrew, I had to flee Egypt for fear of losing my life. I can’t do this because last time I failed.
We cast a little blame at Moses here because of his reluctance. But Moses excuse here, “Who am I” is one that is very familiar to us. How often does the Spirit of God prod us to do something, maybe related to our spiritual gifts of service, or exhortation. He prods us to reach out, help someone, be an encouragement, or talk to someone about a sinful decision they are making, and we think, “Who am I?”
“What right do I have to say anything?” “I am a sinful person.” “How can I mentor anyone when I am not spiritually complete myself?” “How can I reach out to that hurting person now, when I should have done it a month ago? I’m a failure. I’ve failed again. I’ll start doing right, next time.”
Well, Moses thought that, but look at how God answered his excuse.
God’s answer
12 And He said, “Certainly I will be with you, and this shall be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall [e]serve God at this mountain.”
I love God’s answer. He doesn’t try to pump Moses up based on his qualifications. He doesn’t say, “Moses, you are exactly the right guy for this job.” “You are brilliant.” “You are just the right combination of being a part of this people but being separate from them that makes a great leader.” He doesn’t build up Moses self-image. He says, “I will be with you.”
No elaborate ego building exercise. God just tells him what he needs to know. “I will be with you.”
And he says, as a sign that I will be with you and sent you, when you have brought the people of Egypt out, you will serve God on this mountain. “Where you are standing right now Moses? You, and all the nation of Israel will be here at the base of this mountain worshiping me, even as you worshipped before the burning bush.”
So, God addressed our excuse of, “Who am I?” with, “It doesn’t matter who you are, because I will be with you.”
But Moses offers a second excuse.
B. Who are You?
13 Then Moses said to God, “Behold, I am about to come to the sons of Israel, and I will say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you.’ And they will say to me, ‘What is His name?’ What shall I say to them?”
On the surface what Moses is saying is that he needs to properly identify the god who is sending him to the people of Israel. He is saying, “God, you know that there are many gods in Egypt.” “There is Ra, the sun god. Osiris, the god of the afterlife. Isis, the god of motherhood. Horus, the sky god. Set, the god of chaos.” And the list could go on and on.
But to be truthful, Moses wasn’t really asking who God was. He wasn’t asking God to identify Himself. He knew who he was talking to. Number one, because God had already told him.
6 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.
He was afraid to look at the face of Elohim. Moses knew the stories of God’s people. He had chosen to identify with the Hebrews instead of the Egyptians. Hebrews 11 tells us of Moses,
24 By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, 25 choosing rather to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin, 26 regarding the reproach of [q]Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt; for he was looking to the reward. 27 By faith he left Egypt, not fearing the rage of the king; for he endured, as seeing Him who is unseen.
And he knew the unseen God. And he knew Him well enough that when God spoke to him from the burning bush, that he was afraid.
So, if he is not inquiring about which god he is speaking to, what is he really saying? It is another excuse. There is an undertone to this question that goes back to his self-doubt. He asks,
13 Then Moses said to God, “Behold, I am about to come to the sons of Israel, and I will say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you.’ And they will say to me, ‘What is His name?’ What shall I say to them?”
It’s as though Moses is saying to God, “Are you sure you want to send me for this job?” “You know that my own people are going to have a lot of questions. If I go and say that you appeared to me, they’re going to say, ‘Oh, God appeared to you, did He? Well, what’s His name? You’re so special for God to appear to you, why don’t you give us a theological education about God since you’re the chosen leader of God.’”
In other words, Moses is using another one of our go-to excuses to avoid the call of God. See if any of these excuses sound like something you may have thought or said when God called you to do something. “God, I don’t know you well enough to represent you.” “I don’t know the Bible well enough. I am not spiritual enough. God, you know I am a failure.” And Moses is saying, “I don’t even know what name to tell them.”
But God, takes Moses response at face value and gives him an answer.
14 And God said to Moses, “[f]I AM WHO [g]I AM”; and He said, “Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, ‘[h]I AM has sent me to you.’”
Again, God’s response is perfect. He not only addresses the question of “what is your name,” but He also addresses the undertone excuse of “I’m not spiritual enough for this mission.”
He emphasizes His name YAHWEH. The name YAHWEH means “I AM WHO I AM.”
And I think God is saying at least a couple of different things by using this for His name. First, it is God saying that He cannot be described or limited by words. He doesn’t say that He is the God of the Israelites, because He is far more than that. He is the God of all nations. He doesn’t say, my name is Creator God, though He is, but He is also the God that sustains creation. He isn’t the god of the Nile, of the afterlife, of the sky, or the sun, He is all of that.
Just as He forbad the nation of Israel to make an image of Him to be worshipped, because any image they made would only reduce who He is. No image of any created thing can capture the essence of the Creator of all things. So to, no name is big or grand enough to define God. So, He is just “I AM.”
But that name also tells us something else. When we talk about any person, or creature, we speak of them in one of three verb tenses. They are either someone who existed in the past, and is now deceased, or they are alive now. But being alive now tells us that they had a day of conception, and before that, they didn’t exist. It also tells us that they will have a day of death. We may also talk about people in the future tense. I can talk about the children or grandchildren that I hope to have. They don’t exist now, except as a twinkle in my eye.
But God declares with this name that He is not a thing or entity who came into existence in the past or the future. He had no beginning, He will have no end, He just “is.”
And this is why this is such a great response from God to our excuse, to Moses excuse disguised as a question, “What is your name?” You see, Moses keeps trying to turn the conversation back to himself. He wants God to consider his inadequacies, his fears, his past failures. And God keeps turning the conversation back to God’s own nature.
He says, “Moses, Christian, it’s not about who you are, it’s about who I am. My choice of you for this task was not based on your position in this world or your ability to answer all the theological questions. It was based on my ability. As incapable as you are, “I AM infinitely capable. As finite and limited as you are, I AM the great I AM, without limits in power, time or space.
And then, not only does He give Moses this wonderful name of “I AM,” He reiterates an identity that Moses and the children of Israel were very familiar with.
15 And God furthermore said to Moses, “Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, ‘Yahweh, 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, and this is My memorial-name from generation to generation. 16 Go and gather the elders ….‘Yahweh, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, has appeared to me, saying, “[i]I indeed care about you and what has been done to you in Egypt. 17 So I said, I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt to the land of the Canaanite and the Hittite and the Amorite and the Perizzite and the Hivite and the Jebusite, to a land flowing with milk and honey.”’ 18 And they will listen to your voice;
On multiple previous occasions God identified Himself as the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Moses knew this name, and they knew that name. But despite God wonderfully answering Moses objection, he still offers a third excuse.
C. What if they don’t believe?
4 Then Moses answered and said, “What if they will not believe me and will not listen to my voice? For they may say, ‘Yahweh has not appeared to you.’”
Well, we will pick up with this excuse next time.
Let me close with this. You remember the parable of the talents that Jesus told. It begins,
14 “For it is just like a man about to go on a journey, who called his own slaves and handed over his possessions to them. 15 And to one he gave five [a]talents, to another, two, and to another, one, each according to his own ability; and he went on his journey.
The intent was that they would invest the money while he was away.
The story then goes on to say that the master returned from his journey to find that the servant who received the five talents went and traded with them, and gained five more talents. And the one who had received the two talents went and traded with them and gained two more. But on inquiring after the one who had received one talent, the slave had gained nothing. He had buried his masters money, and dug it up to return it at his masters return. And he gave an excuse,
24 “And the one also who had received the one talent came up and said, ‘Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow and gathering where you scattered no seed. 25 And I was afraid, and went away and hid your talent in the ground. See, you have what is yours.’
26 “But his master answered and said to him, ‘You wicked, lazy slave, you knew that I reap where I did not sow and gather where I scattered no seed. 27 Therefore, you ought to have put my money [d]in the bank, and on my arrival I would have received my money back with interest. 28 Therefore take away the talent from him, and give it to the one who has the ten talents.’
29 “For to everyone who has, more shall be given, and he will have an abundance; but from the one who does not have, even what he does have shall be taken away.
And in the parable, the fact that he produced no profit became evidence that his heart was not in the service of his Lord. So, in interpreting that parable, we conclude that the third servant didn’t represent a true Christian because he produced not fruit. All those who are truly in the faith, will produce fruit.
But sometimes, we don’t produce all that God had designed us for, because we excuse ourselves from some services, actions, words, that God prods us to. I want to encourage you this morning with God’s words. It doesn’t matter who you are, it matters that God is with you. It doesn’t matter what you know, or how you may have failed in the past, what matters is that God is with you. Let’s pray.