I am sent us

13Moses 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?”

14God said to Moses, “I am who I am.^c This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I amhas sent me to you.’ ”

15God also said to Moses, “Say to the Israelites, ‘The Lord,^d 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. 17And 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.’ (Exodus 3)

Thoguhts: God tells so much about Himself in this calling of Moses to bring his people back to faithfulness and the promised land.  He says that He is the God of their fathers.  He is not a strange God, but an intimate God who has cared for their family in the past. 
   He tells them that He has watched over them.  He has multiplied their numbers.  He has also seen their misery.  He remembered the promise of the promised land- as part of His love and His plan.  

He says his name Yeh weh= Yahweh- I am who I am.  He is the meaning of being- the reason of being. He is the one who was, is, and is to come- all tenses of the verb to be.  We are alive because the God who gives life also sustains life.  So let us also trust in Him and follow Him. 

Prayer: Lord, help me to trust and follow you to the fulfillment of your promises. 

Moses Excuses

7The 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. 8So 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. 9And now the cry of the Israelites has reached me, and I have seen the way the Egyptians are oppressing them. 10So now, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt.”

11But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?”

12And 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^b will worship God on this mountain.”

13Moses 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?”

14God said to Moses, “I am who I am.^c This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I am has sent me to you.’ ”

15God also said to Moses, “Say to the Israelites, ‘The Lord,^d the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob—has sent me to you.’ (Ex. 2)

Thoughts: Moses had killed an Egyptian, and fled to the desert for a long period of exile.  He had been alone and learned the life of the Bedouin/desert people.  God called Moses to back and make a difference.  Moses gave various excuses to not go. 1) He said, “Who am I” or “You’ve got the wrong guy.; 2) “I’m not ready yet” He felt he didn’t have enough know-how- God said, “This is what you are to say.”  3) I might fail- what if they don’t believe me? God showed his power;  4) I don’t have the skills- I am slow to speak- stutter; 5) Someone else will do it- Moses says, “Please send someone else.”  Anyone can say this about anything. When we look at what Moses did, we say, “How can you possibly say that you were the right person at the right time for the right calling.” 

Let us not give excuses, but give ourselves tot he Lord without excuse.  Lord, let me believe in you and your call to me. 

Prayer: Lord, give me ears to hear your voice calling me.   

1-30-15- The God who is

13Moses 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?”

14God said to Moses, “I am who I am.^c This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I am has sent me to you.’ ”

15God also said to Moses, “Say to the Israelites, ‘The Lord,^d 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. (Exodus 3)

Thoughts: God had revealed Himself to Moses in the burning bush- Moses heard His voice.  God had revealed Himself as the god of Moses' fathers- Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.  But Moses wanted more revelation than that.  It is not wrong to want more of God.  We should seek to know God better than anyone before us.  God loves us and we would do well to pursue Him in love and not just curiosity.  "I am"  is His name.  He is defined by the verb "to be."  There is no adjective that is worthy, no adverb that will work to describe God.  The name is so holy that later the word "lord" is substituted for the tetragramaton YHWH.  Some translate it Jehovah but most translate it Yahweh now (ys and js are interchangeable and ws and vs are interchangeable too- and Hebrew has no vowels).  Life is defined by the God who epitomizes being in His very name.  Jesus spoke in Revelation as the one who was, who is, and is to come (again the verb to be in a trinity of different tenses).  Reality is defined and sanity is realized in the One who made us and is.  We would do well to trust Him and give our life for the One who defines life - the I am. He is the ground of all being- because He was, is, and will be.  

Prayer: Lord, your existence precedes all others.  Your existence defines and gives meaning to all others.  Help me to honor and glorify you forever.