December 1st, 2021
Have you ever been reading a Bible story you’ve read countless times and suddenly it’s like you’re seeing it for the first time? That happened to me this week with the familiar story of Moses’ call at the burning bush found in Exodus 3-4!
For context, at the time of the story, the Israelites (Hebrews), were slaves in Egypt. Moses was a Hebrew raised in Pharoah’s household as an Egyptian. As a grown man, he saw a Hebrew man being mistreated and, in anger, murdered the Egyptian responsible. When Pharoah found out about it, he sought to kill Moses. Moses fled and ended up finding refuge with a priest in the desert, where he married, had a family, and became a shepherd in his father-in-law’s household. This seems like it would have been the end of his story but it wasn’t, because God had a purpose and He needed a man. Exodus 2:23-24 says, “The cry [of the children of Israel] came up to God because of the bondage…So God heard their groaning and remembered His covenant.”
This brings us to Moses’ burning bush experience. This is a story most of us have heard since we were children. It’s no wonder, right? The story of God calling a man’s name out of bush burning with supernatural fire and not being destroyed? It’s just cool! That is what most people would remember about this story. God called to Moses out the burning bush and told Moses that He was sending him to deliver the Israelites from slavery. Many would also remember that Moses argued with God, saying that he couldn’t speak well, so God sent Aaron, his brother to speak for him.
However, this is not the full story. Moses did complain to God because he couldn’t speak well, but that was not his first argument at the burning bush. He actually made four attempts to convince the God of the universe, who was speaking to him from a burning bush, that He’d picked the wrong man. How many of you have ever done something like this? You may not have argued with God Himself, but you may have felt inadequate or ill-equipped to do something you were asked to do, so you tried to argue your way out of it, by suggesting a different plan or another person. Now, this isn’t always the wrong response if there’s a better person for a job, however, when God asks us to do something, he gives us the ability to carry it out. He is never wrong about us, even when we feel like He is! Let’s look at each of the four arguments Moses made. We can learn so much from the excuses themselves, and the way God responded!
In Exodus 3:10, God directly called Moses, saying, “Come now, therefore, and I will send you to Pharoah that you may bring My people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.” It was an inviation with a promise. He said, “Come, now and I will send you...” Moses responded with his first excuse:
‘But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?”’ (Ex. 3:11)
He didn’t say that God couldn’t do what He said He would do. Hopefully most of us are smart enough to not tell God He can’t. Often though, we are so focused on ourselves that when God asks us to do something our response to God is something like Moses’: “But God, I’m just me. I can’t do that. I’m nobody!” God’s response is so powerful! He doesn’t talk to Moses about who Moses is. He says instead, “I will certainly be with you” (Ex. 3:12). He gives Moses the only answer that matters when we feel ill-equipped or insignificant. He said “I’m with you” and this is a promise repeated again and again in the Scriptures. God will never leave us or forsake us and if He is for us, who can be against us?
Moses’ next concern is found in Exodus 3:13:
“If I come to the people of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what shall I say to them?”
His second concern was regarding what people would say about why he had come. This was actually a matter of authority. Moses was a shepherd (living in exile, essentially) sent to a Pharoah to demand millions of their slave-labor force be set free. He was concerned that he wouldn’t have an answer when Pharoah or the Israelite people asked him whose authority he was there on. God responded by declaring His name to Moses! He said, “Say this to the people of Israel: ‘[Jehovah] (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, and thus I am to be remembered throughout all generations” (Ex. 3:15). There is so much in these scriptures, and I would recommend you read the whole story, but God gave Moses the power and authority backed up in the name of the God of heaven and earth. He is the one who created everything, who was and is and is to come. When Moses asked who was sending him, He told him.
The next excuse Moses made is found in Exodus 4:1,
“But behold, they will not believe me or listen to my voice, for they will say, ‘The LORD did not appear to you.’”
At this point, Moses’ concern turned to what people would think. Many of us get caught up in this. What will people say? What if they don’t believe me? God’s response is interesting. He didn’t tell him that it didn’t matter. God gave Moses signs to prove the power of God, if they doubted his word. Moses’ staff turned into a serpent. His hand turned leprous and then clean again, and then God said, “If they will not believe you, or listen to the first sign, they may believe the latter sign. If they will not believe even these two signs or listen to your voice, you shall take some water from the Nile and pour it on the dry ground, and the water that you shall take from the Nile will become blood on the dry ground” (Ex. 4:9). This is so interesting, because as believers, we’re supposed to carry the power of God! Jesus said that signs would follow those who believe (Mark 16:16-17)! This is partly because signs are to convince those who doubt the Word spoken! When we talk about the God of the universe, He demonstrates His power, that the world would know that He is who He says He is!
Moses’ fourth and final argument to God was the one most of us are most familiar with. “Moses said to the LORD, “Oh, my Lord, I am not eloquent, either in the past or since you have spoken to your servant, but I am slow of speech and of tongue” (Ex. 4:10). As a last resort, Moses tells God that he isn’t good enough to do what He asked him to. God responded, “Who has made man's mouth? Who makes him mute, or deaf, or seeing, or blind? Is it not I, the LORD? Now therefore go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall speak” (Ex. 4:11-12). Again, God tries to turn Moses’ focus off of himself and other people and onto Him. However, despite all of this, despite the power of every response God gave Moses, he still couldn’t see the truth. Moses responded, “O my Lord, please send by the hand of whomever else You may send” (Ex. 4:13). With no arguments left, Moses still begged God to send someone else. At this point, the Bible says the LORD was angry, so he allowed Aaron to go with Moses to be his mouthpiece. This must have satisfied Moses, but it was at the cost of a miracle! Aaron was not God’s first plan. God intended to work a miracle in Moses’ speech, but Moses trusted more in the mouth of his brother, at that point, than in the power of God.
What is your burning bush experience? I believe we all have one, because every one of us has a call from God! What God asks us to do will be different, but everyone’s call starts with an invitation to come now, just as Moses’ did. Many of us have felt inadequate or ill-equipped at times to do what God asks us to do, but God’s powerful responses to Moses when he felt that way will absolutely set us free! We must understand that He does not call the qualified; He qualifies the called and it’s not about us. What more could God have possibly said or done to convince Moses that He would do what He said He would? What more can He possibly do for us? He sent His only Son. He gave us His word, exploding with promises for provision, protection, guidance, and hope! He gave us the Holy Spirit to lead and empower us. What more could He possibly do? What are we waiting for? If we have been called by God, then the time is past for arguments of doubt disguised as humility. If we will just believe that God will do what He said He will do, we will see the miraculous power of the God of heaven and earth! What more can he possibly do? “He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things” (Romans 8:32)?
For context, at the time of the story, the Israelites (Hebrews), were slaves in Egypt. Moses was a Hebrew raised in Pharoah’s household as an Egyptian. As a grown man, he saw a Hebrew man being mistreated and, in anger, murdered the Egyptian responsible. When Pharoah found out about it, he sought to kill Moses. Moses fled and ended up finding refuge with a priest in the desert, where he married, had a family, and became a shepherd in his father-in-law’s household. This seems like it would have been the end of his story but it wasn’t, because God had a purpose and He needed a man. Exodus 2:23-24 says, “The cry [of the children of Israel] came up to God because of the bondage…So God heard their groaning and remembered His covenant.”
This brings us to Moses’ burning bush experience. This is a story most of us have heard since we were children. It’s no wonder, right? The story of God calling a man’s name out of bush burning with supernatural fire and not being destroyed? It’s just cool! That is what most people would remember about this story. God called to Moses out the burning bush and told Moses that He was sending him to deliver the Israelites from slavery. Many would also remember that Moses argued with God, saying that he couldn’t speak well, so God sent Aaron, his brother to speak for him.
However, this is not the full story. Moses did complain to God because he couldn’t speak well, but that was not his first argument at the burning bush. He actually made four attempts to convince the God of the universe, who was speaking to him from a burning bush, that He’d picked the wrong man. How many of you have ever done something like this? You may not have argued with God Himself, but you may have felt inadequate or ill-equipped to do something you were asked to do, so you tried to argue your way out of it, by suggesting a different plan or another person. Now, this isn’t always the wrong response if there’s a better person for a job, however, when God asks us to do something, he gives us the ability to carry it out. He is never wrong about us, even when we feel like He is! Let’s look at each of the four arguments Moses made. We can learn so much from the excuses themselves, and the way God responded!
In Exodus 3:10, God directly called Moses, saying, “Come now, therefore, and I will send you to Pharoah that you may bring My people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.” It was an inviation with a promise. He said, “Come, now and I will send you...” Moses responded with his first excuse:
‘But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?”’ (Ex. 3:11)
He didn’t say that God couldn’t do what He said He would do. Hopefully most of us are smart enough to not tell God He can’t. Often though, we are so focused on ourselves that when God asks us to do something our response to God is something like Moses’: “But God, I’m just me. I can’t do that. I’m nobody!” God’s response is so powerful! He doesn’t talk to Moses about who Moses is. He says instead, “I will certainly be with you” (Ex. 3:12). He gives Moses the only answer that matters when we feel ill-equipped or insignificant. He said “I’m with you” and this is a promise repeated again and again in the Scriptures. God will never leave us or forsake us and if He is for us, who can be against us?
Moses’ next concern is found in Exodus 3:13:
“If I come to the people of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what shall I say to them?”
His second concern was regarding what people would say about why he had come. This was actually a matter of authority. Moses was a shepherd (living in exile, essentially) sent to a Pharoah to demand millions of their slave-labor force be set free. He was concerned that he wouldn’t have an answer when Pharoah or the Israelite people asked him whose authority he was there on. God responded by declaring His name to Moses! He said, “Say this to the people of Israel: ‘[Jehovah] (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, and thus I am to be remembered throughout all generations” (Ex. 3:15). There is so much in these scriptures, and I would recommend you read the whole story, but God gave Moses the power and authority backed up in the name of the God of heaven and earth. He is the one who created everything, who was and is and is to come. When Moses asked who was sending him, He told him.
The next excuse Moses made is found in Exodus 4:1,
“But behold, they will not believe me or listen to my voice, for they will say, ‘The LORD did not appear to you.’”
At this point, Moses’ concern turned to what people would think. Many of us get caught up in this. What will people say? What if they don’t believe me? God’s response is interesting. He didn’t tell him that it didn’t matter. God gave Moses signs to prove the power of God, if they doubted his word. Moses’ staff turned into a serpent. His hand turned leprous and then clean again, and then God said, “If they will not believe you, or listen to the first sign, they may believe the latter sign. If they will not believe even these two signs or listen to your voice, you shall take some water from the Nile and pour it on the dry ground, and the water that you shall take from the Nile will become blood on the dry ground” (Ex. 4:9). This is so interesting, because as believers, we’re supposed to carry the power of God! Jesus said that signs would follow those who believe (Mark 16:16-17)! This is partly because signs are to convince those who doubt the Word spoken! When we talk about the God of the universe, He demonstrates His power, that the world would know that He is who He says He is!
Moses’ fourth and final argument to God was the one most of us are most familiar with. “Moses said to the LORD, “Oh, my Lord, I am not eloquent, either in the past or since you have spoken to your servant, but I am slow of speech and of tongue” (Ex. 4:10). As a last resort, Moses tells God that he isn’t good enough to do what He asked him to. God responded, “Who has made man's mouth? Who makes him mute, or deaf, or seeing, or blind? Is it not I, the LORD? Now therefore go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall speak” (Ex. 4:11-12). Again, God tries to turn Moses’ focus off of himself and other people and onto Him. However, despite all of this, despite the power of every response God gave Moses, he still couldn’t see the truth. Moses responded, “O my Lord, please send by the hand of whomever else You may send” (Ex. 4:13). With no arguments left, Moses still begged God to send someone else. At this point, the Bible says the LORD was angry, so he allowed Aaron to go with Moses to be his mouthpiece. This must have satisfied Moses, but it was at the cost of a miracle! Aaron was not God’s first plan. God intended to work a miracle in Moses’ speech, but Moses trusted more in the mouth of his brother, at that point, than in the power of God.
What is your burning bush experience? I believe we all have one, because every one of us has a call from God! What God asks us to do will be different, but everyone’s call starts with an invitation to come now, just as Moses’ did. Many of us have felt inadequate or ill-equipped at times to do what God asks us to do, but God’s powerful responses to Moses when he felt that way will absolutely set us free! We must understand that He does not call the qualified; He qualifies the called and it’s not about us. What more could God have possibly said or done to convince Moses that He would do what He said He would? What more can He possibly do for us? He sent His only Son. He gave us His word, exploding with promises for provision, protection, guidance, and hope! He gave us the Holy Spirit to lead and empower us. What more could He possibly do? What are we waiting for? If we have been called by God, then the time is past for arguments of doubt disguised as humility. If we will just believe that God will do what He said He will do, we will see the miraculous power of the God of heaven and earth! What more can he possibly do? “He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things” (Romans 8:32)?
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