“God’s Name is Revealed” Exodus 2:23-25; 3:1-15; 4:10-17

 

As we work our way through some of the first stories of our faith found in the Hebrew Scriptures, today we move from Genesis to Exodus. Book one to book two. But in order to make that move, we need to remember that in so many ways the stories are connected together, so let us fill in some of the gaps before we jump in. 

Jacob, also known as Israel, who we met last week, went on to have a large family, comprised of twelve sons and a daughter. Those twelve sons are often who we think of when it comes to the twelve tribes of Israel, except one of the sons doesn’t have a tribe that bears his name - Jospeh. 

Joseph was the favorite son. The apple of his father’s eye. He was born by his favorite wife, who only had two sons - Joseph and Benjamin. However, Rachel died while in chid birth with Benjamin. All of the other siblings knew that Joseph was the favorite. And in case that ever missed their attention, Jacob gives Joseph a special coat - which we often think of as a vibrant colored coat. But really it was this coat with long sleeves, which was highly uncommon and a precious gift. 

Fast forward through Joseph’s story and hitting some of the highlights: Jospeh is sold into slavery by his brothers. He eventually after many many years is invited to be the trusted advisor to the Pharaoh during a time of abundance that preceded a famine. And Joseph was highly honored for that leadership.

End of Genesis.

But then we enter into Exodus. Jospeh has died. There is a new pharaoh who forgot all about what Joseph had done. Forgot all about Joseph’s God who provided greatly. Instead, the Israelites are now slaves who are worked to the bone. They are worked so hard that all they have left is to be at a point of desperation where they cry out to God through their groans. And God responded by raising up Moses. Only things didn’t go well for Moses either and he found himself not as the leader of the Israelites, at least not at first, but as a shepherd out in the wilderness.

God doesn’t need to respond to Moses because we aren’t told that Moses was crying out of God, but God needed Moses to respond to him. So God showed up in that wilderness and spoke to Moses through a burning bush. 

I recently had an experience that I think opened my eyes up to understand this scripture in a different way. I was at a picnic where I was sitting with one of my dear friends and her family. Now I know this family, including their two precious children. I mail them gifts from time to time. I talk to my friend all the time. But her children don’t know me. One was born right before the pandemic started. And the other spent half of her life not seeing me because of the pandemic. So when I greeted that older child by name, she freaked out. I thought I was going to make her cry, she was so afraid. She nuzzled into her dad and asked how this stranger knew her name. 

I wonder if Moses felt a little bit like that at the burning bush. We often are struck by the fact that the bush was on fire but was not consumed. Which is amazing. But, friends, the voice of God also spoke to Moses through that bush. He was called by name. 

And even that did not make it easier for Moses to hear and respond for the call of God upon his life - to go and tell Pharaoh that the God of the Hebrews says that his people are to be freed. That they are leaving Egypt for a land that is created for them - flowing with milk and honey - where they can live into that freedom. 

Because what was Moses’s response - Who am I that you would send me? Can’t you send someone else?

Have you been there, friends. You start to feel the prompting of the Holy Spirit in your life. Maybe its to speak with someone about Christ. Maybe its to serve Christ is a new way. And our first response is - who am I that you would think I’m good enough for this, Lord? Can’t you send someone else?

But like the story of Jacob, where God used someone who was deeply flawed to fulfill the covenantal promise of God - Moses is flawed. Moses wasn’t chosen, brother and sisters, because he was good enough on his own. He couldn’t be. None of us can be. But that didn’t stop God from choosing and calling him. 

So Moses responded the way that many of us do as well - show me God. Give me a sign. And for Moses that sign was knowing how to share the name of God with the people he was being called to serve. 

Only God didn’t answer the question or give the sign that Moses expected. Instead, God said “I am who I am.” It is the great I am that sent you. In other words, Moses, I know that you don’t think you are good enough, but you don’t go in your own strength, you go forth in my name. 

Now friends, a lot of people throughout the ages have said that they go forth in God’s name when they were not serving the purposes of God. So I am not telling you to blindly follow anyone who says that they come in the name of God. But I am telling you that when God calls you to do big things, you aren’t doing it alone. You are doing it through the power of the name of the Great I Am.

Because brothers and sisters, what God called Moses to do was for him alone. Could God have chosen someone else? Maybe. But he didn’t. He called Moses. Could God use someone else to do what we are called to do? Maybe. But not the same way that God uniquely called you to serve. No one can meet the same people you are called to meet or serve the way you are called to serve. 

In other words, when God is calling you, God is really calling you. Because there are people who will listen to you that will never listen to me. You are able to plant seeds your neighbor would not be able to plant. God is calling you by name. Even with all of our doubts and struggles. 

So I would like to take time this morning to simply be in prayer. Ever person received a card today with a question on the front - how is God calling you this day? In other words what is God inviting you to do in mission and ministry in the world. What is God calling you by name to do. Take time as God reveals this to you to write it down. And then pray about what is stopping you from responding? 

Let us hand our lives over to God and say “here I am, Lord. Use me.” Amen.