GOD, THE ENABLER

October 3, 2010

For I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep what I have committed to Him until that Day.
– 2 Timothy 1:12

PART 1
Identify the Current Issue

Who am I? That’s a question we spend our whole life answering (or in some cases having answered for us). At the root of the question and its answer is another question, “What am I able to do? What are my possibilities? What are my limits?” Today we’re going to look at one of the great figures in the Bible, Moses, and his grappling with these questions and God’s answer to them in Exodus 3:1-14.

PART 2
Discover the Eternal Principles

Read Exodus 3:1-14.

NARRATOR: Moses, an Israelite shepherd, was pasturing the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, but Moses had not always had such a simple life. Rather, he was born in Egypt to an Israelite woman. Originally, his people, the Israelites, were on good terms with the Egyptians. In fact, Joseph (the great-grandson of Abraham) was second in command to the Pharaoh, and his most trusted advisor. But the relationship slowly soured as the Israelites continued to prosper, and the Pharaoh made them slaves – hoping to destroy them. Regardless of what the Pharaoh did, the Israelites prospered. He resorted to all kinds of tactics, finally killing all of the firstborn sons. When Moses’ mother heard this, she put her newborn son in a basket in the river, hoping an Egyptian woman would take him in and his life would be spared.

To her great surprise, that woman turned out to be the Pharaoh’s daughter! So Moses was raised as an Egyptian in the palace of the Pharaoh. As he came of age, he realized his heritage and identified with the Israelites – to the point of one day killing an Egyptian who was beating a slave. Fearing for his life, he fled into the wilderness where he met Jethro, a distant cousin, and decided to settle down, have a family, and make his life there – forgetting all about the troubles of Egypt.

And this is how Moses got to this hillside where he was tending sheep on this particular, auspicious, afternoon.

As Moses was leading the flock to the west side of the wilderness, he came to Mount Horeb (also know as Mount Sinai), the mountain of God. The angel of the LORD appeared to him in a blazing fire from the middle of a bush. He looked and was surprise to see that the bush was burning with fire, but it was not consumed.

MOSES: What's going on here? I can't believe this! Amazing! Why doesn't the bush burn up?

NARRATOR: When the LORD saw that Moses turned aside to look, God called from the burning bush.

GOD: Moses, Moses!

MOSES: Here I am.

GOD: Don’t come any closer! Take off your shoes, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground. I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.

NARRATOR: Then Moses hid his face because he was afraid to look at God.

GOD: I have certainly seen the affliction of My people who are in Egypt, and have heard their cry because of their slavemasters, and I am aware of their sufferings. So I have come down to deliver them from the power 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 ... The cry of the Israelites has come to Me, and I have seen the oppression with which the Egyptians are oppressing them. So, I will send you to Pharaoh, so that you may bring My people, the Israelites, out of Egypt.

NARRATOR: Moses, looking stunned, stupified, and afraid, replied,

MOSES: Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh, and that I should bring the Israelites out of Egypt?

NARRATOR: God, dismissing the irrelevance of Moses’ ability, replied,

GOD: 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 worship God at this mountain.

NARRATOR: Moses, gathering some small amount of courage, replied,

MOSES: Okay, so I am going to the Israelites, and I will say to them, “The God of your fathers has sent me to you.”

NARRATOR: Moses immediately reconsiders his bravado. His doubts come pouring back in. He’s stalling now – trying to come up with some detail that God hasn’t considered that will get him off the hook from his assignment.

MOSES: Now ... they may say to me, “What is His name?' What shall I say to them?

GOD: I AM WHO I AM. You can say to the Israelites, “I AM has sent me to you.”


Like our passage from Ezekiel last week, this passage from Genesis is a story, a narrative. It is important to look for cues in meaning by looking closely at the flow of the action, at how the characters respond, by what they say and what they don't say. If this were a letter written by Paul, the key points would be stated clearly. Since this is literature, we have to look more creatively.

We begin by noticing how the scene opens. Moses is tending his flock, like he does every day of his life, and something strange happens. Something very strange. He passes a bush that is on fire but is not being burned up. Like any good rubber-necker, he stops to get a closer look. It is from this burning bush that God tells Moses that he is going to go back to Egypt and free the Israelites.

Now, one would think that the talking, burning bush would have been enough to win Moses trust. After all, how many times do we say "if I just had a burning bush" to assure us that we were hearing God? From this passage, we can feel a little better knowing that not even that would be enough :)


Teaching point one: Whose you are matters a lot more than who you are.

Our first point comes from Moses' response to God. Instead of a heart, "Yes, sir!" or "Thank you so much for choosing me for this glorious assignment that will be studied millenia later!," Moses instead answers with a question, "Who am I?" - a thinly veiled, "No way! You gotta be crazy" (but even he had sense enough not to answer that directly to God).

His inference is that he's not nearly the man for the job, that there's no way he can pull this off.

Then God responds, however not by answering Moses' question. From this, we can gather that the question has no relevance, and ultimately that who Moses is has no relevance either. Instead God says that He will be with Moses. In other words, it's not you that's going to do this, Big Boy; it's me. The message to us is that it is not who we are that fits us for God's work but whose we are. It is not the instrument but the artist's hand that the instrument is in that makes all the difference. Again, a lesson in humility and trust.


Teaching point two: Assurance sometimes comes after the fact.

The next interesting part is that God promises Moses a sign ... after he's completed the task and is walking back by this place with all of the Israelites. I don't know about you, but when I ask for a sign, I want it before the task as an assurance. However, as Chuck mentioned in his sermon, if you're waiting on all the lights to turn green before you start moving, you might as well give up. In other words, there will be challenges and obstacles. God saves some, most, of His signs for the journey when we'll really need them - when we'll need to know for sure that we are still on the path He chose for us.

This is an encouragement to take a step in faith and trust that God will let you know in one way or another that He is with you and you are on the right track.


Teaching point three: Knowing God’s identity not only assures you but those to whom you are sent.

Even though Moses agrees to the task, he quickly backpeddles with another question, "Who am I going to tell them sent me?" The Wolf Man. Just kidding. He wants to be able to tell the Israelites which God sent him. Don't forget that they were living in Egypt in a pagan culture full of different gods - Ra, the Sun God, Osiris, God of the Dead, Isis, God of Magic, etc. For them, they needed to know whether to trust the God that sent Moses.

God's response is at once both perplexing and reassuring. He says to tell them that "I AM" sent him. That's not a name; it's a subject-verb construction. And that's the point. He's not God of the Sun or God of the Harvest. He's the very essence and power of all that has being (I am is a form of the very "to be"). His point is that He is so much greater than their current context of God. He's not just a notch up the ladder from Ra. He's altogether different, supreme.

That's one side of the answer. The other is that "I AM" is an incomplete construction. "Am" is a linking or transitive verb that needs a predicate. God is not only the ground and source of all being - an idea that's way too large to get our minds around and not all that much comfort in particular situations. He's also our shield, protector, healer, shepherd, light, salvation, way, counselor, etc. There are so many names of God in the Bible that complete the "I AM" statement. There is a list of the names of God below. Take a look at them and be astounded by how all encompassing God is. He's not only the source of all that is, but He's also personally present to each of us in our particular lives. Sometimes He's our healer. Sometimes He's our friend. Sometimes He's our shepherd. Sometimes He's our victory. Sometimes He's our protector. Sometimes He's our provider.

God, the great I AM, is greater than the pantheon of pagan gods because He encompasses all that they offer.

Knowing who God is in a cerebral and specific way is important to our faith and our hope. But it may also be essential to our being able to win other's truth of God. The people to whom God calls us may need some assurance of who God is. It's good for us to mediate on this and be ready to answer their questions so that we can lead them out of slavery in Egypt, if that's what God has called us to do.


PART 3
Apply Your Findings
Break up into small groups for discussion.

[Q] Has there been a time in your life when your self-understanding has put limits on what you thought you were able to do? Or has there been a time in your life that knowing whose you were enabled you to do more than you ever imagined?

[Q] Is there anything in your life that you feel God has called you to do but you are still waiting on a sign before you act? How would this passage of scripture encourage you? Has God ever confirmed a direction your were taking or choice you made after you made it?

[Q] God said that His name is I AM. Listed on the other side are some of the things that God has told us He is. Which of these identifications of God has enabled you to take a step in faith at some point in your life? Which of these names speaks the most to you now?

[Q] What in your life right now are you most trusting God to enable you to do? Or has God convicted you today that who you are will not accomplish His purpose for you – that instead you need to trust in whose you are?

* Source: The Burning Bush (Exodus 3:1-15) By: Bob Deffinbaugh bible.org




Names of God

ELOHIM:. God as Creator, Preserver, Transcendent, Mighty and Strong.
EL SHADDAI: God Almighty or "God All Sufficient."
ADONAI: "Master'' or "Lord"
JEHOVAH-JIREH: "The Lord will Provide."
JEHOVAH-ROPHE: "The Lord Who Heals
JEHOVAH-NISSI: "The Lord Our Banner."
JEHOVAH-M'KADDESH: "The Lord Who Sanctifies" "To make whole, set apart for holiness."
JEHOVAH-SHALOM: "The Lord Our Peace"
JEHOVAH-TSIDKENU: "The Lord Our Righteousness"
JEHOVAH-ROHI: "The Lord Our Shepherd"
JEHOVAH-SHAMMAH: "The Lord is There"

EL ROI: "God who Sees”
KANNA: "Jealous" (or zealous)
PALET: "Deliverer"
YESHUA: "Savior"
GAOL: "Redeemer"
MAGEN: "Shield"
EYALUTH: "Strength"
EL-OLAM: "Everlasting God"
EL-BERITH: "God of the Covenant"
EL-GIBHOR: Mighty God
TSUR: "God our Rock"
Wonderful, Counselor,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace