Called to Involvement
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Key Verse: “God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.” Selected Scriptures: |
THE FIRST FORTY YEARS of Moses’ life were spent in learning about the arts and sciences of the Egyptians. He was brought up in Pharaoh’s Palace by Pharaoh’s own daughter. When he realized that the Israelites who were in bondage to the Egyptians were his people, he tried to help them, even going as far as to kill an Egyptian overseer.—Exod. 2:11,12
When the deed became known to the authorities of Egypt, Moses fled for his life to Midian. Then the next forty years were spent in Midian with Jethro, a priest of Midian, who had seven daughters and gave one named Zipporah to Moses to be his wife.
The new circumstances in his life made Moses a shepherd. He was tending Jethro’s flocks when he saw an angel appear in a burning bush in the region of Mt. Horeb. The bush was not consumed!
As he sought to investigate this phenomenon, God called to him from the midst of the bush and said that he should remove his shoes because he was standing on holy ground. When God told him that he was the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, Moses hid his face from him out of fear.
God had been listening to the cries and prayers of his people Israel, and the time had come for the deliverance of Israel from bondage to Egypt, and Moses was chosen to lead them. He wondered why he was chosen for this duty. God assured him, saying, “Certainly I will be with thee.” (Exod. 3:12) Likewise, anyone called of God should have no fear of a task he may give us because his power is behind it, and he will bring it to pass.
Moses then had to convince his own people, Israel, that God had sent him to deliver them. He asked by what authority could he present himself to Israel. The answer that God gave him was that he should say, “I AM hath sent me unto you.” (Exod. 3:14) God described himself to Moses as “I AM THAT I AM,” stressing that he was the great supreme Creator of the universe.
The expression used is also intended to convey that God is the self-existing one, or the one who always had existed. Likewise, God’s name, which he first mentioned to Moses, has the same meaning: “I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, by the name of God Almighty, but by my name Jehovah was I not known to them.” (Exod. 6:3) The name itself signifies, ‘He who becometh.’ It is broader in scope than that definition, and is said to be, ‘Whatsoever I will, may, or can become.’
Heretofore, the nation of Israel knew God as the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. His providential leading and mighty exploits were known by them as favors from God. Now God was describing himself to Moses as the self-existing one, and one who had great power. He would use this power to set Israel free. Likewise, the fulfillment of the many promises of the Bible made by God for blessing all mankind will become realities because, “The zeal of the Lord [Jehovah] of hosts will perform this.”—Isa. 9:7