January 8, 2015--I AM WHO I AM

Exodus 3:7-15

⁷Then the Lord said, “I have observed the misery of my people who are in Egypt; I have heard their cry on account of their taskmasters. Indeed, I know their sufferings, ⁸and I have come down to deliver them from the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey, to the country of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. ⁹The cry of the Israelites has now come to me; I have also seen how the Egyptians oppress them. ¹⁰So come, I will send 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?” ¹²He said, “I will be with you; and this shall be the sign for you that it is I who sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall worship God on this mountain.” ¹³But Moses said to God, “If I come to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your ancestors has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what shall I say to them?” ¹⁴God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.” He said further, “Thus you shall say to the Israelites, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’“ ¹⁵God also said to Moses, “Thus you shall say to the Israelites, ‘The Lord, the God of your ancestors, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you’: This is my name forever, and this my title for all generations.

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This section follows the experience Moses has with the burning bush (Exodus 3:1-6).  God is calling Moses for a special task, while Moses is doing the ordinary task of tending sheep.  Can you think of a time when God has called you to something extraordinary while you were doing something ordinary?

God is calling Moses to go to Pharaoh and free the Israelites from slavery.  Moses, less than confident about this opportunity questions God, who am I to do this?  God promises to go with Moses, but Moses knows that the people are not likely to follow just because Moses says so.  So he asks God, who shall I say sent me to do this?  God says “I AM WHO I AM.”  

What names do you use for God?  How do you understand “I AM WHO I AM?”  What reassurance do you need from God as you do what God is asking you to do?  What would God have to do to get your attention?

Let us pray:  All powerful, you call us daily to follow in faith.  You call us to do the extraordinary in our ordinariness.  Yet we often don’t listen, we don’t hear, we don’t want to hear.  What if we aren’t accepted?  What if it doesn’t turn out as you planned?  What if I have pressing issues I need to take care of and this doesn’t fit into my plan?  Lord, catch my attention!  Help me to listen, to see, to respond.  YOU ARE!  Send me.  Amen