God chooses Moses

Pastor Carol Grace ♦ June 7, 2010 ♦ 1 Comment

God Chooses Moses

Exodus 3:1-12 (New American Standard Bible)

Exodus 3

The Burning Bush

1Now Moses was pasturing the flock of (A)Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian; and he led the flock to the west side of the wilderness and came to (B)Horeb, the (C)mountain of God.

2(D)The angel of the LORD appeared to him in a blazing fire from the midst of a (E)bush; and he looked, and behold, the bush was burning with fire, yet the bush was not consumed.

3So Moses said, “(F)I must turn aside now and see this marvelous sight, why the bush is not burned up.”

4When the LORD saw that he turned aside to look, (G)God called to him from the midst of the bush and said, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.”

Deuteronomy 7:7-9

7 The LORD did not set his affection on you and choose you because you were more numerous than other peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples. 8 But it was because the LORD loved you and kept the oath he swore to your forefathers that he brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the land of slavery, from the power of Pharaoh king of Egypt. 9 Know therefore that the LORD your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commands.

Have you ever been going along, minding your own business, and suddenly a life-changing moment occurred? This is what happened with Moses. You will remember he had fled Egypt twenty years earlier after killing an Egyptian for cruelty he witnessed toward a slave. Now he was shepherding his father-in-law’s flock and he witnesses something quite miraculous–a bush that is on fire, yet is not consumed by that fire. Even more startling was the voice coming from the bush that called Moses by name.

I love that when God called Moses He called him by name. It was a personal call, and God had a specific plan for his life and for his mission. And Moses, though not completely convinced he was the man for the plan, answered “Here am I.”

God did not call Israel because they were special, He called them to be special. The plan to deliver Israel was a microcosm of the larger plan to redeem the world through a chosen people. God desired to use Israel as a beacon of light to the world, to show that there is one God and His name is Yahweh, and to share His salvation with the rest of the world. It was the nation through whom our Savior would come, it was to be a nation of priests, and of missionaries to the rest of the world. He began by calling Abraham and waited until he and his wife Sarah were far beyond the age of child bearing to begin to fulfill His plan. The plan continued through Isaac and now God was calling Moses.

May you listen to God’s call upon your life, and may you choose to say “Here am I, send me.”