Moses had an immediate reaction when God came and said, I'm going to do something great with your life. His immediate reaction was the same as a lot of us have. He was confused. He didn’t know what to say. He had some questions.
In the midst of the routine when you least expect it you’re surprised by God’s invitation. What made this bush extraordinary was the fire. It was God’s presence at the center. His presence changed things. It caused this bush to catch fire. It causes our lives to catch fire and God to do something in us.
Moses hears this great thing that God wants to do and he’s got some questions. He wonders how is this going to work, how is this going to work out. He asks the same kind of questions that you might be asking when God say I want to do something great in your life. You may very well be asking one of these four basic questions that Moses was asking.
1. Who am I?
Who am I to do this? How can I do this? Exodus 3 “Who am I to appear before Pharaoh,’ Moses asked God. ‘ How can You expect me to lead the Israelites out of Egypt?’” And the truth is if God asks you to do something great and all you’re looking at is yourself, you are not going to be qualified. You’re always going to be too heavy or light or too something to do this great thing that God’s asking you to do.
Moses says, “I can’t do this. Who am I?” God’s got an answer for him. To encourage him in the midst of what he’s facing. He was hearing knock, he was hearing God call in his life. But he didn’t feel qualified to answer that knock, that call.
Moses faced that feeling and God had an answer for him. When he said, “Who am I to do this?” God answered in Exodus 3:12 “God told him, ‘I will be with you.’” The amazing thing to me about that is God could have built Moses up. But instead of saying that, because He knows that wouldn’t be enough, He says to Moses, “I will be with you.” And that was enough. He didn’t point to Moses’ qualifications. He pointed to His greatness. He pointed to what He could do. “I will be with you.”
We need to hear God saying that right now. We are going through the greatest transition of your life. Everything’s changing. It’s all up in the air. Maybe God brought us to this re-start so we could hear Him say to you, “I will be with you.”
2. Who are You?
Who are You, if you’re going to be with me? Excuse me for being doubtful God but how are You going to give me strength. God gives him a real simple answer. Two words: “I am.” That’s His answer.
What God was saying to Moses and what He was giving him to give to the people he was going to talk to was, “Tell them this. Tell them that I am the one who can meet their needs. Whenever needs arise, I am the one who can meet those needs.” How do I know that?
Each time someone had a need, God gave them a new name that was the way that He said, “I will meet that need in your life.” What He’s saying is, I can meet the needs of your life. In a world where we say, I wish, God says “I am the one who can meet your needs.”
Moses isn’t done. He’s talked about himself, he’s talked about God, but he’s got somebody else in mind. He says, I’ve got another question.
3. What about them?
What about this group I’m going to? What about these people of Israel that I'm going to go talk to? They might have some questions. The Bible says in Exodus 4:1-2 “Moses protested again, ‘Look! They won’t believe me. They won’t do what I tell them. They’ll just say, “The Lord never appeared to you.”’”
He had this feeling that they were going to reject him. And it wasn’t an invalid feeling. Forty years earlier when he said, “I'm going to set you free,” they rejected him.
This is huge. A lot of us ask, “What do all the others think?”
Here is God’s answer to Moses. “‘They won’t listen to me,’ Moses said. The Lord asked him, ‘What do you have there in your hand?’ ‘A shepherd’s staff,’ Moses replied.”
God’s answer: What’s in your hand? You can see what God’s doing. God’s saying, “Moses get your eyes off of them and just look at what’s in your hand. Get your eyes off of the unknown and get your eyes on the known.” God’s taking familiar things and He’s using them to take care of Moses’ imagined fears.
Something amazing happens when you and I look what’s in our hands and we say, “God it’s not mine, it’s Yours.” It takes care of the fear of them in two ways.
First of all you realize it’s not just mine any more. It’s also God’s. And if they’ve got a problem with me they’ve also got a problem with God.
The other thing it does is it helped you to realize that God wants to take the ordinary things in your life and use them in extraordinary ways. And that’s exactly what He does in Moses’ life. “What’s in your hand?” and he gives Him his staff.
So the question obviously is “What’s in your hand?”
4. How about this?
It is the thing in his life that he feels like “I cannot serve God because of this. I cannot do what You’re asking me to do because of this.” Moses says in Exodus 4:10 “Lord, I'm just not a good speaker. I never have been and I'm not now even after You’ve spoken to me.”
God has an answer. God looks at Moses and He says in Exodus 4:11 “Who makes mouths?” That’s pretty simple isn’t it. And God’s aware of your disabilities. But He also wants you to be aware of His power. He’s aware of your shortcomings. But He also wants you to be aware of His overcoming strength.
Here’s what D. L. Moody said about Moses, “Moses spend the first forty years thinking he was somebody. Then he spent his next forty years on the backside of the desert realizing he was nobody. Finally he spent the last forty years learning what God can do with a nobody.” Lead like Moses, with God’s help!
