Discover His heart: “I Am Who I Am,” and He’s all we need.
Whenever I go to a doctor’s office, I check out his or her credentials. Most doctors proudly display their college diploma, medical school diploma, residency, special recognition and honors right there on their office walls. I appreciate this because it saves me from asking embarrassing questions. If I see a diploma from a country that has only been in existence for about six months, chances are I’m not staying. I want to know that the individual who is going to diagnose, treat and/or cut me has received the proper training. It’s just the way I am.
We want our employers, politicians and church leaders to be well trained and prepared to lead. Thankfully, God sees things this way as well, and He spent 80 years training Moses for the leadership position of a lifetime. Moses, however, turned Him down.
@ Exodus 3
“I have certainly seen the oppression of my people in Egypt. I have heard their cries of distress because of their harsh slave drivers. Yes, I am aware of their suffering…Now go, for I am sending you to Pharaoh. You must lead my people Israel out of Egypt.” (7,10) From birth, Moses had been in training to deliver God’s people from slavery in Egypt. After 40 years in Egypt as prince learning the Egyptians ways and 40 years in Midian as shepherd preparing for flock management, God decided that Moses was ready to lead the Israelites for the next 40 years in the wilderness to their Promised Land – I think I see a pattern here.
Despite all his training, Moses was not the kind of individual who would choose to run for president or work his way up the corporate ladder to be CEO because Moses had some inferiority issues. I would imagine that downgrading from prince to shepherd did not do much for his self-confidence. So Moses started to protest, “Who am I to appear before Pharaoh? Who am I to lead the people of Israel out of Egypt?” (11) But the question wasn’t really about who Moses was, and God was about to do just a little more training before He released Moses to his assignment.
“I Am Who I Am. Say this to the people of Israel: I Am has sent me to you…Say this to the people of Israel: Yahweh, the God of your ancestors—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob—has sent me to you.” (14-15) When God calls us to a task, it’s not about who we are. It’s about Who He is, and He is all we need. He never calls us without first equipping us and providing all the tools we need to do the job.
“O Lord, I’m not very good with words. I never have been, and I’m not now, even though you have spoken to me. I get tongue-tied, and my words get tangled…Lord, please! Send anyone else.” (10-13) I think God loved that Moses’ words got all tangled up when he spoke because Moses could depend only on Him, not on himself. In response to the cry of Moses, God gave him Aaron because He always provides all that we need to do what He asks us to do. He doesn’t easily give up on us or on our calling.
So many times in my life God has assigned me to positions and roles that I felt utterly inadequate to do, yet as I looked back over my life, much of what I had done up to that point prepared me for those roles. “Take your shepherd’s staff with you, and use it to perform the miraculous signs I have shown you.” That shepherd’s staff from his 40 years of shepherding placed in Moses’ hand precisely what he needed to perform countless miracles. God is faithful to put in our hands the tools we need and the words in our mouths to prepare and equip us for whatever He calls us to do. May our words never include, “Lord, please! Send anyone else.”
Moving Forward: I surrender my inadequacies and apprehensions to Him today because I believe He will prepare and equip me for every task He calls me to. He’s all I need.
Tomorrow @ I Samuel 16-20
Phyllis Benigas 