September 1, 1999
FAMILY BIBLE SERIES:
God is equal to any task he
calls his people to do
___Exodus 3:1-22
___By Susan Pigott
___Logsdon School of Theology, Abilene
___The Israelites probably thought God had abandoned them. They served a cruel pharaoh, they were living a harsh, oppressive life of slavery, they had no leaders, no place of worship, no obvious hope. They were in exile in a foreign land, and all the promises the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob had promised them must have seemed remote and improbable. "The Israelites groaned in their slavery and cried out, and their cry for help... went up to God" (Exodus 2:23).
___But God was listening and cared deeply for the people. They had not been abandoned. On the contrary, God was intimately aware of their situation: "God heard their groaning and he remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac and with Jacob. So God looked on the Israelites and was concerned about them" (2:24). God knew what was happening to Israel and was actively making plans to deliver them from bondage, as emphasized in Exodus 3:7-8.
___In contrast, Moses was oblivious to the suffering of his own people. He had found shelter and solace in Midian, shepherding Jethro's flocks (3:1). But when God appeared to him from the midst of a bush, Moses' life was radically transformed from non-involvement to intense engagement.
___Moses' response to God's call was, "Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh?" (3:11). This was a legitimate question. Moses had been away from Egypt 40 years. The Israelites did not know him from Adam. What authority did he have over the people of Israel or influence over pharaoh?
___God did not explain to Moses that he would become a great leader of Israel who would be remembered for generations. God did not boast about Moses' abilities or intelligence. In fact, God did not focus on Moses at all. God's response was, "I will be with you" (3:12). Neither Moses' self importance nor his abilities were at issue here. What was significant was that God would be present with him, enabling him to do the task to which he was called.
___We are all called--not just missionaries, pastors, youth ministers, Sunday School teachers. All of us. And Jesus clearly indicated what characterizes a true disciple is not church attendance, quiet times, memory verses or tithing (important as these may be), but one's active involvement in relieving the suffering of others (Matthew 25:31-46).
___God is still in the business of showing mercy to the oppressed and liberating the enslaved through people like us (who are often oblivious to the needs around us). God shakes our comfortable worlds with the command to become involved, to show compassion to the sinner, to help feed the hungry, to free the addicted, to protest the abuse of others. And we may legitimately ask, "Why me?" But when God calls us to compassion, it is not because of who we are, but because of who God is. God uses our hands, feet, voices, ears to become palpable to a world of people who think they have been abandoned by him.
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