¹⁰ So now, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt.” ¹¹ But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?” ¹² And God said, “I will be with you. And this will be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you will worship God on this mountain.” ¹³ Moses said to God, “Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ Then what shall I tell them?” ¹⁴ God said to Moses, “I am who I am. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I am has sent me to you.’” Exodus 3:10-14

The text from Exodus is one of my favorites, because it highlights the many arguments that people raise when G-d calls them to witness.  The first of the five arguments is, “Who am I”, that G-d would call me?” But G-d answers “I will be with you.”, you are my choice. And Moses says, what shall I tell them if they ask me.…“What is his (your) name?”, and G-d answers, “I AM WHO I AM.” Moses says, “But suppose they do not believe me?”, and G-d gives Moses signs to show the people. And Moses says, “I have never been eloquent…I am slow of speech and slow of tongue.” But G-d says “I will be your mouth and teach you…” Moses finally says, “Please send someone else.” And the Lord, angry with Moses, sends him off with Aaron to lead the people out of Egypt.

We may be good at giving G-d arguments and reasons why we should not be called to serve, and G-d will tell us, like he told Moses, “I will be with You.” And, like G-d was not giving up with Moses, G-d will not relent with us. G-d will continue to call us in various ways, to various ventures, some we just cannot imagine G-d would call us to do, or to be, or to sacrifice. I just would not recommend arguing with G-d too much—G-d will win….

Pastor Dave

Then a new king, to whom Joseph meant nothing, came to power in Egypt. ⁹ “Look,” he said to his people, “the Israelites have become far too numerous for us. ¹⁰ Come, we must deal shrewdly with them or they will become even more numerous and, if war breaks out, will join our enemies, fight against us and leave the country.” ¹¹ So they put slave masters over them to oppress them with forced labor, and they built Pithom and Rameses as store cities for Pharaoh.¹² But the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and spread; so the Egyptians came to dread the Israelites ¹³ and worked them ruthlessly. ¹⁴ They made their lives bitter with harsh labor in brickand mortar and with all kinds of work in the fields; in all their harsh labor the Egyptians worked them ruthlessly.” Exodus 1:8-14

“Patience is important when we consider the works of G-d” is a lesson that we learned in the previous devotion. However, in the first chapters of Exodus, we see that the people of Israel had been groaning under the weight of slavery and oppression in Egypt for a very long time. Finally, at the end of chapter two, G-d finally takes notice, and “remembers” his people.  The poets and the psalm writers often lament over G-d’s inactivity, G-d’s forgetfulness, G-d’s inattentiveness.

Awake, Lord! Why do you sleep? Rouse yourself! Do not reject us forever.
²⁴ Why do you hide your face and forget our misery and oppression? Psalm 44

But I cry to you for help, Lord; in the morning my prayer comes before you.
¹⁴ Why, Lord, do you reject me and hide your face from me? Psalm 88

Do you believe that God can draw away for periods of time? Does this thought scare you as much as it scares me? It may appear to us that G-d withdraws from us, but G-d is always there. Perhaps we have lost the ability to hear G-d’s voice, or have not set aside enough time to really listen like we should. My advice is to continue to listen for G-d’s voice—in time, we will realize that voice has always been there—we just have not been attentive like we should.

Pastor Dave