Marco Ambriz

February 9, 2025

Will you answer God's call to help others?

God's Call

1. You have been called to a healing, restoring, and loving relationship with your Creator (2 Pet 1:3-4; Jer 31:3; Eph 2:4-7).

2. You have been called to join God in specific ways for the world to experience the Good News of Jesus (Eph 2:10).

3. You have to fight to hear the Calling of God above all other voices (2 Pet 1:10; Matt 4:3).

Exodus 3-4

Have ever heard God's call, even if faintly? How did you respond to it?

God calls Moses to go deliver His people from bondage in Egypt. Moses gives four reasons why God is mistaken, and, in the end, simply refuses to accept God's call.

1. I’m still trying to figure out who I am.

3:11 But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh, and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?”

Who am I is a rhetorical question. Moses is simply saying “I am nobody” (3:11 TEV), “I have no importance at all,” or even “I have no qualifications at all.” This implies reluctance as well as humility. He is trying to disqualify himself from the task at hand (Osborn, 64).

It is quite appropriate to translate Moses' statement to God as “protested” (Ross, 303).

Some time before, Moses had volunteered himself as a deliverer and judge; but now he had learned humility in the school of Midian, and was filled with distrust of his own power and fitness (Keil, 286).

Moses may have wondered why God would send him back to the land where he had so many memories—including having committed murder and where he had been a wanted man (2:15) (Coleman, 89).

How well do you think you know yourself and your abilities to do what God calls you to do?

2. I’m still trying to figure out who you are.

3:13 But Moses said to God, “If I come to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your ancestors has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what shall I say to them?”

The culture in Moses’ time was a polytheistic, pantheistic, and syncretistic world in which all people groups and nations—there are no known exceptions—believed that there were many gods, that all nature partook to some degree of divinity, and that all religions had at least some validity no matter how many or what sort of gods or goddesses those religions worshiped and regardless of the contradictions a modern person can immediately see between any two such religions. What kind of culture(s) do you face as you try to live out God's kingdom ethic?

Moses therefore wondered Which God am I speaking to? since “the God of your fathers” might have different meanings to different Israelites. Having lived in the midst of pagan cultures all their lives, all Israelites were at risk for heterodox beliefs and/or the distortion of whatever correct beliefs they may theoretically have inherited. Moreover, since the true God was known by various names and titles in the patriarchal era (e.g., El Elyon, “God Most High” in Gen 14:18–22; Pahad Yitṣḥaq, “Fear of Isaac” in Gen 31:42, 53; El Shaddai, “God Almighty” in Gen 17:1; 28:3; 35:11; 43:14; 48:3; El Roʾi, “The God Who Sees Me” in Gen 16:13; El Bethel, “God of Bethel” in Gen 31:13) specificity was desirable. Perhaps most importantly, however, was the assumption in that culture that to call on a god—that is, to pray to and worship him—involved calling on his name, specifically naming him in prayer and worship (cf. 1 Kgs 18:24–26) (Stuart, 119-120). What characteristics of God bring you the most strength and confidence? What attributes or acts of God convince you that the God of Israel is the one true God?

3. My community won’t believe that you have called me.

4:1 Then Moses answered, “But suppose they do not believe me or listen to me, but say, ‘The LORD did not appear to you.’ ”

God had not appeared to any Israelite for over 400 years, from the time of Jacob (Keil, 291). 

Moses’ doubt anticipates the later experience of prophet after prophet accused by the people of speaking his own words, not God’s. It's to be expected (Janzen, 70).

What a comfort to realize that a man as great as Moses began his journey with God and lacked self-esteem. Moses had not yet experienced the power of God, so God gave him miraculous signs to help him here. In Egypt, Moses would see miracles beyond his wildest imagination (Coleman, 90).

Can you give an example of when your words or deeds caused someone to wonder about God?

4. I’m navigating chronic limitations and physical challenges.

4:10 But Moses said to the LORD, “O my Lord, I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor even now that you have spoken to your servant; but I am slow of speech and slow of tongue.”

Moses' claim to be slow of speech and tongue is a cultural feature of ancient Near Eastern “exaggerated humility,” often employed in situations where one is appealing for help or mercy from someone else or showing one’s mannerly self-deprecation at being given a great assignment. For examples, see Gen 18:27; 1 Sam 9:21; 1 Sam 18:23; 1 Sam 24:14; 1 Sam 26:20; 2 Sam 9:8; 2 Kgs 8:13; 1 Kgs 3:7; Isa 6:5; Isa 56:3; Jer 1:6; 1 Cor 2:3; Eph 3:8;  1 Tim 1:15; Heb 13:22 (Stuart, 133–134).

God’s initial reaction to Moses’ objection was to remind him, by a series of questions, that the LORD determines man’s abilities or disabilities (Hannah, 114).

How does God's initial anger at, but underlying confidence and trust, in Moses, show you the way to overcome your limitations?

5. Here I am, Lord. Send someone else!

4:13 But he said, “O my Lord, please send someone else.”

Moses is now left defenseless and must show his true colors: O my Lord, please send someone else! (4:13). To this emotional plea God also responds with emotion. God’s anger, however, does not express itself as punishment but makes further accommodation to Moses (4:14) (Janzen, 72). 

His behavior may feel painfully familiar to some of us! (Coleman, 91).

Conclusion

Moses doubted his ability to confront the new Pharaoh (probably Amenhotep II) successfully and to lead the nation out. God responded to this objection with two promises: the assurance of His personal presence (I will be with you, v. 12) and the promise of Moses’ return to Mount Horeb will worship God on this mountain (Hannah, 112).

How does God's continued presence answer all of Moses' doubts?

Reflection

1. Where can you remember God’s great call of unconditional love in your life?

2. Where do you hear God’s call to help others know they are loved by God?

3. Where do you need to fight to hear who God says you are over other voices?

Works Cited

T. Desmond Alexander, “Exodus,” in New Bible Commentary: 21st Century Edition, ed. D. A. Carson et al., 4th ed. Leicester, England; Downers Grove, IL: Inter-Varsity Press, 1994.

John D. Hannah, “Exodus,” in The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures, ed. J. F. Walvoord and R. B. Zuck, vol. 1. Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1985).

Waldemar Janzen. Exodus, Believers Church Bible Commentary. Waterloo, ON;  Scottdale, PA: Herald Press, 2000.

Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch. Commentary on the Old Testament, vol. 1. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 1996.

Noel D. Osborn and Howard A. Hatton. A Handbook on Exodus, UBS Handbook Series. New York: United Bible Societies, 1999.

Allen Ross and John N. Oswalt. Cornerstone Biblical Commentary: Genesis, Exodus, vol. 1. Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 2008.

Douglas K. Stuart. Exodus, vol. 2, The New American Commentary. Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 2006.