Moses was exactly the person God needed to send to help free the Israelites from slavery in Egypt. He was a Hebrew by blood with a heart for an oppressed people. He was also Egyptian, having been raised in the house of Pharaoh. Who better to stand between the two?

But more than that, Moses also brought with him a personality that God needed for just this task. When he saw a burning bush that burned but was not consumed, instead of fleeing for fear, he turned toward the spectacle to investigate. Right off the bat, Moses showed the kind of courage it would take to stand up to Pharaoh. Then he removed his sandals when he stood upon holy ground. Moses showed he had a healthy respect and understanding of the holy. Finally, he did not back down when fear of speaking and fear of Pharaoh’s wrath threatened to sideline the whole plan. God assured him God would be there with him. Moses demonstrated great faith in a God he had never really known before.

It takes a great many qualities to come together at just the right time in just the right way for God’s work to be done. Fortunately, we are all gifted with some combination of skills and gifts. What I am good at may not be what others are good at, and vice versa. I would not have made a good political leader in the way Moses was able to do. But I sure can write. I can bring God’s word alive for people, and that is one of my favorite gifts. What gifts do you possess, and how are you using your gifts to honor God?

Exodus 3:1-15

Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian; he led his flock beyond the wilderness, and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of a bush; he looked, and the bush was blazing, yet it was not consumed. Then Moses said, “I must turn aside and look at this great sight, and see why the bush is not burned up.” When the Lord saw that he had turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.” Then he said, “Come no closer! Remove the sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.” He said further, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.

Then the Lord said, “I have observed the misery of my people who are in Egypt; I have heard their cry on account of their taskmasters. Indeed, I know their sufferings, and I have come down to deliver them from the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey, to the country of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. The cry of the Israelites has now come to me; I have also seen how the Egyptians oppress them. So come, I will send you to Pharaoh to bring my people, the Israelites, out of Egypt.”

But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh, and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?” He said, “I will be with you; and this shall be the sign for you that it is I who sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall worship God on this mountain.” 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?” God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.” He said further, “Thus you shall say to the Israelites, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’” God also said to Moses, “Thus you shall say to the Israelites, ‘The Lord, the God of your ancestors, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you’: This is my name forever, and this my title for all generations.