Fully Devoted: Israel, Act 1Sample

The Calling of Moses

The family God was building thrived in Egypt for decades following Joseph’s lifetime. His promise to Abraham was playing out. One of the opening lines of the book of Exodus tells us:

... the Israelites were exceedingly fruitful; they multiplied greatly, increased in numbers and became so numerous that the land was filled with them. Exodus 1:7 NIV

Through Joseph’s faithful preparation, all of Egypt and the surrounding countries were saved from famine. His descendants continued to thrive and multiply. 

However, that harmony wouldn’t last. A new pharaoh rose to power, one who was not familiar with Joseph’s legacy. The new pharaoh saw the Israelites as a direct threat to his rule, so he promptly used his position to oppress the children of Abraham. 

The family that was thriving and living in the beautiful promise of God was now suffering at the hands of an evil empire. They were forced to build the very symbols of their oppression. They cried out for deliverance. Did God hear? Did He see? Did He care? Was He even there?

The answer to these questions is a resounding yes. And we hear that “yes” through God’s encounter with a man named Moses—a slave turned prince who became a fugitive. God’s chosen deliverer, Moses, is the next figurehead of faith we meet.

Moses was never supposed to survive his childhood. In an attempt to control the Israelite population and preemptively crush the rebellion he feared, Pharaoh ordered all baby boys to be killed. This parallels the birth story of another deliverer—Jesus—who would rescue us from our slavery to sin.

Baby Moses is hidden away for some time, then Pharaoh’s daughter finds him floating in the river. Instead of killing the child, she adopts him, raising him as a prince of Egypt—the same empire enslaving his people. 

Moses learns of his origins and begins to grow more and more unsettled with the situation. One day, he witnesses a guard beating a Hebrew mercilessly. Not knowing a better way, Moses ends up beating the Egyptian to death. 

This leads us to an important discovery: We can’t accomplish God’s mission using the world’s methods. Moses wanted justice, but tried attaining it using violence. God has no problem with confronting evil, but it’s always His intention to leave space for repentance and redemption.

Because of his crime, Moses fled for his life. He took up sheep-tending in the desert. While he was out in the wilderness one day, God visited him in a burning bush. The powerful presence of God’s holiness, even in bush form, made Moses afraid to look at God. But how did God introduce Himself? 

Then he said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.” ... The LORD said, “I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering. So I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians …” 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 3:6-8, 14 NIV

From the start, God makes it clear that He has not forgotten His covenant with His people. He chooses to identify Himself as their God. He calls Himself the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, meaning He chooses not only to be associated with us, but to be known by His relationship to us. That’s the kind of God He is. And calling them His people further invokes that intimate connection.

In His opening statement, God addresses every spoken and unspoken question on their hearts. Yes, He’s seen the violence. Yes, He’s heard the groans of despair. Yes, He is concerned. And yes, He is there. He is moving toward them even at this moment.

And He is the great I AM. This name, YHWH (Yahweh), is profound. It’s holy. It’s something that only God can be called. It carries with it the connotation of self-existence and touches all three tenses—I was, I am, and I will be.

Don’t miss this. In John’s Gospel account, he highlights the ways Jesus introduces Himself; who He claims to be. Jesus makes several “I am” statements, but none more potent than the one we find in John 8: 

So the Jews said to him, “You are not yet fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham?” Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.” So they picked up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple. John 8:57-59 ESV

Why did the Jews have such a violent reaction to Jesus’ statement? Because they knew exactly what He was saying. Before Abraham, the founder of your faith, was even born, I was, I still am, and I will be. In no uncertain terms, Jesus was claiming to be the same God who introduced Himself to Moses so long ago.

And this same God wants a relationship with us. Exodus continues making known to us a God who is not distant or detached when it comes to our suffering, but one who is close and compassionate. One who is moving toward us even when we feel furthest from Him. One who is faithful to His covenants and chooses to be known in relationship to us. This is the God who ultimately became one of us through the person of Jesus. He suffered with us and for us through His willing death on the cross. 

Journaling Questions

• What passage from the reading today stood out the most? Write it down in your journal.
• Has there ever been a time when you wondered if God sees you? What does this passage tell you about God during such seasons? 
• What is the importance of God’s name and how He introduces Himself to Moses?

Memory Verse

But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. 1 Peter 2:9-10 NIV