Moses is held up by Jews and Christians as a hero of the faith. He was a leader of the Israelites who delivered them from bondage in Egypt to the Promised Land. He wrote the first five books of the OT. However, he did not initially understand, appreciate, or experience God’s presence in his work, a concept which I call Immanuel labor. Moreover, he had doubts in accepting God’s call on his life.
I invite you to dive into an extended conversation at the burning bush between Moses and God. (See Exo. 3:4 – 4:17.) You might discover how God chooses to work through His people to do great things and you might identify with Moses’ doubts about his weaknesses, which may help you to address your own. (Note: I wrote another article about Moses and posted it on my blog a few years ago. Click here.)
Yahweh’s plan to deliver the Israelites
Even before Moses begins to express his doubts and questions God about his own calling (Exo. 3:11), God declared that He would deliver the Israelites from bondage. He said to Moses, “I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey” (Exo. 3:8). Unexpectedly, Yahweh added Moses to His grand scheme, saddling him with this huge responsibility to be the deliver: “So now, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt” (Exo. 3:10).
What we see here is fairly clear. God will indeed deliver His people, but He plans to use Moses to participate with Him in the delivering. This should not surprise us at all when you consider that God created the world and then called Adam and Eve to do the work to sustain His creation. (See Gen. 1:26-28.)
Gene Veith, in his book, God at Work spells out the obvious:
When God blesses us, He almost always does it through other people. . . God protects us through the cop on the beat and the whole panoply of the legal system. He gives us beauty and meaning through artists. He lets us travel through the ministry of auto workers, mechanics, road crews, and airline employees. He keeps us clean through the work of garbage collectors, plumbers, sanitation workers … The fast-food worker, the inventor; the clerical assistant, the scientist; the accountant, the musician—they all have high callings, used by God to bless and serve His people and his creation.
God’s plan all along has been to work with, in, and through us to meet the wide spectrum of human needs of those around us.
Moses did not know that God’s primary means to care for the needs of His creation was to work through His greatest creation. Moses also was focused on his own limitations, rather than on the limitless God who invited him to be His coworker.
Let’s continue our study by looking at the first of five objections that Moses had to God calling him to a higher purpose.
Objection #1 – Who am I?
Moses’s initial reaction to God’s call for him to go to Pharoah and bring deliverance to the Israelites was a crisis of self-confidence. He said, “Who am I that I should go to Pharoah to bring the Israelites out of Egypt?” (Exo. 3:11). Perhaps he was thinking that the job should go to someone else who was smarter, a better communicator, had connections, or was a natural born leader.
Regarding Moses’ doubts about his qualifications to fulfill God’s calling to be the deliverer of the Israelites, the Zondervan NIV Bible Commentary informs us:
The first of five protests against accepting God’s commission reflects the great change that had come over Moses after forty sobering years of reflection and development. He who had been only too eager to offer himself as a self-styled deliverer earlier was now timid, unsure of himself, and devoid of any self-assertiveness that his divine commission demanded of him.
God’s immediate response to Moses’s question, whether it was a legitimate concern about his abilities to pull off this mission or a lack of faith was this: “And God said, ‘I will be with you’” (Exo. 3:12). God’s presence in Moses’s efforts was going to be more than sufficient for the job.
My story shares some similarities with Moses’ story. He thought his calling was too high and that he wasn’t enough. I also thought I wasn’t enough, but I had doubts about why I was called from what I thought was a high calling as a youth pastor to a different path in the Army. Back then, I had no idea God was going to bless me tremendously in this profession, and that He would use me to minister to way more people through my 20 years on active duty and 18 more years working in a civilian capacity than if I had served in full-time vocational ministry.
I have to admit, I still occasionally feel like Moses, and doubt my ability to do what God has called me to do. But then I remember that His presence does in fact make all the difference.
What about you? Has God called you to something that you believe is way beyond your own capabilities? This is a common tale. Every new husband has felt that way about marriage. Every new mother feels overwhelmed by the responsibility. Whenever we start a new job, there is a steep learning curve. When the stakes are high and people are counting on us to come through, it is always a bit scary.
However, as we join with the Triune God as His coworkers in the work that He calls us to do, His presence with us will make us more than adequate. The Apostle Paul declared, “For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus” (Phil. 1:6).
Closing thoughts
I trust that the Word of God has been illuminated by the Holy Spirit as you meditated on these passages about Moses and that the observations I have shared have caused you to think deeply about your own calling.
I invite you to check out Part 2 where I will discuss the remainder of Moses’ five objections to God’s calling on his life and ministry and how God dealt with each of them. I trust that it will be an encouragement to many.
About the author:
Russell E. Gehrlein (Master Sergeant, U.S. Army, Retired) is a Christian, husband of 43 years, father of three, grandfather of five, and author of the book, Immanuel Labor – God’s Presence in our Profession: A Biblical, Theological, and Practical Approach to the Doctrine of Work, published by WestBow Press in February 2018. He received a Master of Arts in biblical studies from Grand Rapids Theological Seminary in 2015. He is passionate about helping his brothers and sisters in Christ with ordinary jobs understand that their work matters to God and that they can experience His presence at work every day. He has written more than 320 articles on a variety of faith and work and other topics; many of them have been published or posted on Christian organization’s websites, including the Institute for Faith, Work & Economics, Coram Deo, Nashville Institute for Faith + Work, Made to Flourish, The Gospel Coalition, and Christian Grandfather Magazine.
Reflections on Theological Topics of Interest 