May 8, 2018 - Suggested Reading Exodus 3 for the Mother’s Day message from Psalm 86 “save me, because I serve you just as my mother did”

“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 3:14 (NIV) 

I never tire of reading the account of God acting to save His people by first calling His man to lead them. This is how God acts on this earth- He calls men to lead His people, to deliver them from bondage. We forget this - we pray and pray and pray and forget that God uses people to rescue His people, many times we remain in our misery because we are unwilling to follow the human that God has designated to lead us to freedom.

Notice that the call of a spiritual leader begins with a conversation between God and the person. Not as friend to friend but as a Holy God to a sinful mortal, for the human leader needs to know that they are nothing compared to God, and yet they need to know that this God is the God of Abraham, a God who chooses and blesses specific individuals out of a crowd. Moses’ response is every godly leader’s response - who am I?  God’s answer is that your ministry is not about you – it's about me, for I will be with you and you will bring my people to this mountain to worship me.

Moses’ next question - who are YOU? – is answered in a specific way and takes us to the true calling of every godly leader – for our true calling is to reveal to God’s people who this God really is. I AM who I AM, I AM YHWH - the Jewish people understand this in the technical sense that this is God’s personal Name, and therefore when we use His Name for any other purpose than worship or calling on His Name to save us, we are using His Name in vain.

We know as humans that a name is only what a person makes of it- there is no magic in a name per se - actions and attitudes give our names meaning. So it is with our God, He gives us His Name here and His actions and attitudes recorded in Exodus and the rest of Scripture, and the Person and ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ give His Name meaning. Moses - like the rest of the human leaders God calls - doesn’t yet know what this calling to lead God’s people means, nor does he yet know the full meaning and value of this Name- he will learn - he will KNOW - as he serves God for the next 40 years of his life- for God's Name is revealed as He saves His people.