Tuesday, November 7, 2023

But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?” And God said, “I will be with you. And this will be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you will worship God on this mountain.” Moses said to God, “Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ Then what shall I tell them?” 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 3:11-14

The character we will study today is from the Old Testament: Moses. God saw the oppression his people were enduring at the hands of taskmasters, and he heard their cries. He commissioned Moses to go to Pharoah to lead a mass exodus from the Israelites’ captivity to freedom.

In Exodus 3, we read about a reluctant Moses. He said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh, and that I should bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?” We all know the end of the story. Moses ends up leading the people to the edge of the Red Sea where God performed a miracle, parted the water, and allowed his people to pass to the other side while drowning the Egyptian army that had been on their heels. Later, the Bible details the law being given, a covenant being established, the building of the tabernacle, and Moses’ faithfulness as a leader. Deuteronomy 34:10-12 says, “But since then there has not arisen in Israel a prophet like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face, in all the signs and wonders which the Lord sent him to do in the land of Egypt, before Pharaoh, before all his servants, and in all his land, and by all that mighty power and all the great terror which Moses performed in the sight of all Israel.”

PRAYER: Lord, thank you for showing us in your Word how Moses acted compassionately on behalf of your people. Help us to remember that when you call us to do a work, you will empower us—that when we question our abilities to help others in need, you will be with us. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.