Journey 4-19-12

“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.’ “ Exodus 3:10-12 NRSV

In this text God comes to Moses with a task that is in keeping with a desire that God had already created in Moses’ heart.  Years had passed since Moses had first been deeply moved by the Egyptian injustice against the Israelites.  Moses had handled that passion incorrectly.  Instead of submitting that passion to God he acted in anger and murdered a man, which led to exile in the desert.

I wonder what became of that desire over the desert years?  Did Moses suppress it?  Try to kill it?  Become bitter over it?  Was it still present and laced with regret?  Did he ever wake up at night wondering about his people?  Did he come to fear his desire and his inadequacy in the light of his failure?  I wonder what was going on inside of Moses’ heart when he heard God say that He would bring about deliverance for his people and that He was sending Moses for this task?  When God spoke about what had once moved him so passionately into unholy action, what was on Moses’ mind?  How did it feel to have God say that He would use Moses in this very area of his failure by making his desire into a holy thing, used of God for holy purposes?

I wonder what made Moses shrink back from this invitation.  It seems like there is a deep fear of inadequacy in Moses’ response.  Why would God choose to work in his weakness?  How could God redeem and actually use the very desire that led to sin and banishment?  Was God really going to create beauty from the ashes of his failure?  Moses asks, “Who am I?”  It reminds me of another Biblical author who asked God in Psalm 8:4 “What is man that you are mindful of him?  Or from The Message, “Why do you bother with us?  Why take a second look our way?”  Isn’t this a question common to man?   Will God really make something beautiful out of a sinner such as I?  What kind of love is this that He should take a second look our way?

In the NIV, Exodus 3:10 reads, “So, now go.”  It’s a command.  But I was struck by the NRSV rendering of the text as “So, now come.”  It changes the tone and brings the fullness of God, who is both invitational and incarnational, to the text.  It makes me wonder what Moses heard.  Did Moses hear the invitational call of God?  “So, now come” echoes with the promise of verse twelve, “I will be with you.”  It literally rings with hope.  Did Moses hear it?  Or did the sound of his own fear drown out the voice of promise?

I hear God saying to Moses:

Come with me.

Join me in what I’m doing.  I am the one who is going to accomplish this and I, Myself, will conquer your inadequacy with my power.  You failed, but I never do.  I will be with you.

Come.

Let me redeem the passion that I birthed in you.  Your desire for justice comes from me, for I love justice.  But I am Holy and I am merciful.

Your desire is distorted by sin, while my desire is pure.

Come.

Let me show you how I will bring justice while offering mercy through the Passover.

I will be with you.

I’m inviting you to know me.  I’m inviting you to walk with me.

I’m inviting you to watch me as I work redemption in your life and I’m sending you to be a part of my redemptive work.

So Come, heed my invitation.

And Go, fulfill my command according to my power and presence with you.

And I hear God as He continues to speak these words to us today:

Come with me.

Join me in what I’m doing.  I am the one who is going to accomplish this and I, Myself, will conquer your inadequacy with my power.  You fail, but I never do.  I will be with you.

Come.

Let me redeem and release the unique person that I have created you to be.

I will be with you.

I’m inviting you to know me.  I’m inviting you to walk with me.

I’m inviting you to watch me as I work redemption in your life and I’m sending you to be a part of my redemptive work.

So Come, heed my invitation.

And Go, fulfill my commands according to my power and presence with you.