Title: Exodus 3 "Moses' Call and Response"
Contents
Exodus 3 “Moses’ Call and Response”
Exodus 1 records the journey of suffering of the people of Israel along with their journey of prosperity. Exodus 2 records that God's salvation is being prepared by the parents of faith and the sons of faith.
1. Moses' calling (1-10)
A call came to Moses. The time when Moses was called (kairos, opportunity) was 1) when the king of Egypt died (see Isaiah 6:1), 2) when the children of Israel groaned and cried out because of their torment, 3) Moses lived in Midian for 40 years It was time to end our wilderness life. The circumstances of the vocation that came to Moses were 1) when Moses was tending the flock, 2) by calling Moses' name, 3) by pointing out Moses' sin, 4) by sanctifying Moses, 5) and the purpose of the vocation ( It came as he announced the salvation of the people of Israel.
2. Moses' response (11-22)
The most important thing in a person's life is the recognition of the calling and the response to the calling. Excessive pride like in the early days of Peter, and excessive inferiority like in the early days of Mark are not allowed.
When Moses received his vocation, he first did a humble introspection on himself. The self-confident image of 40 years ago is no longer available. After spending 40 years as a sojourner in the Wilderness of Midian, Moses was similar to Peter in the latter days after many failures. “Who am I that I can go to Pharaoh?” “Who am I that I can bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?” This was an honest and humble confession of self. In a way, it's so important to have a humble self-confession to be able to confess that I can't do anything. God's response to this was 1) the promise of His presence, "I will certainly be with you" and 2) the promise of "I will bring you up and you will worship me on this mountain."
When Moses received his vocation, he then asked the earnest question of wanting to know God Himself. It is very important to know oneself rightly and to know God experientially in a person's life, especially in the life of a caller. This was because Moses had to experience and know God vividly in order to go to the people of Israel, whose faith in God was almost disappearing, and to preach God vividly. God's response to this is 1) "I am who I am" (I am, YHWH) (that is, Yahweh the Almighty God who is the same yesterday, today, and forever) 2) "I am with Abraham He is the God of Isaac and Jacob, the God of the covenant” and 3) with the words of encouragement that the children of Israel “will listen” to Moses 4) “The king of Egypt only sent Israel after being struck by the hand of a strong God. It was said that there would be hardships.
God still calls us all. We must live a wonderful life that recognizes the calling that has been given to us and fulfills it, while knowing our weaknesses and God's omnipotence.