Go, Go, Go

O.T.#134  "Go, Go, Go"
Exodus 3-Part 7
Sept. 25, 2013
I have promised to bring you out of your misery in Egypt...into a land flowing with milk and honey. Exodus 3:17

LET IT GLOW

Go, go, go. We hear that word at football games when our team is cheered on toward the goal, a touchdown. It seems we are always on the go in our busy days. Yet if we hear God tell us to go, how do we react? Hesitantly like Moses, stubbornly like Pharaoh, or obediently? I am ready to go into the Word. Won't you join me?

Why me, Lord?  Who am I, Lord? What good can I do, Lord? You want to do what in me, through me, with me? Really? Are You serious?
Aren't they questions we have all asked one time or another as God reveals His will for our life or gives us today His schedule and instructions for us, His child?
Moses had several questions for God, who was patient.
Moses first questioned God with excuse number 1:Who am I, that I should...? Some say it was an excuse, trying to copout. Maybe it was just plain humility. To think that the God of this universe, which He spoke into being, would, could, and wants to us little people for His purpose, in His plans, and for His glory, to have an influence on someone's eternity. Yes, it is humbling.

Excuse #2: I'm not a theologian. I will not have all the answers.


Somewhere between excuse 1 and 2, Moses had a heart change, I think. You know, at least Moses is conversing and discussing with God about His plan. It sounds like he has accepted the call, now ready for the details.

In the NIV,  verse 13 reads, 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?"

Asking what meant they sought for the relevancy of the name to their circumstances. Who? sought after title, name and identity; whereas What? inquired into the character, quality, or essence of a person. Israel might ask for the validation of God's name. (MacArthur)

God's identification is more important than who Moses is. When we know the God who is with us, we can step forth confidently to do His will.  (Guzik)

God's response to Moses' question reveals His nature: I AM THAT I AM. Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.

Young's Analytical Concordance to the Bible defines I AM THAT I AM as a name indicating rather the unsearchableness of God than his mere existence, as commonly supposed.


In Liberty Bible Commentary, Dr. Falwell explains:

I AM THAT I AM-God replied using the verb to be (hayah in Hebrew). It means I am the One who is. God expressed the unchanging, eternal, self-existence of His being. He is able to act at will, to keep promises, to redeem Israel. Yet, He is unsearchable. There is mystery to His existence that none can fathom.

In Moses, God's Man For a Crisis, Charles Swindoll tells us:

In the Hebrew language, the divine name I AM is only written with the consonants YHWH. It was probably pronounced Yahweh. However, no one is certain about its pronunciation, because the Jews came to revere it so highly that they stopped verbalizing it. In place of this word, they pronounced the term Adonai, which means Lord. God is pure being. Nothing has brought or could bring Him into existence. Nor could anything ever cause Him to cease to be. he has always existed and will always exist because He is existence.  There is no other attribute of God that better stands as the summation of His nature than this one. Moses apparently realized that, for he did not pursue his excuse any further. He understood that the living God was offering Himself in all of His fullness to him, an eighty-year-old shepherd.

God would be whatever Moses needed Him to be in order for him to carry out God's assignment.
Miraculous signs, interrupting of nature, provider of food and water, strength-God did in Moses' life.
God will be whatever we need Him to be as we carry out His assignment. What do you and I need Him to be for us today? Have you asked Him yet?

Do you know the Great I AM as your Lord? Who is He to you?  Do you believe that He is?

LET IT GROW

Moses received further instructions from God, giving him a plan, with God's "I will's."
Moses was to:

• Go, gather the elders of Israel together.
• Tell the elders that the LORD God of their fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob appeared unto you (Moses).
• Tell the elders that God has watched over them and saw what was done to them in Egypt (slavery).
• God promised to bring them out of their misery in Egypt into a land flowing with milk and honey.
• The elders will listen to Moses.
• Moses and the elders are sent to the king of Egypt, Pharaoh.
• Tell Pharaoh, "The LORD God of the Hebrews has met with us. Let us take a three-day journey into the desert to offer sacrifices to the LORD our God."
• The king will not let you go unless a mighty hand compels him.
• God will stretch out His hand and strike the Egyptians with all the wonders that He will perform among them. Afterwards, he will let you go.
• The Hebrews will find favor with the Egyptian people.
• The Hebrews will not go empty-handed.
• The Egyptian women will give their jewels of silver, jewels of gold, and clothing for your children.
• You shall plunder the Egyptians.

Is that a plan or what? Of course, if you have ever read the rest of the story, you know it all happens. Just think, Moses and the elders did not know how it would turn out, only that God said it and they believed it. The Hebrews believed that God could and would do what He said He would do.

Do you? If God sat down today with you, unrolled a detailed sketch, layed out His plan for your life, your church, your community, your nation, then asked you to do a certain thing, your part, in accomplishing that plan, how would you react?

Would you believe Him and follow willing, obeying, and giving him the glory?
Or would you question God a little further?
How big is your God?

LET IT GO

God uses the word go several times in chapter 3:

• He told Moses to go to Egypt,
•  the elders of Israel to go with Moses to Pharaoh,
• Pharaoh to let the Hebrews go worship in the desert.
• God warned that Pharaoh would not let them go until God's mighty hand was stretched out(plagues) then he would let them go.
• The Hebrews would not go empty handed out of Egypt.

Where is God telling you to go, friend?
Will you excitedly obey or be stubborn like Pharaoh?
What will God have to use so we are willing to go?
Do you need to let go of something so you are able to go?

Go and leave the results to God. Watch Him work. Give Him the glory.