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Out of Egypt Series | Exodus 3 & 4
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We're continuing our series Out of Egypt, exploring the story of Exodus. Today we're looking at Exodus chapters 3 and 4—Moses encountering God and being called into ministry.
I want to spend time examining Moses' mindset, because I believe God wants to challenge our mindsets today. Moses had been set apart as the deliverer of God's people. Two weeks ago, we saw how God's people were enslaved in Egypt. Last week, we saw Moses' birth and how he ended up in Pharaoh's palace. But in Exodus 2, Moses murdered someone, thinking he was doing good—and then he ran away.
When we meet Moses again in Exodus 3, we find a very different man. I believe Moses has developed a "whatever" mindset.
Do you know what a "whatever" mindset is? It's like saying, "Whatever happens, happens. Whatever comes to me will come to me." You just give up. When you say "whatever," you're surrendering to apathy.
Moses had lived through extraordinary trauma. Born during a time when all Hebrew boys his age were being killed, he was taken into Pharaoh's palace as a child. He received the finest Egyptian education, yet his own people were enslaved. When he tried to help them, they rejected him. He murdered someone and fled to the wilderness.
When we encounter Moses in Exodus 3, he's been in the wilderness for 40 years—14,600 days—tending Jethro's sheep. That's 80 years old, and he's broken.
If we looked at Moses through the lens of a therapist, we'd see:
Proof of his spiritual abandonment appears in Exodus 4:24-26, where we learn Moses never circumcised his son. This was a non-negotiable covenant sign established by God with Abraham. Moses had compromised so deeply into Midianite culture that he abandoned his faith practices entirely.
When we compromise with ungodly influences around us, we allow things to attach themselves to us that change our behavior and eventually our beliefs.
Nothing changes apathy more than presence. Nothing.
God appears to Moses in a burning bush—not consumed, but perpetually aflame. An ordinary day in the wilderness becomes extraordinary when God shows up.
Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro, his father-in-law, the priest of Midian... There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in flames of fire from within a bush. Moses saw that the bush was on fire but did not burn up. (Exodus 3:1-3)
Moses thinks, "I will go over and see this strange sight." And here's the crucial moment:
When the Lord saw that he had gone over to look, God called to him from the bush. (Exodus 3:4)
When the Lord saw that he moved toward the bush, that's when He spoke. God was waiting for Moses to engage, to show some sign of movement toward Him.
Some of us are not moving anywhere close to where God wants us to be. We're not praying. We're not in the right place. We're not showing up. But when you turn toward Him, He speaks.
God then says:
Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground... I am the Lord your God. I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob. (Exodus 3:5-6)
God interrupted Moses' apathy with His presence.
Notice God says, "Moses, Moses." He calls his name twice.
In Scripture, when God calls someone's name twice, it's significant:
When God calls your name twice, He's saying: I want to change something. I want to draw you in. I want to engage with you.
Your current obscurity is not your destination. You may be in a wilderness season. You may feel dead and flat. You may be in trauma, abandonment, or rejection. But it is not your destination.
God wants to say to you: "Take off those shoes. Let go of the 14,600 days past, the broken mindset, the whatever mindset. Come to me as you are, as I know you. Let's talk. Let's break it down."
Even after encountering God's presence, Moses makes excuse after excuse. Perhaps you'll recognize one of your own.
Moses said to God, "Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?" (Exodus 3:11)
This sounds humble, but it's not. Moses is essentially saying to God, "You don't know what You've made." When God calls you to something, He's placed trust in you.
God's response: "I will be with you."
So many of us make our calling about our incompetence. But it's not about us—it's about His presence. God doesn't need your adequacy; He needs your availability.
I may not have a high level of education, but I have a God who is present with me all the time. Because of His presence, I speak in places where, technically, I shouldn't be able to. It's the presence of God that cuts a path for us.
If they ask me, 'What is his name?' what shall I say to them? (Exodus 3:13)
Moses tries to trick God. "I don't know enough. I don't have all the answers."
God's response: "I AM WHO I AM."
I will be with you. And the one who is with you is I AM. (Exodus 3:12, paraphrased)
Abraham had a father. Isaac had a father. Jacob had a father. But God is I AM—He has no father. He is who He is.
What God is saying: "Listen, if in this moment you need strength, I am strength. If you need wisdom, I am wisdom. When you go to Pharaoh, whatever you need, that's who I am."
You don't need to know everything. You need to know the One who does. His name is Jesus.
But behold, they will not believe me or listen to my voice. (Exodus 4:1)
Moses fears rejection. What if they reject him again?
God asks him a brilliant question: "What's in your hand?"
Moses looks down and sees a stick—dead wood. God tells him to throw it down, and it becomes a snake. He picks it up by the tail, and it becomes a stick again.
God is saying: "It's not about whether they believe you. It's about what I will do with your ordinary stuff."
Moses carried that stick throughout his entire journey. Whatever God wanted to do, He used the stick.
Your ordinary is what God wants to use. The job you have. The place you live. The school you attend. It looks mundane, but stop having a whatever mindset. That's the stick God wants to use to display His power, authority, and goodness.
You're an accountant? Be the most anointed accountant on the planet. Take your degree and leave it with Him.
You're a father? You may think you're a nobody, but you're a somebody. Take your ordinary fatherhood and put it in His hands, and you'll become a father to many.
Whatever you are, if you take your ordinary and give it into His hands, it becomes the most powerful thing, because of the power of the God who is with us. God is not looking for those who have it all figured out. He's looking for those willing to put their hands in a supernatural God.
O my Lord, I am not eloquent... I am slow of speech and slow of tongue. (Exodus 4:10)
God's response:
Who has made man's mouth? Is it not I, the Lord? Now therefore go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall speak. (Exodus 4:11-12)
God does not need your eloquence. He needs your availability. It doesn't matter if your language isn't your first language. It doesn't matter if the culture is different from you. He just needs your availability.
Are you willing to be used? Because you have a God saying: "The whatever stops today. The whatever breaks today."
Finally, Moses gives up entirely:
Please, Lord, send someone else. (Exodus 4:13, paraphrased)
The Bible says the anger of the Lord was kindled against Moses.
But here's what happens next: God gives him a solution. Grace. Even in God's anger, He accommodates Moses' weakness:
What about your brother Aaron? I know he can speak well. He is already on his way. (Exodus 4:14-15)
God already brought the provision.
God accommodates your weaknesses, but He does not alter your calling. You were called in spite of your weaknesses. All God needs is your yes—your willingness to step into the presence where He wants you to be.
In the Gospel of John, Jesus is debating with religious leaders who boast about their heritage with Abraham. Jesus drops this line:
Truly I tell you, before Abraham was born, I am. (John 8:58)
He uses the same phrase from Exodus 3: I AM, Yahweh.
Moses was a deliverer of people. He heard the cry of pain and brokenness, and God released him to deliver His people in the old covenant.
But we have Jesus. Jesus took it all at the cross. He died in our place. Now we have the opportunity to walk free.
Moses is who we studied today, but the ultimate deliverer is Jesus Christ. And in this moment, He says, "I am, I am."
You may be in a season of "whatever." You may be in a different season entirely. You may have experienced trauma after trauma—rejection, abandonment, isolation. Or perhaps you're in a privileged place where everything seems sorted, but something's stirring inside you.
Whatever season you're in, maybe it's time to take off those shoes. Come near the presence of God in the way He wants you to—not with the old shoes, the old mindset, the old apathy.
His presence is always with us. Where can you go from His Spirit? Or where can you flee from His presence? Nowhere. He is everywhere. He's with you in the pain. He's with you in the struggle. He's with you in every place you are.
Step into His presence today. Let the whatever break. Let the calling come alive. And say yes.
