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Moses: A Marked Man
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We're jumping into a new series today all about the life of Moses. Over the next couple of weeks we are going to be looking at his life and legacy.
One of the most important things to say from the very beginning is this: when you look at the life of Moses, you begin to realize that it wasn't really one great accomplishment that set his life apart or defined who he was. It was a series of encounters with God — and each and every one of those encounters marked Moses in a significant way.
I love Moses because he is proof that one moment in God's presence can change the trajectory of your life forever. Our goal over the next couple weeks is not merely to meditate on the life of Moses — it's to meet with the God who marked him. Because what God did for Moses, he wants to do for each and every one of us. He wants to mark you, too.
Moses is one of the most recognizable names in scripture, and there are a few reasons for that:
So Moses is kind of a big deal. But to understand the man, the myth, the legend, we've got to go back to the beginning of his story. Because every great hero has an origin story.
Before he was a man standing barefoot before a holy God, Moses wasn't just a shepherd. He was:
I don't know if you've ever felt that way, but there have been plenty of times in my life where I felt like my best days were behind me — like maybe I couldn't escape my past. Again, Moses shows us that one moment in the presence of God can change everything.
Moses was born under a death sentence. Pharaoh had ordered that all of the Hebrew children be killed. His mother hid him for three months, and when she could hide him no longer, she placed him in a basket and sent him down the Nile River.
That may sound like child abuse or neglect — but it wasn't. It was desperation. She was actually trying to protect him. And thankfully, the Lord had already gone before him. In God's providence, Pharaoh's daughter picked up the basket from the Nile, and Moses ended up being raised in the household of Pharaoh.
That meant he had the best education, access to every resource, everything Egypt could offer. And yet Moses never forgot who he really was.
When he was 40 years old, Moses witnessed an Egyptian beating a Hebrew slave. He got angry, indignant. He tried to do something about it, things got out of hand, and he ended up killing that Egyptian to protect one of his own.
In that moment, as Moses buried the body in the sand, all of his dreams died with it. When Pharaoh learned of it, he put out a death threat, and Moses had to flee. He was quite literally running for his life. He was a marked man.
For the next 40 years, Moses quietly disappeared from history. He married, started a family, and spent his days tending someone else's sheep. If you had met Moses then, you wouldn't have guessed there was anything remarkable about his story:
But God had other plans.
At 80 years old — if you're feeling like one of our seasoned saints and you need a little hope today, note that — at 80 years old, Moses encounters God in the middle of the mundane, and everything changes.
"Now Moses was tending to the flock of Jethro, his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the far side of the wilderness, and he came to a place called Horeb, the mountain of God. There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in flames of fire from within a bush. Moses saw that though the bush was on fire, it did not burn up...
God called to him from within the bush. 'Moses, Moses.' And Moses said, 'Here I am.' 'Don't come any closer,' God told him. 'Take off the sandals on your feet, for you are standing on holy ground.'...
'I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt... I've come down to rescue my people... So I'm sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people, the Israelites, out of Egypt.'" — Exodus 3
This is the moment God meets Moses in the middle of the mundane and calls him to do something incredibly specific and significant: to lead God's people out of slavery in Egypt, where they had been enslaved for over 400 years.
The calling was clear, specific, and significant — but I have to imagine it was also pretty scary. So it's no surprise that Moses isn't exactly enthusiastic at first. In fact, Moses offers five different objections to what God asks him to do.
"But Moses said to God, 'Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?'" — Exodus 3:11
Moses's first response is insecurity. Even at his best, he probably would have felt insecure about this. But God didn't call Moses at his best — he reached out to him in one of the lowest periods of his life.
After everything Moses had been through, he must have felt: God, you've got the wrong guy. Don't you know I'm an orphan? A murderer? A coward, a shepherd, a nobody?
And God's response is beautiful:
"And God said to Moses, 'I'll be with you. And this will be a 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.'" — Exodus 3:12
I love that God doesn't say, "Oh no, Moses, you've got this, you're the guy." He simply says, "I'll be with you." And, "When this is over, I'll bring you back to this very place to worship me after you've seen all that I will do through you."
God basically says: You're not enough, Moses — but I am.
Here's what's true for every person here today: God has a specific and significant calling on your life. Moses is not unique in that. And sometimes, if we're honest, we have the same objection: Who am I, God? No matter where you come from, where you've been, or what you have done, God wants to use you in ways far beyond anything you can imagine. And when that calling feels scary, he wants you to know — he will be with you.
"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?" — Exodus 3:13
God had already said, "I'll be with you." But now Moses asks a different question: Okay, God, but who exactly are you?
Remember, Moses had spent the last 40 years in Midian, surrounded by people who worshiped many gods, and the 40 years before that in Egypt, a nation with hundreds of gods. In neither place did they worship the one true God of Israel. So Moses is essentially asking, "Which God do I say sent me?"
But he's also asking something deeper: Are you really enough? Are you strong enough to stand against Pharaoh? Can you really rescue a nation? It's not just whether God exists — it's whether God is sufficient for the calling.
"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 3:14
We could do a whole message on those five words. Here God gives Moses his personal name — this is where Yahweh comes from, the name he gave himself.
Notice: God doesn't give Moses his resume or list his past accomplishments. He simply says: I am the self-existent one, the eternal one, the God who depends on no one and needs nothing.
In other words: Moses, you don't need to know everything the future holds — because you know the One who holds the future.
The greatest answer to an uncertain future is not information. It's a greater revelation of who God is.
God often calls us into uncertainty. Some of us aren't struggling because we don't know what God is asking us to do. If we're honest, we're struggling because we're not convinced God is big enough to do it through us. But our confidence isn't found in understanding every step of God's plan — it's found in knowing the God who wrote the plan. When you know who he is, you can trust him with what he asks you to do.
"Moses answered, 'What if they do not believe me or listen to me and say, "The Lord did not appear to you"?'" — Exodus 4:1
Now Moses moves from questioning himself, to questioning God, to questioning everyone else. What if it costs me something? What if I obey and it doesn't work out? What if I look foolish?
This is where a lot of us live. God asks you to invite a friend to church — what if they say no? God calls you to share your faith — what if they reject me? God calls you into ministry — what if it doesn't work out? God tells you to forgive — what if they never change?
We're often less afraid of obedience than we are of what might happen if we actually obey. Because obedience costs you something. Surrender costs you something.
God's response is powerful:
"Then the Lord said to him, 'What is that in your hand?' 'A staff,' he replied. The Lord said, 'Throw it on the ground.'" — Exodus 4:2–3
When Moses throws the staff down, it becomes a snake; he picks it up, and it becomes a staff again. God has him put his hand in his cloak — it becomes leprous, then whole again. And if they still don't believe, water from the Nile poured on the ground would turn to blood. (Moses would end up using all three of these signs.)
When Moses says, "What if they don't believe me?" God simply reminds him he wasn't going in his own strength. The power was never in the staff. The power was never in Moses. The power was in the God who could use ordinary things for extraordinary purposes.
Notice: God doesn't ask Moses to come up with something he doesn't have. He asks him to surrender what he already has. For Moses, it was a staff. For you and me, it'll be something different.
What's in your hand? What gifts has God already given you? What opportunities has he already placed in front of you? What relationships has he already entrusted to you? He starts with what he's already placed in your hands.
Our responsibility is obedience. God's responsibility is the outcome.
God doesn't ask you to produce the miracle. He asks you to surrender the staff.
"Pardon your servant, Lord. I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since you have spoken to your servant. I am slow of speech and tongue." — Exodus 4:10
Now Moses gets specific: God, let me tell you exactly why you chose the wrong person. You're calling me to speak to Pharaoh and lead a nation, but I can't speak. I've never been a good communicator.
How often do we feel the same way? Maybe you say, "I don't know enough. I'm not smart enough. I'm too young. I'm too old. I've messed up too much." We all have that thing that secretly feels like it disqualifies us from the call of God on our lives.
But listen to God's response. He doesn't say, "No, Moses, you're actually a phenomenal speaker." He doesn't argue with him. He asks a question:
"The Lord said to him, 'Who gave human beings their mouths? Who makes them deaf or mute? Who gives them sight or makes them blind? Is it not I, the Lord? Now go; I will help you speak and will teach you what to say.'" — Exodus 4:11–12
God is essentially saying: I gave you that mouth. If I want to use it, I can use it — I made it. And I'll help you speak, and I'll teach you what to say.
What you think is your greatest weakness is actually the very thing God wants to use to display his strength.
Whatever your excuse, God says: I made you, and if I want to use it, I will.
"But Moses said, 'Pardon your servant, Lord. Please send someone else.'" — Exodus 4:13
After all of that, Moses just says it. No more questions, no more hypotheticals, no more "what if," no more "I can't." Just — please send somebody else. This is the first time he doesn't ask for reassurance; he asks for a replacement. He's basically saying, "God, I believe you can rescue Israel. I just don't want you to do it through me."
If we're honest, we've prayed that prayer too:
Notice how God's response is different this time:
"Then the Lord's anger burned against Moses and he said, 'What about your brother, Aaron the Levite? I know he can speak well... You shall speak to him and put words in his mouth; I will help both of you speak and will teach you what to do... But take this staff in your hand so you can perform the signs with it.'" — Exodus 4:14–17
That phrase — "the Lord's anger burned against Moses" — strikes me. God isn't angry because Moses had questions; he patiently answered each one. But there comes a moment where faith is not about getting another answer. It's about taking the next step.
Even here, look at the grace of God. He has already raised up someone — Aaron — to come alongside Moses and lock arms with him. Some of us are afraid to walk in our calling when God has already raised up someone to walk it out with us. He's already given you brothers and sisters to lock arms with you.
At some point, every follower of Jesus reaches a moment where there are no more questions left to answer. There is only a decision to make: Will you trust him, or not?
It was at the burning bush that Moses surrendered to God's calling. That moment marked him. If he hadn't surrendered, we wouldn't be talking about him 3,500 years later.
I wonder if today is your burning bush moment — where God is calling you to do something specific and significant, meeting you in the middle of the mundane to call you into his extraordinary plan. Like Moses, we all need to be marked by a moment where we meet God, overcome our objections, and say yes.
The burning bush wasn't the starting point of Moses's story. It was the turning point. And here's the good news: regardless of your starting point, it's never too late for a turning point. Regardless of your past, your pain, where you've come from, or what you've been through.
I love how Pastor D.L. Moody summarized the life of Moses:
Moses spent 40 years thinking he was somebody in the palace of Egypt, 40 years learning he was a nobody in the deserts of Midian, and 40 years discovering what God could do with a nobody.
If God can use a nobody like Moses, he can certainly use a somebody like you. But it starts with surrender.
Jesus, thank you for your word, which does not return void. Thank you for what we see in the life of Moses — a man who, even at 80 years old, was called by God in a specific and significant way. Remind each person under the sound of my voice today that you have a calling on their life.
If you feel like Moses today — maybe you've been making excuses, maybe you've had objections to what God is calling you to do — today you can decide to surrender to that very thing. It might seem small, but it's actually significant. Today, like Moses at the burning bush, you can be marked by your surrender — the time when you finally give up all your objections and say yes to his will, his plan, his purpose, his calling.
If you want to say yes to whatever God has in store for you, if you want to be marked by the presence of God in such a way that every day your response is "Yes, Lord, use me" — that's the surrender God is inviting you into today.
Jesus, as we look at the life of Moses, a marked man, may we understand that you have marked each and every one of us. You call us into your presence so we can understand calling, assignment, and purpose — because you want to use us. And I pray that, like Moses at the burning bush, our lives too would be marked by surrender to you. It's in the name of Jesus that we pray. And everybody said — Amen.
