Live Like a Leader - Ls 4: Moses

Meanwhile, Moses was shepherding the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian. He led the flock to the far side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. Then the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire within a bush. As Moses looked, he saw that the bush was on fire but was not consumed. So Moses thought, “I must go over and look at this remarkable sight. Why isn’t the bush burning up?” When the Lord saw that he had gone over to look, God called out to him from the bush, “Moses, Moses!” “Here I am,” he answered. “Do not come closer,” he said. “Remove the sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.” Then he continued, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” Moses hid his face because he was afraid to look at God. Then the Lord said, “I have observed the misery of my people in Egypt, and have heard them crying out because of their oppressors. I know about their sufferings, and I have come down to rescue them from the power of the Egyptians and to bring them from that land to a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey—the territory of the Canaanites, Hethites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites. So because the Israelites’ cry for help has come to me, and I have also seen the way the Egyptians are oppressing them, therefore, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh so that you may lead my people, the Israelites, out of Egypt.” But Moses asked God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and that I should bring the Israelites out of Egypt?” He answered, “I will certainly be with you, and this will be the sign to you that I am the one who sent you: when you bring the people out of Egypt, you will all worship God at this mountain.”

God calls Moses to Lead.

(after all this time, Moses hears from God. God wants Moses to be part of what will do. Rescue for the Hebrews is finally coming.

Moses struggles with God’s calling.

can you relate to this? Had Moses given up?

Moses’ Excuses

I don’t have all the answers (Ex 4:13-14)

I may not have their respect (Ex 4:1)

I’m not good with “the words” (Ex 4:10)

I’m not as qualified as others (Ex 4:13)

Exodus 3:13–14 CSB

Then Moses asked God, “If 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?’ what should I tell them?” God replied 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 4:1 CSB

Moses answered, “What if they won’t believe me and will not obey me but say, ‘The Lord did not appear to you’?”

Exodus 4:10 CSB

But Moses replied to the Lord, “Please, Lord, I have never been eloquent—either in the past or recently or since you have been speaking to your servant—because my mouth and my tongue are sluggish.”

Exodus 4:13 CSB

Moses said, “Please, Lord, send someone else.”

Why do we struggle with God’s calling?

(we make excuses, we think we’re disqualified, we don’t expect God to use us.)

God doesn’t call the qualified, he qualifies the called.

(Moses wasn’t ready. Moses had excuses. this is exactly what God does. This is in his character. Don’t be surprised when it happens to you.)

Leaders follow God through their own excuses.

(God calls the unqualified. He uses the people we would least expect. What are you going to do? How will YOU respond when God calls you to follow him?