SENT ME TO YOU

God said to Moses, "...This is what you are to say to the Israelites: 'I AM has sent me to you.'"

-Exodus 3:14

In Eden, humanity didn’t simply reject God’s promises, blessings, and provision. In Eden, we rejected God.

Undeservedly, graciously, thankfully - God spoke words of hope and love. He promised one of Eve’s offspring would someday destroy the exemplar of rebellion (the serpent), thus redeeming and restoring our most sublime and peerless relationship with Him.

Humanity spiraled further downward into uncharted wickedness reveling in our depravity. God looked on heartbroken (Gen 6:5-6). He considered wiping humanity from existence, then recalled His blessing of hope to us. Lovingkindness prevailed. In Genesis 6:8 we read, “Noah, however, found grace in the eyes of the LORD.”

Ephesians 2:8 instructs us - grace through faith is a transcendent gift from God. Noah did not merit God’s grace or favor via of personal piety or moral conduct. The whole of humanity - including Noah - was wholly consumed, universally engulfed, and completely contaminated in sin’s crepuscule. Then, God graciously singled out Noah and blessed him with the gift of faith.

It took no time for Noah to go off the rails of righteousness. Humanity readily embraced licentiousness and debauchery. In Gen 11:4 we see the motive, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves..."

It wasn’t enough to reject God in Eden. In the midst of His unmerited pursuit of us, we overtly shun Him. We build Towers of Babel so that we may make a name for ourselves.

Collectively, we devised a tower project to God’s throne room. We hatched a scheme to ascend by our own will. We visualized a celebration - rolling up our collective middle finger in God’s face - saying, “BOOYAH! You’re pathetic, insignificant, and obsolete!”

That’s the cataclysmic backdrop of Genesis chapter twelve.

In Genesis 12:1-4 we observe God blessing Abram, just like He did Noah, with the unmerited, undeserved, and exorbitant gift of faith. God said, “Go…” and Abram went. This time God didn’t simply make a promise not to destroy. Instead, He made a promise to lavishly bless “all the families on earth” (12:3).

Let’s fast-forward to Exodus...

The nation of Israel had been enslaved for about 400 years - just as God had anticipated in Gen 15:13. The glimmer of hope - shed for humanity in Eden - likely seemed an obscure fantasy. Following 400+ years of slavery, God’s promise never to flood the earth again - presumably pointless. "We're not drowning - Yay! We're just enslaved - WOOHOO!" Considering the brutality of Egypt’s king, God’s ancient promise to Abraham probably rang hollow.

When all hope abates God delivers.

In Exodus 3:7 we read, “The Lord said, ‘I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering…’”

Eden’s blessing of a future hope is expressed through Noah, Abram, and now Moses. God revealed Himself to Moses in a burning (yet mysteriously preserved) bush (Ex 3:1-6). God commissioned Moses to bring the nation of Israel into a place that sounds like Eden: “bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey—”

God’s plan is unfolding! Hope is alive and well!

Moses’ innate brokenness is confirmed in reading, “But Moses said to God, ‘Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?’”

God Almighty promised Moses “I will be with you” (v.12). Moses’ response: “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?”

Moses was more concerned with what people might think or say than the fact that God Almighty had just stated, “I will be with you.” Like humanity’s seemingly innocuous plan to build a nifty little stairway to heaven at Babel, Moses’ thinly veiled inquiry was an affront to God’s character, power, and person.

In Ancient Near Eastern cultures names told a story. Names of deities revealed their (perceived) realm(s) of power: crops, rivers, fertility, weather, etc. When Moses probed with an innocent query of God’s name, he was effectively asking The Almighty for His resume. Moses wanted to hear about God’s credentials and qualifications to do what He was boasting about. Moses was more concerned with getting embarrassed than obedience.

Moses created the false hypothetical: “...and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ Then what shall I tell them?” Somewhere in the back of Moses’ mind, he was undoubtedly thinking, “Sure, it’s one thing to light a desert bush on fire. It’s a whole nother thing to dethrone Pharaoh, squash his super army, and deliver Israel from 400+ years of slavery!”

God’s response should BLOW OUR MINDS: “God said to Moses, ‘I am who I am.’”

Moses wanted to know what God's name was in order to find out what this God could do. God’s answer wasn’t a resume’ regarding some trivial sphere of influence. God let Moses know this wasn’t a job interview and Moses wasn’t in charge. God issued the eternally profound statement: “I am who I am.” That phrase is subsequently translated in Hebrew (the language the Old Testament) as YHWH or Yahweh, which frequently get translated into English as LORD.

God’s response went beyond Moses’ superficial inquiry and desire for embarrassment insurance. It revealed the profound reality of God. It discloses His eternally holy, benevolent, gracious, merciful, patient, omnipotent, loving, selfless, and triune character as Father, Son, and Spirit.

God’s desire for humanity, for us, and for YOU, is nothing so pathetic or dismal as embarrassment insurance to intellectuals and scoffers. God’s redemptive plan far exceeds our imagined insecurities and perceived objections “they” might ask. God’s redemption, atonement, and communion surpass salvation and eclipse eternal destination.

God is neither a job candidate nor a bottle of multivitamins. We aren’t in charge of the interview. We cannot flip Him over at our leisure to casually and subjectively ascertain His inherent value to us. God’s exclusive plan is for us to know WHO He is. His ultimate desire is to celebrate our eternally reconciled, redeemed, and glorified relationship in Christ.

Every day we spend ourselves building towers to the heavens. Every step taken without considering Him, His will, and His Mission, we roll up our middle fingers to God’s face. Like Moses, are we still asking for His resume... still scouring credentials, still assessing His value-add to our lives of autonomy and independence, still more interested in embarrassment insurance than His Presence?

Have you come to a place in life where you’re recklessly abandoned to Him? Are you continually floored by the reality of your unworthiness and His relentless pursuit of you? Does the Cross of Calvary still rent your heart to tears?

Is the Gospel of Jesus Christ setting captives free through you? Are you truly Christ’s terrestrial ambassador? Are you heralding God Almighty with the one life you have to live?

Are you worried about hypothetical objections or are you telling them with your life, “I AM has sent me to you!”

Blessings,

-Kevin M. Kelley

aMostUnlikelyDisciple.com

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