What NOT to Say to a Burning Bush

But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelite out of Egypt?” -Exodus 3:11

Written by: Heidi Farris

Moses is one of the most well-known men in the Bible.  Even people who don't know much about Christianity have heard the account of Moses parting the Red Sea. Just picture the Israelites, still bewildered as they left the only way of life they ever knew. They didn't even know what freedom would feel like, but I imagine at that point they felt cautious hope.   

Then, like a Blockbuster movie, their lives are again in danger as Pharaoh's men come! Pharaoh changed his mind and sent his army after them! This enormous number of people- 600-thousand men along with their families and cattle and even other non-Jews, are stuck between a vicious army and The Red Sea- between a rock and a wet place.

Moses stretches his arms with his staff in his hands and the Red Sea splits for over a million people to walk through.  THE SEA SPLIT TO WALK THROUGH! I can't even do that in my kitchen sink.  

Today we aren't focusing on that miracle. Let's back up to when God first talked to Moses about this. In Exodus Chapter 3, Moses, walking along, comes to a bush that is burning but not burning up.  He walks over to it because it makes no sense, and the bush speaks to him! It is God, who describes how He is going to use Moses to free the Israelites.  

How did Moses react to this? If this were a movie, he'd switch his sandals to combat boots, get his camouflage on, maybe paint stripes on his face and gather up his own team to get this done. But this isn't a movie. Moses answers The Creator of the Universe, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?”  A movie critic would call that anticlimactic.  

He continues to question God:

What am I even going to tell them your name is?  

What if they don't believe me? 

Do you think they'll even understand me? I stutter. They're not going to take me seriously...

It's frustrating to watch Moses try to bail out of this, but too often don't we answer God with the same hesitancy when we hear Him speak to us? He may not appear to us as a burning bush, but as believers we have the Holy Spirit prompting us to do assignments every single day. They may not be the storyline of a blockbuster movie, but sometimes we feel there is too much at stake to say “Yes.”

 “What if I need that money but I've given it away?”

“What if they think I'm weird or I offend them?”

“I don't have time to do that. Can't someone else do it?”

God answered all of Moses' questions. To me, when I try to bail out of my own God-appointments, the answer I need to remember the most is:

“I AM WHO I AM.  I AM sent me to you.”

Who am I?  That doesn't matter, because I'm not really the one getting the job done.  

Just like Moses, it is the Great I AM who will be the hero of every divine assignment.