Lesson 4 - God Calls Moses

Israel's Journey From Egypt to Sinai

Lesson #4:
God Calls Moses

Scripture Texts: Exodus 3:1-14

At the end of Moses' second forty years—when he was eighty years old—an event occurred that changed his life completely and lifted it from the plane of the ordinary to the heights of greatness in the service of God. He met and obeyed God. With Moses, as with all of us, it took a personal experience with God and a voluntary yielding to God's will to lift his life from the natural to the spiritual. It was after his meeting with God that Moses was closely led by God and wonderfully used by Him.

MEMORY VERSE: Come now therefore, and I will send thee unto Pharaoh, that thou mayest bring forth my people the children of Israel out of Egypt. — Exodus 3:10

The Burning Bush

Exodus 3:1-3. Moses had been about his business of caring for his father-in-law's sheep for many years. This day he came to the mountain of God ... Horeb—so-called because of the later appearance of God there. It had taken forty years to get Egypt out of Moses. Moses might have led his people to freedom forty years earlier, had it not been for his hotheaded violence. But his time in the desert was not wasted. Now we find him at the age of eighty, humbled and having a keen spiritual discernment that he had lacked in his youth. During the forty years in the wilderness he had become familiar with the paths, locations, and the people who would benefit him later in his work ahead.

Here he saw something so unusual that curiosity led him to investigate—a bush on fire, yet it was not consumed. This was no ordinary fire. It was the fire of God. Here we have a type of the Holy Spirit. The angel of the Lord was there. Here Jesus appeared to Moses. See Acts 7:29-33 where He is called the Lord. This shows us how God often trains His leaders—a period of learning, a season of discipline, then a glorious commission to go forth, fully equipped to serve.

Exodus 3:4-6. God's revelation came to Moses while he was busily engaged in daily tasks. Moses was alert and took time to stop, give attention, and inquire. God called unto him ... and said, Moses, Moses. His ready answer was Here am I. The voice stopped him. He was sincere, trustful, and obedient. To such does God reveal Himself. It was not until Moses turned aside from his way to see, that God spoke to him out of the burning bush. When we seek to know, then God speaks to us. Put off thy shoes ... Why? For the place ... is holy ground. God told him why that ground was holy. Because God was there. This demanded respect and reverence. I am the God of thy father ... Abraham ... Isaac ... Jacob. They had no Bible as yet. So God introduced Himself, saying He was the same God about whom Moses had been taught. No doubt, Moses had heard from his mother stories of God's wonderful dealings with Abraham and the others. But although God's relationship to this humble man was personal and affectionate, He still demanded the reverence of Moses. He hid his face; for he was afraid to look upon God. This was real reverence in his heart. It was the fear of God. We need more of this! Nothing is holy without God's presence, and nothing remains holy after God has departed.

Moses' Commission

Exodus 3:7-10. When we have taken off our shoes and have drawn near to the burning bush out of which God speaks, then we are ready to be sent on great errands for God. Now Moses had the right attitude, and God gave him His message. Until God gives us His message, we have nothing to tell. The message had three parts: 1. I have surely seen the affliction of my people. There is no such thing as unanswered prayer. There may be ungranted petitions in order that God may give us something better, but prayers are answered. Life oftentimes puts us under what may seem to be the lash of a taskmaster's whip, yet no cry of ours to God ever falls upon deaf ears. He knows our sorrows. 2. I am come down to deliver them ... and to bring them ... unto a good land—to Canaan. 3. I will send thee—in My place, to bring forth my people. Moses was now ready to face Pharaoh, not as an equal but as a superior. One man, with a staff in his hand and a commission from God to go, was more than sufficient for the great work ahead. Here was another case of one man and God being a majority.

Moses' Authority

Exodus 3:11-14. This was unexpected to Moses. Forty years earlier he had failed. He asked two questions: 1. Who am I ... that I should bring forth? He felt totally inadequate in himself. God had the solution. Certainly I will be with thee. Moses AND God could do anything. God gave him a sign, a token. The token was that Moses and the Israelites should serve God upon this mountain after they were out of Egypt. It was done in so definite and supernatural a manner as to allow no doubt that it was God (Exodus, Chapter 19, to the end of the book). 2. Who are you? What authority could he present to the children of Israel to justify his asking them to follow them? What name should he give them for this God? God said, I AM THAT I AM. Nothing exists to which He can be adequately compared. He is above all and greater than all. None is like Him. He is eternal—without beginning and without end. His being depends upon Himself alone. There is no explanation of God that man could understand. God just IS. The meaning of the name, God, is I AM. Jesus referred to Himself as I AM (John 8:58). I AM hath sent me unto you. This is the greatest authority any man can have.

JUST A THOUGHT

Opportunity is often missed because we are broadcasting
when we should be tuned in.

Click here for a printer-friendly version of this lesson (pdf).
Click here to return to Israel's Journey From Egypt to Sinai (all lessons).
Click here to return to Sunday school lessons for adults.

Israel's Journey From Egypt to Sinai

Lesson #4: God Calls Moses

JUST A THOUGHT

Lesson #4:
God Calls Moses