God is with you
“But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?” And God said, “I will be with you.””
Let’s set the scene for this verse. Moses, an Israelite, had been raised in the Egyptian palace by Pharaoh’s daughter. He witnessed an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, and so he then killed the Egyptian. When Pharaoh heard about it, he wanted to kill Moses, so Moses fled to Midian. There, Moses married a shepherd’s daughter and began working there. One day, he spotted a burning bush. When he went to investigate God spoke to him and said “Come, I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt” (Exodus 3:10).
But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?” And God said, “I will be with you.”
Who am I…?
One of the first things I notice about this verse is that Moses’ response is actually a question: “Who am I [to do this task]? I love how Moses questions God here. Like, really Mo? The God of the universe told you he was going to send you to Pharaoh and you are going to question his decision? I’m pretty sure God tells you to do something you just do it. But it’s easy to look at this story as a spectator and think that. But really, it is so like us—human nature—to question when God calls us to do something. We tell God, “Surely, I am not the right person for the job. I am not qualified.” Or, we might say to God, “consider my past...my past disqualifies me from this task.” I love that we feel the need to remind God of that as if God does not know who we are and what we’ve done.
Let’s look at Moses’ qualifications. On one hand, he grew up in Pharaoh’s courts and was familiar with its ways. At one point, he had been a prince and had status. He was educated and had a privileged upbringing. Why would he ask “who am I…?” His resume looks pretty good. On the other hand, he was also a murderer. He had fallen out of favor, become a fugitive, and was now living a far more humble life than before. Maybe this is what he was thinking about when he questioned God.
…that I should go to Pharaoh?
And now, God was asking him to go back to Egypt, to Pharaoh, who was like a brother to him. Moreover, Pharaoh was the leader of one of the largest kingdoms of the time and in Egyptian culture, Pharaoh was considered a god. While Moses didn’t likely think so, Pharaoh was still a very powerful man who did not yield to anyone, let alone a fugitive, now living as a shepherd. On second thought, maybe that’s exactly why Moses was questioning God’s decision. Because from a world perspective, Moses was no match up to Pharaoh.
…that I should bring…
He told Moses that Moses was going to bring the Israelites out of Egypt. God wanted Moses to lead them. I’m sure the last thing Moses was thinking when he went to investigate the burning bush was that God was going to ask him to become a leader of millions that he really had nothing in common with. Don’t you remember his qualifications: while he was Hebrew, he grew up in Pharaoh’s courts. He was likely not considered one of them. Back in Egypt, he once tried to intervene when two Hebrews were fighting. And instead of responding to him positively, one of them snarked back “Who made you a prince and judge over us? Do you intend to kill me as you killed the Egyptian?” No, I’m sure Moses was thinking that he was the last person that should be heading up this operation.
That I should bring the Israelites out of Egypt…
And if you just pause for a moment and think about what exactly God was planning to do, it was a crazy task. God didn’t just want Moses to go to Egypt and have a chat with Pharaoh. He wanted Moses to lead up a mass exodus! Forget who was heading it up, how the heck was it even going to happen? Millions of Israelites were just going to walk out of Egypt... The logistics just seem impossible.
So maybe it’s not all that crazy that Moses was like “Really, God? You sure about this?” So let’s give Moses a little grace for his questioning.
Now, once Moses raised this question, which I think is valid, how did God respond? I know that if I were in this situation, I’d want God to reassure me. I’d want Him to pump me up and remind me of all my good qualities—the talents and abilities He’s given me to do this. I’d want Him to remind me that my past is not my future. I’d want this pep talk. And let’s face it, I’d want the pep talk to focus on reminding me of how awesome I am. Or how strong I am. Essentially, a pep talk that makes me more self-confident.
I also wouldn’t mind if He outlined the plan for me. I’d want Him to tell me the step-by-step details, exactly how it would happen. Doesn’t knowing the details provide a sense of reassurance? If I knew the plan, I would have that peace of mind, to go confidently forward. And I’d want it to be logical and reasonable and something that I felt like I had control of.
And God said, “I will be with you.”
But God doesn’t do any of that. Like, at all. He simply says “I will be with you.” REALLY??? That’s it? Human nature says I’m going to need a little bit more than that. But if I look back about how I would want God to respond to me, it focuses on, well, me. The encouragement I think I’d need in that scenario is to make me more self-confident and self-reliant. But when we try to tackle a God-given task in our own strength, we are setting ourselves up for failure or limiting ourselves to all the possibilities God has for us.
There is a reason God did not give Moses a “pep talk.” This was not a task that Moses was capable of doing. This was a task that only God could accomplish. And He was going to accomplish it through Moses. He did not build Moses’ self-confidence because then his confidence would have been in himself and not God. He didn’t want to outline the plan for Moses because all Moses needed to do was trust God. And quite frankly if He had, Moses would have been scared out of his mind.
Knowing “God is with you” is really all we need. We have the benefit of seeing so many stories from the Bible that show that God is the God of the impossible and that God is always faithful. But Moses did not. This is why Moses is in the “Hall of Faith.” He believed, even when he could not see, and stepped out in faith. God wants us to trust Him and trust that “I will be with you” is enough.
I wonder when we are faced with difficulties, or a task that seems overwhelming, or a calling for which we seem under-qualified, what answer we are looking for to our own “Who am I, Lord?” It doesn’t matter who we are. The only answer we need to hear is that He is, and that He will be with us.
