I Am Who I Am: Embracing God's Calling

Exodus 3 opens with Moses far from home, keeping Jethro’s flock and coming to Horeb, the mountain of God. The burning bush catches his eye because the fire is there, but the bush is not consumed. The flame shows God’s presence, pure and self-sustaining, not needing the bush in order to burn. God calls, “Moses, Moses,” and holy ground means Moses is not just seeing something strange, he is encountering the living God.

God’s command to take off the sandals presses the point that God’s presence makes the ground holy. The building is not sacred because of pews, windows, or walls. God’s gathered people are sacred because Christ is Lord and God is on the throne of their hearts. When God’s word is open properly and God’s people gather, God himself is encountered.

God then reveals both nearness and greatness. God says, “I have surely seen,” “I have heard,” “I know,” and “I have come down to deliver.” Affliction, crying, and suffering can make God feel far away, but Exodus shows God identifying with his people and moving toward them. Moses, though, sees his own inadequacy more clearly than God’s nearness, and his first question is, “Who am I?”

God answers Moses not with flattery, but with presence: “I will be with you.” Moses then asks God’s name, a question shaped by a pagan world where gods were named by their realms. God refuses to be put in a box. “I am who I am” declares that God depends on no one, needs nothing, has no beginning and no end, and stands as Creator over all creation.

God’s transcendence then shows itself in his control over what will happen. God promises the land, predicts Pharaoh’s refusal, declares the mighty hand that will strike Egypt, and even says the women will plunder the Egyptians. Moses still doubts, and God gives signs: the staff becomes a serpent, the diseased hand is restored, and Nile water will turn to blood. Egypt’s powers are nothing next to the I AM.

Moses finally says, “Please send someone else,” and God’s anger is kindled. Yet God answers with grace, giving Aaron and reminding Moses to take the staff. That lowly shepherd’s staff will overthrow Pharaoh’s royal power. God’s calling needs a bigger view of God and a whole lot of grace, grace won at Calvary, where Christ bore wrath so sinners could look to the Savior and live.

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Key Takeaways

• 1. Holy ground is God’s presence The burning bush does not make Horeb holy because the dirt is special. God’s presence makes the place holy, and that same reality confronts God’s gathered people. Church is not a social club, a religious habit, or a place to earn blessing, but the place where God promises to meet his people through his word and presence. [27:01]
• 2. Inadequacy can hide God’s nearness Moses asks, “Who am I?” while God is standing near and saying, “I will be with you.” The heart can stare so hard at failure, weakness, or lack of ability that God’s nearness becomes practically invisible. The answer to calling is not self-confidence, but the presence of the God who has seen, heard, known, and come down. [30:35]
• 3. God will not fit a box The name “I am who I am” refuses every attempt to make God manageable. Egypt’s gods had little realms, but Yahweh is not the god of one river, one sky, or one nation. God is pure being, Creator over all creation, and every excuse melts when the living God is seen as he truly is. [35:20]
• 4. Grace meets stubborn excuses Moses receives signs, promises, answers, and even Aaron, though his resistance keeps rising. God’s anger is real, but his grace is also astonishingly patient. The calling of God is not carried by human eloquence, but by grace that supplies what weakness cannot. [45:13]
• 5. Look to Christ and live Grace is not vague kindness or religious sentiment. Grace is forgiveness purchased when Christ took the punishment sinners deserved and bore wrath on the cross. The command remains beautifully simple: look to the lifted-up Savior and live.
  
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Youtube Chapters

• [00:00] - Welcome
• [10:50] - Moses and the Burning Bush
• [19:28] - A Calling Bigger Than Ability
• [22:01] - The Bush That Was Not Consumed
• [24:24] - Standing on Holy Ground
• [27:55] - God Sees, Hears, and Comes Down
• [30:35] - Moses Asks, “Who Am I?”
• [32:13] - God Reveals His Name
• [36:16] - The Transcendent I AM
• [39:40] - Moses’ Doubts and God’s Signs
• [43:07] - “Please Send Someone Else”
• [45:28] - The Shepherd’s Staff Overthrows Pharaoh
• [47:44] - A Bigger View of God
• [51:42] - A Whole Lot of Grace
• [55:05] - Look to the Savior and Live

Bible Reading

Exodus 3:1-4:17
“Now Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law, Jethro, the priest of Midian, and he led his flock to the west side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. And the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush. He looked, and behold, the bush was burning, yet it was not consumed. And Moses said, 'I will turn aside to see this great sight, why the bush is not burned.' When the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, 'Moses, Moses!' And he said, 'Here I am.' Then he said, 'Do not come near; take your sandals off your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.' And he said, 'I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.' And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God. Then the Lord said, 'I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters. I know their sufferings, and I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. And now, behold, the cry of the people of Israel has come to me, and I have also seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them. Come, I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.' But Moses said to God, 'Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?' He said, 'But I will be with you, and this shall be the sign for you, that I have sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain.' Then Moses said to God, 'If I come to the people of Israel and say to them, "The God of your fathers has sent me to you," and they ask me, "What is his name?" what shall I say to them?' God said to Moses, 'I AM WHO I AM.' And he said, 'Say this to the people of Israel: "I AM has sent me to you."' God also said to Moses, 'Say this to the people of Israel: "The Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you." This is my name forever, and thus I am to be remembered throughout all generations. Go and gather the elders of Israel together and say to them, "The Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, has appeared to me, saying, 'I have observed you and what has been done to you in Egypt, and I promise that I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt to the land of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, a land flowing with milk and honey.'" And they will listen to your voice, and you and the elders of Israel shall go to the king of Egypt and say to him, "The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, has met with us; and now, please let us go a three days' journey into the wilderness, that we may sacrifice to the Lord our God." But I know that the king of Egypt will not let you go unless compelled by a mighty hand. So I will stretch out my hand and strike Egypt with all the wonders that I will do in it; after that he will let you go. And I will give this people favor in the sight of the Egyptians; and when you go, you shall not go empty, but each woman shall ask of her neighbor, and any woman who lives in her house, for silver and gold jewelry, and for clothing. You shall put them on your sons and on your daughters. So you shall plunder the Egyptians.' Then Moses answered, 'But behold, they will not believe me or listen to my voice, for they will say, "The Lord did not appear to you."' The Lord said to him, 'What is that in your hand?' He said, 'A staff.' And he said, 'Throw it on the ground.' So he threw it on the ground, and it became a serpent, and Moses ran from it. But the Lord said to Moses, 'Put out your hand and catch it by the tail'—so he put out his hand and caught it, and it became a staff in his hand— 'that they may believe that the Lord, the God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has appeared to you.' Again, the Lord said to him, 'Put your hand inside your cloak.' And he put his hand inside his cloak, and when he took it out, behold, his hand was leprous like snow. Then God said, 'Put your hand back inside your cloak.' So he put his hand back inside his cloak, and when he took it out, behold, it was restored like the rest of his flesh. 'If they will not believe you,' God said, 'or listen to the first sign, they may believe the latter sign. If they will not believe even these two signs or listen to your voice, you shall take some water from the Nile and pour it on the dry ground, and the water that you shall take from the Nile will become blood on the dry ground.' But Moses said to the Lord, 'Oh, my Lord, I am not eloquent, either in the past or since you have spoken to your servant, but I am slow of speech and of tongue.' Then the Lord said to him, 'Who has made man's mouth? Who makes him mute, or deaf, or seeing, or blind? Is it not I, the Lord? Now therefore go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall speak.' But he said, 'Oh, my Lord, please send someone else.' Then the anger of the Lord was kindled against Moses and he said, 'Is there not Aaron, your brother, the Levite? I know that he can speak well. Behold, he is coming out to meet you, and when he sees you, he will be glad in his heart. You shall speak to him and put the words in his mouth, and I will be with your mouth and with his mouth and will teach you both what to do. He shall speak for you to the people, and he shall be your mouth, and you shall be as God to him. And take in your hand this staff, with which you shall do the signs.'” [19:28]

John 3:14-15
“And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.” [55:05]

Hebrews 4:15
“For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.” [49:34]

Observation questions

1. In Exodus 3, what details make the burning bush so unusual, and how does Moses respond when God calls his name? [22:01]
2. What words does God use to describe his care for Israel’s suffering, and what does he say he is about to do for them? [27:55]
3. What questions and excuses does Moses raise as God sends him, and how does each excuse keep shifting the focus back onto Moses himself? [30:35]
4. What signs does God give Moses, and what ordinary object is still in Moses’ hand at the end of the passage? [45:28]

Interpretation questions

1. God tells Moses to remove his sandals because the ground is holy. If the ground is holy because God is present, what does that teach about what makes a gathering of God’s people weighty and sacred? [27:01]
2. Moses asks, “Who am I?” and God answers, “I will be with you.” Why is that such an important answer, and what does it show about how God usually meets human inadequacy? [30:35]
3. God’s name, “I AM WHO I AM,” refuses to be boxed in. How does that name challenge small thoughts about God, especially the kind that treat him as manageable or limited? [35:20]
4. God’s anger is kindled when Moses says, “Please send someone else,” yet God still gives Aaron and the staff. What does that reveal about the way God deals with fearful and stubborn servants? [45:13]

Application questions

1. Holy ground is about God’s presence, not a special building. When gathering with God’s people, what usually fills the mind first—habit, distraction, obligation, or expectancy? What might it look like to come ready to meet with God? [27:01]
2. Moses could not see how near God was because he was overwhelmed by his own inadequacy. Where does the heart most often say, “Who am I?” right now—in the home, in witness, in prayer, in suffering, or in repentance? [30:35]
3. God answers weakness with his presence, not with flattery. What would change this week if the focus shifted from “Am I enough?” to “The Lord will be with me”? [29:56]
4. The name “I AM WHO I AM” means God cannot be reduced to a helper for one corner of life. In what situations is there a tendency to keep God in a small box—work, family stress, fear of people, money worries, or private sins? [36:16]
5. Moses kept raising excuses even after receiving promises and signs. What excuses come most naturally when obedience feels costly: “I’m not ready,” “I’m not gifted,” “I’ve failed too much,” or “someone else could do this better”? [47:44]
6. God’s grace met Moses again and again. Where is there a need to stop measuring usefulness by personal strength and start receiving the grace God gives through his word, his people, and his promises? [51:42]
7. Christ was lifted up so sinners could look to him and live. When guilt, fear, or shame rises, what does it practically look like to look to Christ instead of turning inward? [55:05]