When God Calls: I Will Be With You

Exodus 3 picks up Moses’ story after forty years in the wilderness. Moses had grown up in Pharaoh’s court, killed an Egyptian while trying to defend his Hebrew brother, and then ran because Pharaoh wanted him dead. Moses had settled into an ordinary life as a shepherd, far away from Egypt, far away from the thing he had done, and probably far away from any thought that God would use him.

The burning bush interrupts that ordinary life. God calls Moses by name, tells him to take off his sandals, and reveals that the ground is holy because God is there. God identifies himself as the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God who has not forgotten his people. God says, “I have heard their cry,” because he sees oppression, knows suffering, and comes down to deliver.

God’s rescue of Israel also carries a warning through the rest of the Old Testament. God hears the cries of suffering people, and he refuses to let the rescued become like Egypt. God’s people cannot receive mercy and then turn around and harm others with the same kind of power that once crushed them.

Moses responds to God’s call with the question, “Who am I?” Moses knows his past. Moses knows Egypt is dangerous. Moses knows that he killed someone, ran away, and spent decades in hiding. God does not answer by telling Moses he is amazing, qualified, gifted, or enough. God simply says, “I will be with you.”

God’s name, “I AM WHO I AM,” grounds that promise. God is not absent, not dead, and not merely a memory of the ancestors. God is here. God is alive. God is with his people. Moses keeps bringing excuses, asking about his authority, his ability to speak, and whether anyone will believe him. God gives signs, sends Aaron, and continues to meet Moses in his weakness.

Moses eventually becomes a leader whose life looks extraordinary. Yet Moses’ greatness does not begin with natural ability or confidence. The assignment makes the leader. God’s calling forms Moses into the person needed for the work, even while Moses remains dependent on God.

The question is not finally, “Am I enough?” The reality is that no person is enough for the mountain, the grief, the problem, the calling, or the person that cannot be saved by human strength. God’s presence is the answer. The God who calls says, “I will be with you,” and that is enough.

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Key Takeaways

• 1. God hears the cry of suffering God does not stand far off from people under oppression. God sees, knows, and comes down to deliver because suffering matters to him personally. God’s concern for the afflicted also calls rescued people to resist becoming like the powers that once harmed them. [45:35]
• 2. God’s presence answers human inadequacy Moses asks, “Who am I?” because his past, fear, and limitations all seem disqualifying. God does not build Moses up with empty reassurance. God gives the deeper promise: “I will be with you.” [52:57]
• 3. The assignment makes the leader Moses does not begin as an obvious leader ready to confront Pharaoh. God’s calling shapes Moses through dependence, resistance, failure, and ongoing encounter with God. Calling is not a reward for already being enough; it is often the place where God makes weakness useful. [55:08]
• 4. “I AM” is present with his people God’s name is not just a mysterious phrase but a declaration of living presence. God is not merely the God of a distant past or inherited tradition. God remains present, faithful, and near to those he calls.
  
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Youtube Chapters

• [00:00] - Welcome
• [37:34] - God Uses Ordinary People
• [38:32] - When God Calls the Unqualified
• [41:02] - Moses Runs Into the Wilderness
• [42:21] - The Burning Bush
• [44:22] - God Hears Israel’s Cry
• [47:06] - Moses Asks, “Who Am I?”
• [48:28] - God Reveals “I AM”
• [49:14] - Moses’ Excuses and God’s Signs
• [52:57] - “I Will Be With You”
• [55:08] - The Assignment Makes the Leader
• [57:22] - God Is Enough

1. 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. [42:21]
2. 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.
3. And Moses said, “I will turn aside to see this great sight, why the bush is not burned.”
4. 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.”
5. Then he said, “Do not come near; take your sandals off your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.”
6. 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. [44:22]
7. 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.”
8. “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.”
9. “Come, I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.” [47:06]
10. But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?”
11. 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.”
12. 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?”
13. 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.’” [48:28]
14. 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.’”
15. “This is my name forever, and thus I am to be remembered throughout all generations.” [52:57]

1. One day, when Moses had grown up, he went out to his people and looked on their burdens, and he saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his people.
2. He looked this way and that, and seeing no one, he struck down the Egyptian and hid him in the sand.
3. When he went out the next day, behold, two Hebrews were struggling together. And he said to the man in the wrong, “Why do you strike your companion?”
4. He answered, “Who made you a prince and a judge over us? Do you mean to kill me as you killed the Egyptian?” Then Moses was afraid, and thought, “Surely the thing is known.”
5. When Pharaoh heard of it, he sought to kill Moses. But Moses fled from Pharaoh and stayed in the land of Midian. And he sat down by a well. [41:02]

1. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

1. What details show that Moses had settled into a very ordinary life before God met him at the burning bush?
2. What does God say he has done in response to Israel’s suffering—what has he seen, heard, known, and decided to do? [45:35]
3. What past event would have made Moses especially fearful about returning to Pharaoh and Egypt? [41:02]
4. When Moses asks, “Who am I?” what answer does God actually give him, and what kind of answer does God not give? [52:57]

1. God calls Moses from the wilderness back to the place he had fled. What does this reveal about how God may deal with a person’s past failures rather than simply leaving that person in hiding?
2. God identifies himself as the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob before sending Moses. Why would God’s connection to his covenant promises matter for Moses and for suffering Israel?
3. God hears the cries of oppressed people and later warns Israel not to mistreat foreigners or vulnerable people. What does this suggest about the responsibility of people who have received God’s mercy? [46:28]
4. God’s answer to Moses is “I will be with you,” rather than “You are enough.” How does this change the way a believer can understand weakness, fear, and a difficult calling? [53:19]

1. Is there an area of life where a past failure, regret, or shame makes you feel disqualified from being useful to God? What would it look like to bring that honestly before God rather than continuing to hide from it? [52:31]
2. Moses was tending sheep when God interrupted his ordinary routine. Where might God be inviting you to pay attention, serve, or respond faithfully in the ordinary parts of your current life? [42:09]
3. God sees suffering and hears the cry of the oppressed. Who around you may be carrying a burden that is easy to overlook? What is one concrete way you could listen, care, speak up, or offer help this week? [46:17]
4. People who have been hurt can sometimes hurt others when they gain power or influence. In what relationships—at home, work, church, or elsewhere—might you be tempted to use power in a way that resembles the harm you have received? [46:29]
5. What “Pharaoh-sized” situation are you facing: a problem you cannot fix, a person you cannot save, a grief you cannot carry, or a responsibility that feels too large? How might God’s promise, “I will be with you,” reshape your next step? [57:22]
6. Are you more likely to say, “I am not enough,” or to assume that your gifts and effort are enough? How can both insecurity and self-confidence be turned into greater dependence on God? [39:47]
7. The assignment makes the leader: God often forms people as they obey him. What small act of faithful obedience might God use to grow you, even if you do not yet feel ready? [55:14]