Exodus 3:9-10 And now the cry of the Israelites has reached me, and I have seen the way the Egyptians are oppressing them. So now, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt.

11 But Moses said to God, Who am I ?

12 And God said, I will be with you

13 Moses said to God, Suppose

14 God said to Moses, I AM WHO I AM

4:1Moses answered, What if ?

10 Moses said to the Lord, O Lord, I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since you have spoken to your servant. I am slow of speech and tongue.

11 The Lord said to him, Who gave man his mouth? Who makes him deaf or mute? Who gives him sight or makes him blind? Is it not I, the Lord?

12 Now go; I will help you speak and will teach you what to say.

(Full passage here)

God led me to this passage on Monday night after Pastor Andres’ evangelism training session, during which we shared our fears about evangelism and prayed over them. When God calls Moses to leave the desert life and proclaim deliverance to the Israelites in slavery, he’s naturally full of questions about how exactly this deliverance is going to happen. Moses wants to cover all the bases, right? What about the Israelites’ potential disbelief? What about the Egyptians’ resistance in letting go of their slaves? What about his lifelong stuttering problem?

Each time, God doesn’t simply address Moses’ issues. Instead, He declares Himself. “I AM WHO I AM” is the final and only answer to all the questions that Moses has. Nothing can stand under God’s declaration about Himself. His eternal power and glory and sovereignty and supremacy make everything else irrelevant. God reminded me this week that addressing any fears about doing His work is not about addressing a specific concern.

Yes, I am dealing with issues of poverty, the problems of the neighborhood, and my personal inadequacies. But God’s answer is not about addressing these specific concerns. His answer is to redirect my eyes to rest on God Himself. If I can set my gaze on the eternally powerful I AM who is accomplishing His purposes through me, then everything else suddenly becomes irrelevant by comparison. I praise God because I’ve seen this principle play out repeatedly this week; He has broken all barriers when He is at the center of my attention. My prayer lately has been to continue to rest my eyes on God while we do our door-to-door outreaches. I’m sure the Enemy is fighting to undo what I’ve learned but I really want to hold onto this lesson, not just for SMI, but for whatever challenges my future medical training will bring my way.

– Christine

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Please include the following statement on any distributed copy: By Christine Chang. © 2024 Tenth Presbyterian Church. Website: tenth.org