Who Am I?

“Who am I, that I should go…?” Ex. 3:11.

Every one of us at some point in our life has probably asked God the very question Moses asked of Him. It is the battle cry of mankind over the course of time when approaching God and questioning the ability to accomplish what He is requiring. I never know what divine nuggets God is going to drop into my mind each morning but I know to expect them. This morning it was realization that when Moses was called to be God’s instrument in rescuing the Israelites he was eighty years old. The other question I would be asking of God is “Why now? Lord, I have been roaming around on the back side of this desert for 40 years!” Moses fled for his life in Egypt after interceding for the physical cruelty against one of his Hebrew brothers resulting in the murder of the Egyptian slave driver. I am sure that God used the 40 years to develop Moses into the character of faith that God required for this deliverance.

The other realization that I had this morning was that Moses came 500 years after Abraham was given the original promise of establishing God’s people. Just as we look backwards in history to understand the great faith of those who went before us, Moses had most likely heard of the covenant between God and Abraham. They didn’t have a Bible to read back then, but rather stories passed down through the generations. So Moses was just as removed from those champions of faith as we are removed from his story. Every generation has their own spiritual mark to make on the ultimate mission of God – that every knee will bow and confess that He is Lord and Savior bringing all to His eternity at the proper time.

The older we get we more we develop into that ‘slow down’ mentality. We set as our goal that period in our lives where all things are winding down and rest is entitled and deserved. When reflecting over the life of Abraham and Moses I am reminded that these two men were closer to the end of their lives opposed to their earlier lives of youth and vitality. God will use us daily in His mission but it will be in direct correlation with our level of faith and obedience. God is in no hurry and He is not going anywhere. The mission is unchanging and He will use whoever is approachable, faithful and willing.

I am only fifty and was totally worn out after taking my six and three year old grandchildren to the beach a while back for 3 days! I can’t imagine being called to bring a couple hundred thousand whining and ungrateful Israelites through the desert for forty years. (At least I had a pool and water park for the grandkids!)

We must change our slow down mentality and gear up for God as we get older. With every year that passes we are hopefully becoming more spiritually seasoned. It is God who has gotten us to this point in our lives so why not offer our praise and thankfulness for His faithfulness in obedience to whatever He asks of us.

Who am I indeed?