When he saw and approached the burning bush which was never consumed, Moses heard God calling Moses personally by name. “Here I am” was Moses’ response to God, the beginning of his prayer that changed his entire life.
God then told Moses, “Do not come near; take your sandals off your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground. I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” Confronted with the awful majesty and holiness of God’s Presence, Moses hid his face from God out of fear. God then explained that He has heard the cries and sufferings of the Israelite people in Egypt, and that it was time for God to deliver them from the Egyptians and to bring them into the Promised Land. He has chosen and will send Moses, the perfect person for this job, to Pharaoh the king of Egypt to liberate His people. “Yes, I have chosen you to free my people from Egypt!”
After Moses heard this, he out of fear skeptically questioned God, “Who am I to demand the Pharaoh to let your people go and bring them out of Egypt?” Then God promised Moses, “I will be with you,” and gave him a clear sign that once they were out of Egypt, “you shall worship God on this mountain, Mount Horeb (=Mount Sinai).”
God draws our attention to Himself in order to draw us nearer to Him. He knows each of us and calls us by our own names every day. Yet it is easy for us to miss God’s voice in the midst of our lives. We must shift our attention to Him before we can make ourselves available and say, “Here I Am.” Do you strive to seek God, recognize His voice, and converse with God in your daily life?
It is natural for humans to experience awe, reverence, and fear whenever they are in the presence of a holy God. Humans then tend to doubt because they wonder, “Is it just ‘voices in my head’ talking to me, or is it really from God?” When God calls men and women to follow Him, they will know immediately. Yet humans tend to instinctively fight back because they know that they must give up their old ways and sinful habits in order to follow Him. Have you submitted your life to God and long to follow Him in love and obedience yet?
“Who am I” is an appropriate question for humans to ask whenever they talk with God in prayer. Humble men and women recognize that they are not good enough to stand before, much less to relate with, a holy God because of their own sin. Yet in his divine prerogative and wisdom, God has chosen to use human agents to accomplish His will in this world. It is an amazing privilege for men and women to partake in God’s redemptive work in this world. God knows that humans cannot accomplish His work in the world on the basis of their own strength, intellect, or schemes because they are weak. This is why God utters this promise to those who belong to Him: “I will be with you.” This is a wonderful promise that cheers the hearts of a weary saint! It is the one that Jesus repeats at the end of Matthew’s Gospel (28:20) – “Lo, I am with you always to the end of age.”
God desires to invite us to participate in His redemptive work within this world, namely, to liberate men and women from the heavy chains of sin and death through the power of Gospel so that they might experience new life in the light of Jesus’ death and resurrection. But humans always respond to God with awe, fear, and doubt. This is why all disciples of Christ must hear this promise over and over again in our lives: “I will always be with you!”