The Undetected Presence of God
Moses had an ongoing dialogue with God about his reservations about going to Egypt in Exodus 3:11-4:17. One would think that Moses would jump at the chance to go to Egypt as a glorious liberator of the Israelites after 400 plus years of slavery (Ge. 15:13, 16, Ex. 12:40, Acts 7:6, Gal. 3:17). Scholars regularly debate the exact number of years of slavery as some text say 400 years while others indicate 430 years. Perhaps the passages that cite 400 years were simply rounding off the numbers. Keil and Delitzsch state: “The 400 years were, according to prophetic language, a round number for the 430 years that Israel spent in Egypt (Exodus 12:40).”[1] Regardless of the exact length of time of the enslavement of Israel in Egypt, the moment had come for their emancipation, and Moses was a star player in this redemptive drama. Moses, however, did not accept the call of God with enthusiasm. His lengthy conversation about his reservations demonstrates God’s profound patience with Moses.
His lengthy conversation about his reservations demonstrates God’s profound patience with Moses.
Only after Moses flatly turned God down and told God to send someone else was, God’s anger aroused (Exod. 4:13-14). The patient listening ear of God and gentle instruction to Moses tell us something about the kindness of God toward our natural inclination to resist his will.
Additionally, it is instructive concerning our freedom to express our genuine fears, hesitations, and even frustrations with God. God does not rebuff or scold Moses for his honesty. Instead, he helps Moses process his objections and fears. God desires modern believers to enjoy the same type of relationship with him, one based on honest dialogue. The Psalms are filled with raw conversations between the human and the divine. David expresses his frustration with God that he felt forsaken by God (Psalm 22). The imprecatory Psalms are another example of permission to say anything to God without impunity (Psalms 5, 10, 17, 35, 58, 59, 69, 70, 79, 83, 109, 129, 137, and 140). The imprecatory Psalms express anger toward one’s enemies, pleading for God to unleash his wrath toward those on one’s blacklist. Perhaps Moses’ honest communication with Yahweh earned him the title “friend of God” (Exod. 33:11). Moses was one that God spoke face to face with. Moses’ transparent relationship with the Lord likely placed him in this high elite status of having an intimate relationship with the Lord. The level of our honesty determines the level of our intimacy with the Lord.
The level of our honesty determines the level of our intimacy with the Lord.
If Moses could tell God anything, you and I can tell God anything. Francois Fenelon, an Archbishop from France (1651-1715), wrote this about being honest with the Lord:
“If you thus pour out all your weaknesses, needs, and troubles, there will be no lack of what to say. You will never exhaust the subject. It is continually being renewed. People who have no secrets from each other never want for subjects of conversation. They do not weigh their words, for there is nothing to be held back; neither do they seek for something to say. They talk out of the abundance of the heart, without consideration they say just what they think. Blessed are they who attain to such familiar, unreserved intercourse with God!”[2]
Fenelon reminds us that we are blessed when we enter the “unreserved intercourse with God!” It was out of this open and robust conversation with God that Moses made a startling discovery. God revealed to Moses a unique name for his mission to the enslaved Israelis in Egypt.
What shall I say your name is?
After Moses was assured that the Lord would be with him when he went to Egypt (Exod. 3:12), Moses objected again suppose I go, and they ask me what your name is. What shall I say? (Exod. 3:13). Many scholars have been perplexed about this question. Did Moses not know the name of Yahweh? Had the Israelites forgotten the name of Yahweh after centuries as enslaved people in Egypt? The Lord’s response to Moses is telling. He is to say, “I am that I am,” has sent him. This is not a name for God that appears elsewhere but in this text. Peter Enns provides some guidance on this profound passage. Enns writes:
God answers Moses by saying “I AM WHO I AM.” These three Hebrew words (ʾehyeh ʾašer ʾehyeh) are among the most discussed of any in the Old Testament. The clause is made up of the first person singular imperfect of the verb hayah (“to be”) plus the relative pronoun ʾašer plus the verb repeated.[3]
At the most fundamental level, “I am that I am” is a statement of absolute existence. The writer to the Hebrews considers belief in the existence of God to be fundamental to faith (Heb. 11:6). One “must believe that God exists and is a rewarder of those that seek him,” the writer proclaims. Gareth Lee Cockerill, calling the author to the Hebrews “the Pastor,” comments on the essential need to believe in God’s existence when he writes:
The pastor makes it clear that this belief in the reality of God and the certainty of his promises is far more than speculation or mental assent. Thus, in Greek this statement begins with an emphatic “to believe.” It is addressed to the one “who draws near to God” in worship and service. The promised salvation is only for those “who diligently seek” God. With all of these terms the pastor calls his hearers to faith as a way of life. They are to act as if God is real and his promises are certain.[4]
Cockerill notes that the Jewish Christians, the recipients of the epistle of Hebrews, were to function and “to act and live as if God is real.”[5] Like ancient Israel in slavery in Egypt, the Jewish believers in the early church were suffering persecution and having second thoughts about Jesus as Messiah (Heb. 2:1, 12:5-11). Drawing the early Jewish Christians back to their faith, they are challenged to believe that God exists and will reward his people for passionately serving God. Similarly, Moses reminds Israel of God’s essential existence. Suffering can blur the reality of God in our hearts and minds.
Suffering can blur the reality of God in our hearts and minds.
When Moses comes to Egypt and says, “I am” sent him, he is declaring the absolute existence of God to a people that may have forgotten how real God is. Suffering sometimes makes people question the validity of God. When Moses visits the Israelites in Egypt, he reminds them that God is an ever-present reality. The import of this can be realized when considering that Israel had lived in slavery for centuries. Indeed, such extended days of darkness perhaps had produced doubts about God’s concern for them and even that he exists. Moses’ mission is to remind Israel that God is real and cares about them. Performing multiple signs and wonders will only reinforce the name “I am” in their hearts and minds. Modern believers have moments of struggle with their faith. As Moses struggled to go to Egypt because he thought who am I to liberate the people of God? Yahweh reminded him that “I will be with you” (Exod. 3:12). The presence of God with Moses as he went on a mission to deliver Israel is a reflection that God had been with Israel during their dark days of captivity.
Undetected Presence
I once was hunting in a hunting blind on a cold January afternoon. As I peered out the windows of the blind, I saw thousands of black snowbirds. They were swirling in the sky around and above the blind. After a while, thousands of these black snowbirds settled on the ground, covering the earth to such an extent that the earth turned completely black with the snowbirds packed closely together. As far as I could see, the ground was black with the presence of these birds. I decided to take a picture of this unique scene. As I went to unzip my camouflage waistband containing my phone, the sound of the unzipping alerted the birds, and they quickly flew away. Before I attempted to retrieve my phone, they were all around the blind and did not realize I was there the whole time. God had been with Israel for the entirety of their captivity in Egypt.
God had been with Israel for the entirety of their captivity in Egypt.
They were unaware, however, that he had been with them; his presence had been undetected. Moses will come to Egypt and remind them that the great “I am” is concerned for them, has been with them, and will end their captivity.
Bibliography
Cockerill, Gareth Lee, The Epistle to the Hebrews, The New International Commentary on
the New Testament. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 2012.
Enns, Peter Exodus, The NIV Application Commentary. Grand Rapids, Michigan:
Zondervan, 2000, Kindle.
Galloway, Bryan E. “Francois Fenelon: Tell God All That is In Your Heart,”
Pray for Revival
!, March 22, 2013, https://prayforrevival.wordpress.com/2013/03/22/francois-fenelon-tell-god-all-that-is-in-your-heart/
Keil, Carl F., and Franz Delitzsch. Exodus, Commentary on the Old Testament.
10 vols. 1864–1874.
https://biblehub.com/commentaries/kad/genesis/15.htm
[1] Carl F., Keil, and Franz Delitzsch, Exodus, Commentary on the Old Testament. 10 vols. 1864–1874. https://biblehub.com/commentaries/kad/genesis/15.htm
[2] Bryan E. Galloway, “Francois Fenelon: Tell God All That is In Your Heart,” Pray for Revival!, March 22, 2013, https://prayforrevival.wordpress.com/2013/03/22/francois-fenelon-tell-god-all-that-is-in-your-heart/
[3] Peter Enns, Exodus, The NIV Application Commentary, Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan, 2000), Kindle, loc., 102.
[4] Gareth Lee Cockerill, The Epistle to the Hebrews, The New International Commentary on the New Testament (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 2012), Kindle, loc., 531.
[5] Ibid.