WHO AM I?
“Come now therefore, and I will send thee unto Pharaoh, that thou mayest bring forth my people the children of Israel out of Egypt. And Moses said unto God, Who am I, that I should go unto Pharaoh, and that I should bring forth the children of Israel out of Egypt?” Exodus 3:10, 11
This was a monumental task for Moses. God was sending him to Pharaoh to bring the children of Israel out of Egypt. God’s people had been in slavery in Egypt for over four hundred years. For the last forty years, Moses had been living in seclusion, faithfully tending the sheep of Jethro, his father-in-law. The words of Moses [“Who am I?”] indicate his complete lack of confidence in his ability. Some forty years earlier, Moses had offered himself to these Israelites as a deliverer, but that was met with frustration, and he was exiled to Midian. In Midian, Moses learned humility and was now filled with complete distrust of his own fitness for this assignment.
Moses said to God, “Who am I?” The Egyptians were a powerful people, led by a great king with a formidable army. The Israelites were a poor people, their bondage was great, and they offered no military might. Moses was a poor shepherd who had previously been rejected by these same countrymen. Why would God want to use him? What did Moses possess that would make him a viable candidate for such a position? His qualification is found in the following verse where the Lord answers Moses with the words, “Certainly I will be with thee” (Exodus 3:12).
As we think about our own place in God’s great plan, we have offered the same question at times, “Who am I?” Have we not felt the inadequacies of our own limited resources and wondered how it might be possible for us to fulfill that which God has commanded us to do? Like Moses, we can remember the past when we have tried and failed. We wonder how it might be different from what it was then. What an encouragement we find in the life and leadership of Moses! Moses felt utterly incapable that God was able to use Him.
Because we feel insufficient for a task does not make us unqualified. Our sufficiency is in God. As a matter of fact, it is more often our feeling of being capable that would disqualify us. “Who am I?” We are children of the living God, and He is the One that makes us able to do His great work.