“Who Am I, God?”

“Who am I,” asked Moses, “that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?” (Exodus 3:11)

So often we ask the same thing. Who am I, God? How can I possibly do this thing you’ve asked me to do?

We ask this question and look to our own strength. We’re weak, helpless, fearful, unbelieving—and not as articulate as we might like to be. Why is God asking us to proclaim His glory? There’s got to be someone better out there. This job is too big for us.

“Who am I?” God, tell us what exactly qualifies us for our mission. Build us up, remind us we’re not that bad. Compliment us or something.

But God doesn’t answer Moses by pointing out his miracle birth, or his royal connections, or his courage in standing up to an Egyptian slave driver.

No. God tells Moses this: “…I will be with you, and this shall be the sign for you, that I have sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain” (Exodus 3:12, ESV, emphasis added).

I Am Who I Am

If God told Moses to look to his own abilities, Moses would be in trouble.

Instead, God calls Moses to look to Him.

God said to Moses, “I am who I am.” And he said, “Say this to the people of Israel: ‘I am has sent me to you.’” God also said to Moses, “Say this to the people of Israel: ‘The Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you.’ This is my name forever, and thus I am to be remembered throughout all generations.

Exodus 3:14-15, emphasis added

Moses might be a nobody, but God’s name speaks for itself. Yahweh is the one who will empower Moses to go to Pharaoh.

God’s call for Moses foreshadows the Great Commission:

And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

Matthew 28:18-20, emphasis added

In both the cases of Moses and the disciples, God’s name was what gave them authority. And God’s assurance to His people is not what they are—it’s that the Lord will be with them.

A Formidable Love

God approached Moses with a plan to save His people and share His love with them.

I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters. I know their sufferings, and I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey…

Exodus 3:7-8

Yahweh is not only great in power, but also great in compassion. He cares for His people.

And yes, He knows that these same people are going to complain and sin a lot later. They’re not going to worship Him with their full hearts. In fact, it won’t be long before they build a golden calf and worship it for saving them.

These people He loves and works through—they’re a mess.

And they’re the people that He sends His own Son to die for.

What is God thinking?

Yet God loves us all the same, and He works through us tiny, fearful, weak people so that His glory can truly shine through.

Great Stakes

Moses isn’t the only one who has been asked to go to a mighty ruler for the sake of saving God’s people.

There’s also Esther. Her husband was King Ahasuerus, but he hadn’t seen her in thirty days. And now he had been tricked into signing a decree to kill all the Jews.

Her uncle, Mordecai, knew that their fate lay in God’s hands alone. But he also knew that Esther had to do something.

Then Mordecai told them to reply to Esther, “Do not think to yourself that in the king’s palace you will escape any more than all the other Jews. For if you keep silent at this time, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father’s house will perish. And who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” 

Esther 4:13-14

Esther was in the same boat as Moses. Her own life was at stake, but so were those of her people. And she knew there was a chance that God might use her to save them all. A chance.

Then Esther told them to reply to Mordecai, “Go, gather all the Jews to be found in Susa, and hold a fast on my behalf … Then I will go to the king, though it is against the law, and if I perish, I perish.”

Esther 4:15-16

In response to her dilemma, Esther leaves her entire life in God’s hands, not knowing what the outcome would be.

The disciples, too, obeyed Christ’s call to go out and save lives—eternal, spiritual lives, in their case. Through the Holy Spirit, they saved many but were persecuted and often martyred in the process.

Moses went to Pharaoh eventually, but it took ten divine plagues before he reluctantly let the Hebrews go. Even then, he changed his mind and sent armies after them. God kept His people safe, but Pharaoh never repented. God hardened the ruler’s heart.

Esther was pretty successful—but God’s way of saving His people still involved much death (Esther 9).

A Wonderful Hope

Yes, God’s plans are detailed and perfect, but strange and incomprehensible, and often… messy.

But we can rest in knowing that I AM has sent us. Yahweh is with us.

The LORD is on my side; I will not fear. What can man do to me?

Psalm 118:6

He loves us so much that He sent His Son to earth, fully God and fully man, to die on a cross and bear the full weight of our sin.

But Christ didn’t only cancel our guilt. He rose from the grave, conquering death so that He could provide a way into heaven for those who believe.

For each one of us whom God has adopted as His children, we’ll get to see His face one day. The face of Yahweh.

This is why we hunger for His Word and study the Bible. It’s why we worship Him in our hearts and in song. And it’s why we share the good news of the gospel with others around us.

Like Moses, Esther, the disciples, and so many others, we go out in God’s name and proclaim His glory… shifting our focus from asking the question “Who am I?” to exploring the greatness of I AM.