Intergenerational Slavery

"And God said to Moses, "I AM WHO I AM."  Exodus 3:14a

God spoke to Moses.  This is direct divine self-revelation, and it is specific not general.  God spoke to Moses as his chosen one for a specific task that was to take place in history.  Moses was chosen by God for this specific task and no one else.

God does these things in our lives does he not?  We have the option, I will not say right, to refuse the mission of the divine encounter, but not without consequences.

Moses was tending sheep.  He was married. He had a home and job security.  He knew from day to day what he would be doing day in and day out.  There he was in the desert.  How he knew the desert!  One day as he led the sheep in the desert he came to Horeb, the mountain of God.

The providential will of God that had led him out into the desert years ago was now ready to unfold before Moses his life's purpose.  But why now when Moses is some eighty years old?  He has more than earned retirement and his pension.  He can work now just to have something to do.

God, however, unapologetically enters into, or rather breaks into, the routine of his life.  God speaks to Moses from out of a bush.  I'm sure that this bush was familiar to Moses.  He knew this bush and many other bushes in that desert.  This bush had taken on a new relevance for Moses because it became God's speaking platform to Moses.

This old/new bush was aflame before the eyes of Moses.  Of course the chemical combustion of fire should have devoured the bush arithmetically, but that did not happen.  For Moses the familiar had been transformed into the unfamiliar.  God was now moving in his life in an unexpected manner.  Moses was taken aback by the power of the vision of the bush that was ablaze but not consumed.  This was God's teaching event.  God used this event to awaken Moses form his 'dogmatic slumber.'

Moses was called of God to be he human vehicle through whom He would deliver His people from enslavement and callous disregard.  Moses asks God to reveal to him why an abused and oppressed people should trust his words.  By what power would such an incredible deed be accomplished?  And the people of God lived in a land littered with gods.  How would Moses' words stand out from the polytheistic environment that entrapped their collective minds?

Moses said to God, "Indeed when I come to the children of Israel and say to them, 'The God of your fathers has sent me to you,' and they say to me, "What is his name ?"  what shall I say to them?"  God's answer to Moses was succinct and yet filled with power and promise.  God's answer was formulaic.

Moses knows Egypt.  He wants an answer that he does not need to defend given the nature of Egyptian polytheism.  He also wants an answer that he can defend before the enslaved ones.  He knew that not only were their bodies enslaved their minds were too.  God's answer was prescriptive and consistent with the nature of  the circumstances.  Intergenerational slavery had torn asunder their self-esteem.  They unconsciously passed on their downtrodden beliefs to their children.  Their slave mentality had become automatic and ingrained.  Please listen to me.  The same tactics found in this narrative are still being used today.

God's answer, 'I AM THAT I AM' was sufficient for the situation.  The formulaic nature of the words are made for those with little or no education.  They can grasp the inherent nature of the words and the blessing contained therein.  There is a Magna Carta in these words, there is a Manifesto in these words, but there is no self-serving struggle.  There is a Bill of Rights in these words, but they are not eroded by legal fiat.  There is the promise of God to 'be' the one who meets the needs of his people when they arise.

"I Am" is a verb formula.  It presents God not as a static noun.  God is presented in a manner that is consistent with the dynamic imagination of the Hebrew mind.  There is release from the static idols of Egypt.  The gods of Egypt have no dynamic involvement with suffering and release.  Moses has entered into the very name of Yahweh.

In ancient theology to enter into one's name revealed the nature and character of the person.  God reveals his name to those who trust him through the saving actions of the Iesous.  Are you ready to experience the power of Iesous to release you from bondage?  Are you ready to come out of your own "bondage" and start a new life?  Give up the game because there are no winners.  Ask God to reveal his will for your life.  Guess what?  He will.  Blessings to you.

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