Return and Worship

“He answered, ‘I will be with you; and this shall be your proof that it is I who have sent you: when you bring my people out of Egypt, you will worship God on this very mountain.’” (Exodus 3:12)

When God appears to Moses in the burning bush, Moses is in a state of exile. He has fled from Egypt in fear, after killing an Egyptian. God’s call to him confronts him in a place of confusion and inadequacy, a place where he can reasonably ask “who am I Lord, that you would entrust such a mission to me?” God’s response to Moses is reassurance that He, the Lord, will be with him, and a promise that God will bring him back to this very place victorious to worship the living God, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

The place, the mountain, God promised to bring Moses back to was a place of encounter with the Lord but it was also a place where Moses felt fearful, inadequate, and confused. This is often how the Lord works in our life. He calls us at unexpected times and despite our perceived weakness or inadequacy. These are no obstacle to the Lord since no matter what He is asking of us, how beyond us the mission entrusted to us may be, God himself promises to go with us, and relying on His strength we have all that we need.

Moses, though full of hesitation, questions, and fear, said “yes” to the Lord and God used Him to set His people free from their slavery and misery. Later Moses returned to the mountain as God promised, and there he worshiped. He returned to the mountain as a man transformed, a leader of the people, confident in God, trusting in His faithfulness, willing even to stand before the Lord boldly, interceding for God’s people. God’s twofold plan of saving His people and of transforming Moses had been accomplished.

This is what the Lord desires to do in and with us as well. When we respond to the Lord with trust, submitting to His will and following His call, He works powerfully. In addition to equipping us for the mission and working through us for the sake of His people, God also works in us to transform us and make us new.

Our loving God remains with us every step of the way wherever He calls us to go and along the way He transforms, heals, frees us. In the end, when we come back to the place of encounter with the Lord, we are able to rejoice in the work God has done through us and worship, full of gratitude for what He has done in us. When the living God calls you, even if you are filled with confusion or fear, say “yes” and know that in calling you God is working out His loving and perfect plan to redeem and renew you.