The God of Real Answers

Exodus 3:13-15

The question in verse 13 is one we might be inclined to see as one Moses grasps at in a series of frantic objections to doing what he is asked to do. Does he really think the people will ask this? God, whatever might be happening in Moses’ mind and heart, takes the question seriously.

God first gives an answer that is directly for Moses, saying, “I will be who I will be” (‘ehyeh-yahweh’). This is God’s way of declining to be pinned down. But it really is an answer. God does not talk in circles. God says he will be known along the way. The answer also indicates that the character to be found in God will be consistent with the present revelation, in the burning bush: He will always be miraculously available; i.e., he will always enable breaking from a restrictive past in order to make possible a redemptive future.

God in his grace then provides, in the second half of verse 14, an answer that really is to be given to the people: tell them “I AM has sent me to you.” This enfolds together the promise of God’s empowering presence together with the agency of Moses. For his part, Moses can only do what he is empowered by God to do, but it is God who empowers him because of God’s purpose worked out through his humanity.

Prayer:
God, the next time someone asks what I think is a stupid question, remind me of your own gracious, creative, people-building way of responding to anything. Through Christ, who was pretty good at that too. Amen.