The First Act

One of the most memorable calling stories of the Bible is inside the Moses narrative.  After Moses kills an Egyptian soldier, he flees to the wilderness for safety.  He meets a girl, goes to work for his father-in-law, and settles into a life filled with the routines of being a husband and a shepherd.  But, there is this talk about a bush burning that is not consumed and so he goes to take a look.  It is there a barefoot shepherd encounters the Holy One who calls him to return to Egypt to free the Hebrews from slavery.  

Moses wants no part of what he is hearing.   One excuse after another is offered to the Lord.  It is obvious to Moses that God has made a mistake in calling him.  But, God is relentless. God sees in Moses what Moses cannot see in himself.  At the burning bush Moses came to the purpose that he was set out to accomplish when his mother floated him down the Nile River to safety.   It is only when Moses finds himself standing before the anger of God that he decides it might be better to take his chances with Pharaoh.  (Exodus 3-4)    

Moses is not the first person to say "No, get someone else," when God speaks.  Many who hear that call know that there must surely be someone else who can better serve God, but God looks not for someone who figures they have it altogether and can accomplish anything.  Instead, He looks for those who will come to understand the supreme importance of dependence on Him to get it done.  The self-sufficient are poor risks when it comes to the mission of God.  What is always true is that God sees something in us we cannot see in ourselves which may speak to the first act of trust in the process of deciding to go.