To us in your word this morning, we commit this time to you and pray for your help in Jesus name. Amen. Pastor Gary's sermon last week was entitled not ready to be a savior from the latter part of Exodus chapter two. And as we move into chapters three and four this morning, we're going to see that same theme continue. Moses is summoned by the Lord sent to deliver the Israelites from Egypt, but Moses does not want to go. And there's tremendous application in this for us as believers today because we are called by the Lord. In the first sense, we're called unto salvation. Praise the Lord that He's called us to be saved. And He's also commissioned us to serve in various ways according to the particular gifts that were given and the specific contexts we are placed in. And how often do we find ourselves reasoning with God, just like how we're going to be seeing Moses doing in this text, pushing back, making excuses, offering suggestions for other ways God could carry out his plans without putting me in the hot seat. God, why are you pushing me so far outside of my comfort zone? I'm not ready for this. I can't handle this. Brad and Chris Bemis, they got married in 1973, and 20 years into their marriage, things were going pretty well. They had their own dentistry practice, three children, lived near their parents. But in 1994, Chris, the wife, she began to have some crippling health issues, and was eventually diagnosed with a rare disease in which the immune system attacks the body's nerves, and she was confined to her bed. And Brad, he was doing his best to keep the dental practice going while taking care of the kids while also needing to do pretty much everything for his wife as well. It affected Chris mentally as well as physically. She later reflected that during that time, her brain was very, very garbled. And in that condition, she was sometimes hurtful and mean toward her husband. On one occasion, she told Brad, you have never loved me the way I needed to be loved, and you never will." And that was almost the breaking point for Brad. He was so stressed and exhausted. He walked outside. He said to God, I can't take this anymore. I can't do anything more for her. This woman is not lovable. And he felt God replying, do you think my disciples were lovable? And Brad said, the question pierced my heart and humbled my being to its core. I knew I am to love my wife as Christ loved the church. I resolved to persevere one day at a time. Over the next several months, Chris began to get better and their marriage got better too. They're now in their 70s. Chris still has some lingering effects from the disease, but they're able to live an active life and are grateful for their 46 years of marriage now. But the situation Brad found himself in there, in the midst of that intense trial, is just one example of a difficult calling God places upon a person's life. Maybe you're in a similar situation, struggling in your marriage, or maybe it's someone else in your life, you're struggling to love as you know you ought to. God may be calling you to some form of leadership that you know will not be easy. or a particular area of service that you anticipate could be very burdensome or depleting or intimidating. The main point I want to get across in this message is that God is with you Therefore, don't doubt or resist his call. God is with you. Therefore, don't doubt or resist his call. Since we already read verses one through 12, Jamin read those for us earlier, and since we're covering a longer passage this morning, I'm not gonna reread those verses for the sake of time, but follow along with me as I refer to those verses in these first couple points. The first point is encountering God's holiness. encountering God's holiness. And you have an outline there that you got in your worship folder and you'll also see these points on the screen. Encountering God's holiness in verses 1 through 6 of chapter 3. This is a very interesting encounter. We see God's sovereign plan in this. Here's Moses who had spent the first 40 years of his life, you remember, in Egypt as an adopted child. raised in Pharaoh's own household. And then one day Moses saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew. And Moses killed that Egyptian, hoping no one saw. But when he realized that the murder was not a secret, and Pharaoh was seeking to kill Moses for this, Moses fled from Egypt and he stayed in the land of Midian. Now he has a wife and a son, and as chapter three opens, Moses is now 80 years old. So another 40 years has passed. So he's had these two segments of his life, each radically different than the other. His first 40 years, He grew up with the privileges and the comforts of being a member of Pharaoh's family, and then his second 40 years shepherding a flock in the wilderness. Well, on this particular occasion, Moses has traveled west with the flock and he comes to Horeb, okay? And this is the same as Sinai. It's just another name for Sinai. This is the same mountain where Moses will later receive the Ten Commandments from the Lord. It's in this place that the Lord gets Moses' attention and reveals himself to Moses and commissions Moses to this important task. Now, verse 2 mentions the angel of the Lord, and this is somewhat mysterious because, beginning in verse 4, it's clear that it is the Lord, Yahweh, who is speaking with Moses. It's God Himself who is communicating with Moses. So the angel of the Lord is identified with God, but is also in some way distinct from God. which makes us think of the second person of the Trinity, Jesus Christ, who is one with the Father while at the same time distinct from the Father. And in this way, many conclude that these appearances of the angel of the Lord in the Old Testament are in fact Jesus Christ, pre-incarnate, prior to him coming into the world as a human being. These are like previews of the incarnation. Well, it's in this miraculous scene of a burning bush that's not burning up that Moses encounters the holiness of God. Moses is well accustomed to living in the wilderness, keeping the flock. It was probably his routine every evening to build some kind of fire. to keep warm, to make his dinner, you know, so he knows fires. This would be a regular thing for him, to build a fire, to see a fire, to be near a fire. He knows that when you place sticks and branches from a bush, that the fire is going to consume that. as fuel. A big piece of wood might burn for a while, but the slender branches of a bush and those thin leaves, those are going to burn up pretty quickly. So this is a very odd sight indeed. Moses notices right away that this is not like fires I've seen before. He notices it. Here's a bush that's burning, but the leaves are not withering up and disappearing. The bush is not crumbling to the ground and being reduced to ashes. What is going on here? This piques his curiosity. That's an understatement. Think about the ways God gets our attention. Consider some of the unique ways God has done something or used someone in your life to pull you out of the routine of life in order to reveal something new, something special to you in some new way. Because here's Moses, he's just doing his daily routine, leading the flock through the wilderness, and then here's this strange thing happening, a burning bush that's not being consumed by fire. Here's God getting Moses' attention. As Moses approaches, God calls to him from the bush, Moses, Moses. He repeats his name. And Moses responds, here I am. And then verse five, God says, do not come near. Take your sandals off your feet for the place on which you are standing is holy ground here. Moses is encountering God's holiness. And do you see how God is, is drawing Moses in and at the same time saying, keep your distance. This is a really helpful picture for us to help us understand God better. We can use the theological terms of God's imminence and his transcendence. God is imminent. He is near to us. He draws us into close communion with himself and is gracious to be intimately involved in our lives. He is also transcendent. He is high above us. He is perfectly holy and righteous and just. He is majestic and wholly other. And this is the wonder of the biblical God. He is both imminent and transcendent at the same time. And fire, something God created to be part of this world, evidence of His immense creativity, God uses fire as a way of displaying this here. Think about how inviting fire When you have a nice campfire or a fire in the fireplace on a cold winter evening, the light of the flames and how they dance around and are so brilliant in their colors, and the warmth as well that the fire can warm you up when you're cold, fires draw us in. But if you get too close, you'll get burned, right? A fire is not something to mess around with. You have to be careful. You have to keep a safe distance. I remember one time many years ago sitting around a nice campfire by a lake in Michigan, had my feet propped up in front of the fire there as we were just relaxing on a summer evening. And then I noticed my toes were feeling pretty hot and realized the bottom of my sandals were actually burning. They were melting. The rubber there was dripping into the fire. I got a little too close. Fire is significant in the book of Exodus, as we'll continue to see, and here it's an insightful display of God's holiness. It draws Moses in, but then Moses is also told to keep a respectful distance and to remove his sandals, which was a sign of respect and honor. The Lord draws us in as well. He gets our attention. He reveals his glory. calls us to himself while at the same time saying, don't mistake who I am. Don't underestimate my power and my holiness. Don't treat me casually as if I'm your peer. No, I am wholly other. And you must approach me only in the way I instruct you to. Moses' response is fitting here at the end of verse 6. He hides his face. There's an appropriate fear of the Lord. He doesn't want to look directly at God. Recently I was watching a show about a rock climber, and this guy is pretty radical. He's amazing at what he does, very skilled, and he has scaled some of the most difficult mountains in the world. It seems he's irresistibly drawn to these majestic peaks. And yet he doesn't underestimate the mountain. He studies it. He charts out the best course to the top. He trains. He knows that these mountains are not to be trifled with. One misstep and he could fall to his death. In fact, he shares about a time when a mistake was made and he fell quite a distance. and sustained some serious back injuries. He knows that he's not climbing the little, you know, six-foot climbing wall at the school playground and where there's a cushiony surface underneath. This is a massive piece of rock jutting straight up for thousands of feet. Well, in a similar way, we're drawn to the beauty and the grandeur of who God is, but to think that you can just approach him like you would approach your co-worker or your buddy at the gym or the server at the restaurant. No. God is in a category of his own, and he's not to be taken for granted. He's not to be trifled with. Later in Deuteronomy, when Moses is warning the Israelites not to make carved images, not to forget the Lord's covenant, and not to form anything that the Lord has forbidden, Moses tells them in Deuteronomy 4.24, says, for the Lord your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God. Well, this all relates to our main point because when God is calling us, we must not take that calling lightly. We must not doubt or resist his call. It is our duty. It is our delightful duty to respond in obedience. And Moses' initial reaction is appropriate to hide his face. He doesn't want to look directly at God. But as the conversation goes on, as we're going to see now, Moses begins to push back, and push back quite a bit, resisting what God wants him to do. Let's go to our second point now, commissioned by the great I Am, in verses 7 through 15 of chapter 3. Here we'll see the specific task Moses is called to do as he is commissioned by the great I Am. God's compassion and God's care are so evident in these verses. The wording of verse 7 is similar to the last verses in chapter 2, which was our fighter verse last week. And God heard their groaning And God remembered His covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. God saw the people of Israel, and God knew. That conveys God's compassion for his people, his involvement with his people. And you see that now in chapter 3, verse 7, these similar verbs. Then the Lord said, 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. God cares for his people and the time has come now for him to rescue them from their oppression. And the Lord promises this great inheritance, the land flowing with milk and honey. In verse 10, the Lord tells Moses specifically what he wants him to do. You see verse 10 here. Come, I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt. That's the call. That's what he's commissioned to do. And what an amazing calling that is. What a remarkable opportunity for Moses to be right in the midst of this monumental event as God is going to show his power and perform this deliverance for his people out of their bondage in Egypt. But here we see Moses' initial response, the first of five responses that we're gonna see here. Two questions, two objections, and then finally a desperate plea. But here's question number one in verse 11. Moses says, who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the children of Israel out of Egypt? Now there's certainly some appropriate humility evident in that response. But as we see Moses increasing resistance through the additional responses, it seems that this humble response is also just kind of a polite way of saying, I don't want to do that. You know, could you get someone else to do that? Cause I'm, I'm not qualified in that. That just kind of seems like an easy out for me. I don't want to do this, but God has a plan and that plan is not going to change. The Lord is patient with Moses as well as persistent. And we see God's response to this first question. God reassures Moses by telling him, I will be with you. In verse 12, I will be with you. And he even gives Moses a sign by giving him a glimpse into the future that he will one day return to this very mountain where he will serve God and worship him there. But notice what the Lord does not say to Moses. He does not say to Moses, Oh, Moses, you are good enough. You're strong enough. You're courageous enough to do this. Just reach down deep inside of yourself. Tap into that inner strength of yours. Come on, Moses. You can do this. No, he doesn't puff up Moses by telling Moses that he is capable, that he is prepared. Rather, the Lord simply tells him, I am with you. I am with you. This is not about Moses being able to pull this off. It's about God who is going to do this through Moses. Here's an application point for parents. What methods are we using to encourage and build up our children? And are we imbibing some of the world's methods which put such an emphasis on self-esteem, self-confidence, believe in yourself? Now it's certainly healthy to point out our kids' strengths and to applaud them for their accomplishments and help them discover the unique ways God has gifted them. But we have to give them something different than a message of believe in yourself, don't we? And one practical way to weave this into your family life is prayer, to pray together, to pray about the things that come up in the course of any given week. When there's a difficult test coming up at school or a challenging soccer game or basketball game or a speech you'll need to give in a class or a conflict with a friend, rather than looking to your own abilities and having the mindset of, I can do this, I can figure this out, Instead, take that situation to the Lord in prayer. There are regularly things God is calling us to do that are going to be intimidating and challenging. And the reassurance we need is not a message of self-help. Rather, we need a message of God is there to help. Let's rely on Him. Let's call out to Him. Well, now we come to this great declaration of God's name. I'm going to read now for us verses 13 through 15. I encourage you to follow along. Verse 13, then Moses said to God, if I come to the people of Israel and say to them, the God of your fathers has sent me to you and they ask me, what is his name? What shall I say to them? 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. Verse 13 records the second of Moses' questions. He's now worried about how the Israelites will receive him. Moses doubts that they're going to believe him. After all, we remember the circumstances of Moses' departure from Egypt. Remember that? Pharaoh was wanting to kill him. The Hebrews were suspicious of him as well. Back in chapter 2, verse 14, when Moses saw the two Hebrew guys fighting and questioned, the one guy, why do you strike your companion? And the guy answered, who made you a prince and a judge over us? Do you mean to kill me as you killed the Egyptian? Oh, that's when Moses was afraid and realized he needed to go quick. Well, here he is 40 years later, and that is still in his mind, as you can imagine it would be. How is Moses going to convince these people and these skeptics that God has actually called him to come there and deliver them? Moses doesn't foresee that going very well. But here's where God gives Moses such a memorable revelation, revealing himself as the great I am. I am who I am. Tell them I am has sent me to you. And then verse 15 ties this in with the personal name of God, Yahweh. This is what our translations put as Lord in all caps. Do you see that in verse 15, at the beginning of verse 15? say this to the people of israel the lord the lord the god of your father's lord there is in all caps when when you see lord with a capital l and then lowercase o r d that's translating the hebrew word auto nine but when you see lord in all caps that's translating the personal name of god yahweh we're not even entirely sure how to pronounce this uh... because for two reasons. First, because most ancient Hebrew manuscripts do not have vowels. They are unpointed. You just see the consonants. So in this case, it's the Y-H-W-H. And a second reason is because in Jewish tradition, this name is not uttered. They substitute Adonai, they'll say Adonai when they come to this word Yahweh because the understanding is that the personal name of God Yahweh is so holy that it should not even be spoken out loud. So we have these four consonants, the tetragrammaton. And we assume it's probably pronounced something like Yahweh. And we see it in our Bibles as LORD in all caps. And why is this significant in this passage? Well, for one, God is revealing himself very personally to Moses. This is his personal name. Names are important. And the knowledge of personal names shows there's a closeness in the relationship. If I get a piece of mail in the mailbox and it says, Current Resident, That's not very personal. That's probably going in the trash without me even opening it. If, however, it has Benjamin Riak printed on the front of it, I'm going to pay attention. I'm probably going to open it. It's probably some bill I need to pay. But pieces of mail that I see my name written by someone's hand, those are extra special. Someone is addressing me personally by my name. That's meaningful. And it's meaningful that God reveals himself to Moses with this personal name Yahweh. Another thing that's significant here is the way Yahweh makes a connection with the to be verb in the Hebrew language. Those four consonants, Y-H-W-H, look very much the same as the consonants for the verb to be, as in the Lord's statement here, I am, I am. So in Hebrew, that statement I am is very similar to Yahweh. And this makes a simple but striking point. This God who is revealing himself so personally to Moses and to his people, he is the God who truly exists. The God who is, he is the great I am. Like the fire in that burning bush that needed no fuel. It wasn't consuming the bush because this was a fire from God who needs nothing outside of himself in order to do whatever he chooses to do. He is self-sufficient. He is. His existence is not dependent upon anything outside of himself. Well, in this way, Yahweh reveals himself as the great I am. I am who I am. Tell the people, I am has sent me to you. This is Yahweh, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And with that revelation, the people will know that Moses is a legitimate messenger from the one and only true God, the God who has chosen them as his people and who is going to deliver them from their bondage. Our Savior, Jesus Christ, came into this world as God in the flesh, and he identified himself with this Yahweh, the great I Am. The Gospel of John records those I Am statements of Jesus, where Jesus is clearly alluding back to this very passage in Exodus 3, and thus making the point that He is God. He's not a mere man who lives and dies, but He is the eternal I Am as the second person of the Trinity. I'm not going to read through verses 16 through 21. I'll leave that for you to read on your own as those verses anticipate things that we're going to be seeing in more detail in the chapters to come. the stubbornness of Pharaoh, the plagues that God will send upon Egypt, and the way God will allow the Israelites to plunder Egypt. But I want to move now to chapter 4, and I'm going to read chapter 4, verses 1 through 17, and then this will be our final point this morning as we see Moses reluctant to lead. So follow along as I read chapter 4, verses 1 through 17. Then Moses answered, but behold, they will not believe me or listen to my voice, for they will say, the Lord did not appear to you. The Lord said to him, what is that in your hand? He said, a staff. And he said, throw it on the ground. So he threw it on the ground and it became a serpent and Moses ran from it. But the Lord said to Moses, put out your hand and catch it by the tail. So he put out his hand and caught it and it became a staff in his hand. that they may believe that the Lord, the God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob has appeared to you. Verse six, again, the Lord said to him, put your hand inside your cloak. And he put his hand inside his cloak. And when he took it out, behold, his hand was leprous like snow. Then God said, put your hand back inside your cloak. So he put his hand back inside his cloak. And when he took it out, behold, it was restored like the rest of his flesh. If they will not believe you, God said, or listen to the first sign, they may believe the latter sign. If they will not believe even these two signs or listen to your voice, you shall take some water from the Nile and pour it on the dry ground, and the water that you shall take from the Nile will become blood on the dry ground. But Moses said to the Lord, oh, my Lord, I am not eloquent, either in the past or since you have spoken to your servant, but I am slow of speech and of tongue. Then the Lord said to him, who has made man's mouth? Who makes him mute or deaf or seeing or blind? Is it not I, the Lord? Now therefore go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall speak. Verse 13, but he said, Oh, my Lord, please send someone else. Then the anger of the Lord was kindled against Moses. And he said, Is there not Aaron, your brother, the Levite? I know that he can speak well. Behold, he is coming out to meet you. And when he sees you, he will be glad in his heart. You shall speak to him and put the words in his mouth, and I will be with your mouth and with his mouth, and will teach you both what to do. He shall speak for you to the people, and he shall be your mouth, and you shall be as God to him. And take in your hand this staff with which you shall do the signs." Now, let's just review very quickly what we've already seen from Moses in the previous verses. There was the first question back in chapter 3, verse 11, who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the children of Israel out of Egypt? A humble response, yes, but also an expression of Moses' reluctance to lead. The Lord's answer, I will be with you. And then the follow-up question in 3 verse 13, if I come to the people of Israel and say to them, the God of your fathers has sent me to you and they ask me what is his name, what shall I say to them? The Lord's answer to that second question, I am who I am. Tell them I am has sent me to you. But Moses is still troubled. He's still struggling with this difficult ministry assignment so much so that he has questions that now become objections. As we see here in chapter four, verse one, he's, he's objecting now and saying, but behold, they will not believe me or listen to my voice. for they will say the Lord did not appear to you." So here's his objection now. And what's the Lord's response to this? Three signs. Three signs. There was already the sign back in chapter three where God gave Moses a glimpse into the future that he would be back on this very mountain after bringing the people out of Egypt. Now the Lord gives Moses three more concrete and visible signs that he can use in the present that will help him to convince the Israelites that this is for real. Moses isn't making this up. This first one, the staff turning into a snake, is almost humorous here. God may have been chuckling to himself as he watched this. He tells Moses to throw the staff on the ground, and then, surprisingly, that staff turns into this snake, and Moses jumps back and runs from it. Imagine the surprise. I mean, if I were Moses, I wouldn't think it was funny, but if I was watching from a distance, I think that would be pretty entertaining, especially because we do know what happens next. The Lord tells Moses, catch it by the tail. which normally would be a very dangerous way to try to pick up a snake, because it could curl right around and bite you. But Moses did as he was told, and behold, it transformed back into a snake. If that isn't convincing enough, a second sign, verse 6, the Lord makes Moses' hand become leprous and then healthy again. And if neither of those work, yet a third miracle could be performed. Water from the Nile poured on the dry ground, and it turns into blood. These signs are previews of things to come in the book of Exodus, including the 10 plagues that are going to be coming soon. And if you read just through the end of this chapter, which we're not going that far this morning, but in chapter 4, verse 30 and 31, you'll see that these signs, along with what was communicated, it was convincing. The people did believe and they worshiped. But coming back to where we're at here in chapter 4, verse 9, this is still not enough for Moses. So far, he has asked two questions and asserted an objection. The Lord has been patient with Moses and even offered these miraculous signs. But in verse 10, Moses throws out yet another objection. I am not eloquent. Here's objection number two. I'm not eloquent. Now, it could be that Moses had some kind of speech impediment, or it could be that over the course of 40 years in Midian, he was no longer accustomed to speaking Egyptian, or he was simply nervous about needing to speak publicly in this way, confronting such a powerful leader as Pharaoh. We don't know the particulars of what Moses is referring to when he objects that he's not eloquent, but putting it together with everything else he's doing in this passage and also looking to the chapters ahead and knowing that Moses actually does do quite a bit of speaking. It seems that maybe this is somewhat of a hollow excuse. At this point, he's grasping for straws. And the Lord has an answer for each of Moses' questions. The Lord has a response for each of his objections. To this objection, the Lord first makes his point with these rhetorical questions in verse 11. Who has made man's mouth? Who makes him mute or deaf or seeing or blind? Is it not I, the Lord? What's the Lord's point there? His point is that he is the one who's going to do this great thing. It's not ultimately dependent on the eloquence of Moses or the ability of Moses or the strength of Moses or the courage of Moses. God is going to equip Moses however he sees fit and use Moses as his instrument to bring about this deliverance of the Israelites. And then in verse 12, the Lord commands him, now therefore go and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall speak. Again, it's this reassurance that the Lord is going to be with him. Therefore don't doubt or resist his call. He's going to be with you. But what happens next? Does Moses finally submit? No, he doesn't. He's still fearful, still reluctant. The Lord has answered his questions and silenced his objections. And Moses doesn't have any other excuses to make other than just to say flat out as he does here in verse 13. Oh my Lord, please send someone else. I'm out of excuses. Just please send somebody else. The Lord has been gracious and patient, but now he's angry. And yet the Lord still makes an accommodation for Moses in sending Aaron along with him to be the spokesperson. The Lord states it in a surprising way at the end of verse 16, Aaron shall be your mouth and you shall be as God to him. I take that to mean that the way the Lord is going to be communicating with Moses will be akin to the way Moses is going to communicate with Aaron. Moses will receive divine communication from God, and then Moses will pass that along to Aaron, who will communicate it to others. Well, our main point this morning has been, God is with you, therefore don't doubt or resist his call. If you're a Christian, If you are repenting of your sins and resting in the finished work of Jesus Christ, then you have this assurance that you are united to Christ by faith and therefore his spirit dwells within you. And we think about how Jesus fully submitted himself to the Father. to the Father's will. Jesus wholeheartedly responded to the Father's calling to live among us and minister and preach among us and then to suffer and die for us and to rise again on the third day. Everywhere Moses failed, Jesus succeeded. And because of this, we should be emboldened to follow God's leading in our lives. He has effectually called us to Himself in terms of our salvation, and He continues to work in our lives by His Spirit to call us into various ministries, acts of service, evangelistic conversations, teaching and leading, working as unto the Lord in everything we do. And my prayer, brothers and sisters, for myself and for each one of us, is that we will not doubt what God can do through us. That we will not resist the risky or the difficult things He guides us to be involved in. It may be something new that he's leading you to be a part of, to step up to be a Children's Sunday School teacher or a helper, or to be involved in the West End Kids Club, or to suggest some new initiative for how we can reach this neighborhood and this city for Christ. It may be something in your workplace, some way you could cultivate friendships with unbelievers that would lead to evangelistic conversations. Maybe even some kind of evangelistic Bible study in your workplace with your coworkers. Maybe there's something new God has for you on the horizon. Be open to that. Don't be so full of excuses and objections that you're prepared to shoot down every ministry opportunity that gets suggested to you. God is with you. God is with you, therefore you feeling ill-equipped turns out to be no excuse at all. In fact, that's just the humility we need as long as that humility is accompanied with an attitude of submitting to God's leading. It could be something new, or the calling on your life right now might be to something or some things that God called you to some time ago, and he's saying to you now, stick with it. Stick with it. I called you to be married to this spouse. Don't bail on this marriage. I called you to serve your family in this way. Don't quit. I called you to serve the church. I called you to serve those in need. I commissioned you to take my gospel to the ends of the earth. Persevere in these things by my power. Many of you know that my wife Stacy does some writing for various ministries, for various blogs. She's written a book called Wilderness Wanderings and has written many articles on a number of topics. Well, the other day she received a message from a boy in seventh grade. And I want to read this to you. He says, Dear Mrs. Riak, this Friday I volunteered to speak in front of my school about trials and tribulations. I wanted to ask your permission to use the six points you make in this Desiring God article, God Fills Our Lives with Trials. I have found them to be very applicable and easy to do for people that are coming to know God. Please pray for my presentation as I will need lots of help, especially if you say no. Thank you for your time and I hope you will grant my request. Well, there's a seventh grader who's going to speak to his school about trials and tribulations and is planning to use that opportunity to point his classmates to Christ. So there's an inspiring example for us. And he has the right attitude as well, recognizing his need for help, asking for prayer. That's how Moses should have responded to God's call, and that's how we should respond too. God is with us. Therefore, don't doubt or resist his call. Let's pray. God, thank you for this rich passage of scripture. We thank you that this is not the end of the story for Moses, that you continue to work on him and work in him and prepare him for what you plan for him to do. We thank you for your patience with us and your persistence with us. And God, I pray that you'll continue to work in my heart, work in each one of our hearts here today that we would be emboldened by the knowledge that you are with us. And therefore, we need to let go of those excuses, and we need to submit to your plan and follow your calling. I pray this all in Jesus' name, amen.