What do you want from me?

January 27, 2009

Today's Reading: Exodus 3-4 and Proverbs 10

I know I have seen too many movies that are based on the book of Exodus. Every time I read the story of Moses and the burning bush, I can’t help but think of the films I’ve seen on it. The Ten Commandments and The Prince of Egypt didn’t really know how to do the effects on a burning bush, because they looked a little too supernatural.

Still, I love the version in The Prince of Egypt, where Moses approaches the Burning Bush and there is a look of both wonder and horror on his face. As soon as he takes off his shoes, one of the first questions he asks is “what do you want from me”?

It’s not in the Bible, but I can’t help but think that anyone in Moses’s situation would say the same thing. He doesn’t ask the question angrily, as most people would when they say that. He says it like someone who is genuinely scared of the answer.

Clearly, Moses had reason to fear God. Moses had killed a man and then ran away from it. Even though “thou shalt not kill had not been written yet”, he probably had a guilty conscience equal to that of Jacob after he cheated Esau.

In other words that verse in today’s reading in Proverbs has a lot of merit: “The man of integrity walks securely, but he who takes crooked paths will be found out”. I suppose Moses always knew that there would be a reckoning, and he would really have to pay for all the sins that he had committed.

Moses was afraid of what God will have to say, and with good reason. What God told Moses to do was clearly no small task, but Moses didn’t go without help. With the great responsibility came the great power.

There comes a time when all of us need to ask God “what do you want from me”, and not be afraid of the answer. Generally, I always discovered that God, even though he asks for something difficult, makes it easy to go through.

For example, if God wants you to have children, he’ll help you become a father or mother. It sort of happens along the way.

Can you resist what God wants? Hell, yeah. I’m sure there are at least six areas that I am resisting God on already. I know that eventually I will realize my error, and commit to God. When that happens, I’ll bite the bullet, but God will make certain that it doesn’t blow up in my mouth.