by Jerry Ousley
Exodus 3:1-4 “Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian. And he led the flock to the back of the desert, and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. And the Angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire from the midst of the bush. So he looked, and behold, the bush was burning with fire, but the bush was not consumed. Then Moses said, ‘I will now turn aside and see this great site, why the bush does not burn.’ So when the Lord saw that he turned aside to look, God called to him from the midst of the bush and said, ‘Moses, Moses!’ And he said, ‘Here I am.’”
The great leader and prophet of God – the man Moses. His life is divided into three periods of forty years each. His first forty years began when, as an illegal child found floating in a basket on the Nile River by none other than the daughter of the Pharoah who had ordered them killed (because the Pharaoh had ordered all male children to be killed at birth so as to stop the growth of the Israeli people). Adopted into the royal family, he grew up in wealth and abundance.
After a time, and when he realized that he too was a Hebrew, he went for a stroll to see how his people were being treated. When he saw an Egyptian beating one of the Hebrew slaves, he became angry and killed the Egyptian, then covered him up in the sand. Long story short, he fled for his life and so the second chapter of forty years began with this rich boy being in exile in the wilderness. There he met his wife and he began to work for his father-in-law, Jethro, tending his flocks. From a rich prince to a shepherd nearly overnight.
Now eighty years old, he had led the flock to the back side of the desert to a mountain called Horeb. Watching the sheep he looked and saw a bush on fire, which was not uncommon for the area. The heat was so great that it wasn’t unusual for a dry bush to just burst into flames. The strange thing about this bush was that it was not consumed.
This was God’s calling to Moses. His mission was to return to the land that wanted him for murder and lead the Hebrew people, who were all slaves of Pharoah, out of the land and back to the land promised to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Simple, right? Not hardly. Though Moses had no idea of exactly what he was in for, he knew it would be difficult to say the least.
So, he made excuses to God. But God wanted him to go and so He met all Moses’ excuses with an answer. “I am inadequate.” God said that He would be with him. “Who should I say has sent me?” God told him to say that “I AM sent him.” “What if they don’t believe me?” God gave him miraculous signs that would prove that he was sent by God. “But I can’t speak eloquently.” God answered “Who made your mouth?” Finally, he plainly said, “Lord, send someone else.” But God had prepared, called, and sent Moses. He provided Moses’ brother, Aaron who was an eloquent speaker to help him.
The point to this story is that God does the calling, and the sending. In our modern world it seems we must have the approval of man, either a church leader, or a denominational board. Yes, we do need to be equipped and when God calls us to do something for Him, He has already built the raw materials for that service into us. It doesn’t hurt to educate ourselves and there’s nothing wrong with going to Bible College and/or Seminary, but when it comes right down to it the gifting and calling is by God, not man.
God won’t call us to do what He has not meant for us to do. That would be like putting square pegs in round holes, or, trying to swim in mid-air. As I mentioned before, He has put the raw materials in our lives at birth for what He wants us to do. He has a plan for our lives and He will guide us in that direction if we will yield to Him.
The Apostle, Paul, in his letters, was forced to spend time defending his calling simply because he had been an enemy of the Gospel prior to being called by God. But he recognized that all he had done with his life up until that point had been preparation for what God wanted him to do. The same is true for each of us.
This article is the first in a series about the gifts God has placed in His Church to be used at His discretion for the Gospel. I must warn you that a lot of what I will be sharing over the next few weeks may be contrary to what you have been taught. While I don’t for an instance promote myself as the final authority, I have come, through study of God’s word, to discover that a lot of what man has taught is not what the Bible says at all. Only God is the final authority and as His servants we all answer to Him. So, if I am found wrong, I will be happy to submit to God and admit it. But if I am found right then we all need to be willing to do the same thing.
God’s calling and gifting are so much different than what we sometimes assume. The calling and gifts are not for our own benefit but to benefit the Kingdom of God.
. . . To Be Continued . . .
Jerry D. Ousley is the author of ïSoul Challengeï, ïSoul Journeyï, ïOrdealï, ïThe Spirit Bread Daily Devotional and his first novel ïThe Shoe Tree.ï Visit our website at spiritbread.com to download these and more completely free of charge.
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