God appeared to Moses at Mount Horeb

Exo 3:13  And Moses said unto God, Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you; and they shall say to me, What is his name? what shall I say unto them? 

God appeared to Moses at Mount Horeb and commissioned him to return to Egypt and lead His people out. The encounter with God caught Moses by surprise. He has settled down in Midian for the past forty years. He has a family of his own. He is a wanted man in Egypt. A lot of questions suddenly appear in his mind. One of the questions is: How would Israel know that God has sent him. So, he asks God: “Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you; and they shall say to me, What is his name? what shall I say unto them?” (Exodus 3:13).

And they shall say to me – Obviously, the Israelites would ask him questions. This is what many bible class teachers are afraid of – QUESTIONS from the class. Probably, the first question from Israel to Moses would be: “Which god sends you here?” They had been accustomed to the many gods of Egypt and the idea of one true God was not revealed. They didn’t have the written word like we have. They had only the oral transmissions from their forefathers. They would tell their children about Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. They knew God as the “The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob” (Exodus 3:6). It was the God their ancestors worshipped. But, that’s quite a mouthful to utter. Imagine today, whenever we have to introduce about our God, we have to say, “The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, commanded us to be faithful.” Our listeners will ask: “Who exactly is this God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” And, to the non-Hebrews such as us, why should we care about the God that Abraham, Isaac and Jacob served; they aren’t our ancestors.

What shall I say unto them? – We can’t blame him; Moses didn’t have much knowledge about God. But what about us? Do we have excuses we do not know our God?

One of the excuses given by many for not being able to teach someone is “What shall I say to them?” Moses was not alone in not knowing what to say. But Moses didn’t have the Bible. We have! We have no excuse that we are not able to teach someone about our God.

One reason the early church grew at a very fast rate was that the disciples “went everywhere preaching the word” (Acts 8:4). No preaching equals no church growth. Churches can only grow when members are actively teaching someone about Jesus Christ. But more and more Christians are giving the same excuse: “What shall I say unto them?” The statement means they do not know how to teach someone about Christ.

The apostle Peter exhorts Christians to be “ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear” (1 Peter 3:15). The word “answer” is Greek “apologia” which means “”apology”. The phrase means literally “ready for an apology.” But the word apology does not mean an excuse for anything that is done as if it were wrong, but an apologetic answer defending our faith.

Moses can be excused for not knowing what to say about his God but we can’t. We have the inspired word with us that if we have been studying diligently this word of truth, we will be workers that need not be ashamed because we know our faith and are able to defend it. The result is we will be workers whom God approved (2 Timothy 2:15).

Do you know your God? Let us be sure of our salvation that we may have answer to every man who asks about our faith: “I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day” (2 Timothy 1:12).

                                                                                                                    

Jimmy Lau

Psa 119:97  Oh how love I thy law! It is my meditation all the day.