Exodus 3:1-12 Study Guide: Called

Community Group Study Guide — Exodus 3:1-12 Called

Study Information:
It is pretty common to look back on seasons of our lives and be filled with a sense of regret. We regret ways we failed, how we didn’t get more done with that time, the sin done against us and hard seasons we had to go through. Our last study guide explored how Moses went through a season of exile for his murder of the Egyptian slave master. Moses thought he was doing the right thing at the right time and in response to the injustice done against his people. However, he was rejected by his people and his crime became known th Pharaoh who sought his life. Moses fled for his life and spent 40 years wandering the wildness with Midian. During that season he got a wife and a family and a job, but was exiled away from his people and had his mission to help his people interrupted. It would be really easy to look at those 40 years as a waste of time or an interruption, but what we read is that those 40 years were spiritual formation for Moses and at the right time God called Moses back on mission. 

God’s kingdom is filled with people the world would look at as failures. What we learn in this part of Exodus is that God can redeem our failures and that God does not call those who are strong in their own might, but those who see their need for God and he promises to be with them. 

God’s Calling Starts With Curiosity
Exodus 3:1-4
There is a 40 year time jump between Exodus 2:25 and Exodus 3:1. Stephen’s speech in Acts 7:30 tells us that Moses was 80 years old at the time of the burning bush account. Notice he has been working his day job in the wilderness of Midian caring for the flocks of Jethro, his father in law. We do not know how long he has had this job, but it is likely this became his contribution to the family and his new vocation. Which means 40 years of wandering in the wilderness caring for sheep as a shepherd. This is important context for God’s divine call of Moses. He had been removed from the palace of Egypt, his plan to rescue his people failed, 40 years have gone by and he has faded into the background of an ordinary and non influential life.

It is likely that Moses thought the ship had sailed and that he was going to be in Midian forever… and that is When God called him. 

Exodus 3:1, Moses approached a mountain on the West side of the wilderness that would later be known as “the mountain of God” because of this encounter and because this would later be the place they received the Law of God. 

Notice that in Exodus 3:2 the Angel of the Lord appeared to Moses as a flaming fire in a bush. Moses would be familiar with these types of shrubs in the desert and typically they burn up quickly and were used as kindling. This one was different, it was not burning up. This sight was a mixture of the ordinary and extraordinary and it drew Moses’s attention. Notice Exodus 3:4 “when the LORD saw that he turned aside to see, God called…” Moses was captured with a curiosity about this sight and God used that curiosity at this supernatural sight, during an ordinary day in Moses’s life, to draw Moses’s attention. God has filled his people with a capacity for wonder, awe and worship and any sort of call begins with a desire and curiosity to know this God more. 

God’s Calling Includes his Presence
Exodus 3:5-9
The Angel of the LORD is a unique character in the Old Testament. Many times he calls someone out of their ordinary life and onto the mission of God. Often these encounters foreshadow Jesus’s ministry and highlights the presence of God with his people.This specific instance were told that God was manifesting his presence to Moses and did it in a way that was visual and auditory (Exodus 3:4). The sight of the bush beckoned Moses to “come near” but God’s voice spoke “do not come near, take off your sandals for this is holy ground.” God’s presence simultaneously communicates that God is near and we should stand back. 

God connected Moses back to his historical presence with the people of God. “I am the God of YOUR father, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. (Exodus 3:6).” God was at work in a larger story and responding the the cry of his people by sending Moses. God also communicated his comfort and care for his people in their affliction (Exodus 3:7-9). God was not disinterested or silent to their suffering, but promised to use it and to shape them through it. God communicated that he “knew their sufferings” and that he has “come down” to bring them up out of the land of Egypt. In response to the cry of his people God came down and instead of just wiping out the Egyptians, he sent Moses. We learned in the last study guide that Moses’s own strength failed him. For Moses to be successful he’d have to be humble and dependent on God.

God’s Calling Confronts Inadequacy
Exodus 3:10-12
One can imagine being excited to hear about how God knew their suffering and was going to come down and do something about it. However when God told Moses that God would do something about it through Moses the weight of that fell onto Moses shoulders and he responded “who am I?” Doesn’t God know Moses’s failure, his exile and how he was rejected by his people? Moses felt his inadequacy to fulfill the mission of God which is why God responded “I will be with you.” God’s desire is not to send out the strong and the self determined. Moses would need to be weak in order to depend on God.

God sealed this call with a promise that required faith, “this will be a sign for you, that I have sent you, when you brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve me on this mountain (Exodus 3:12).” This was not a sign that Moses could test before he went, he’d have to leave and follow God in faith and only after they were delivered would this sign be complete. 

This theme of God’s presence supplying for our weakness points forward to Jesus’s own words to his disciples. After Jesus was resurrected from the dead, before his ascension, his disciples gathered around worshiping and wondering what was next. Jesus called them in their inadequacy and weakness by saying “all authority has been given to me… Go and make disciples of all nations… behold I am with you always until the end of the age (Matthew 28:16-20).” God often calls his followers in their failure and weakness and reminds them of their need for him to fulfill the mission. The life of following Jesus requires faith and trust and God’s presence and by his grace he supplies for our need. 

At your community group:
Take 15-20 minutes to share about how God has been at work in your life, prayer concerns and pray for one another.

How did God speak to you through the scripture and the sermon this week? 

Discussion Questions:
Read Exodus 3:1-12

What times or seasons in your life are you most observant of God and filled with wonder about who he is? What are some obstacles in your life right now when it comes to being curious to know God more?

How did God remind Moses of his presence in this passage? How was God’s presence simultaneously compelling and terrifying to Moses?

What was God’s response to the suffering of his people in Exodus 3:7-10? Do you think this pattern of God hearing his people’s cry and him sending a person extends to how God uses his people today? Why or why not?

What are some reasons that God desires to use people who are weak or inadequate to accomplish his purposes? What are some ways we can remind ourselves of God’s presence when we feel like we do not have the strength to do what God has commanded?