God's Perplexing Call
"He said, 'I will be with you; and this shall be the sign for you that it is I who sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall worship God on this mountain.'"
Exodus 3:13
Have you ever noticed what kind of assurance God left Moses with upon calling him to the greatest challenge of his life? In this text, God has just called Moses to rise above his past and place his full trust and assurance in the presence of the Lord. God promises him, "I will be with you," a theme any unbiased reader will inevitably notice recurring throughout the entirety of the Old Testament. But the promise of God's presence is only as meaningful as the character of God himself. God is revealing himself in a unique way to and through Moses. It is here that we gain a fuller glimpse into the loving faithfulness of the God who promises His presence.The call of God is substantiated by His character, but His call and character are validated by something more. God tells Moses, "This shall be the sign for you that it is I who sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall worship God on this mountain." Surly Moses was scratching his head over this one. "You mean to tell me, God, that I will not know for sure if this is your will or that you are who you say you are until after I do what you are asking me to do?" Why is it that the confirmation of the call comes after the response to the call and not the other way around? Our typical logic would assume the opposite: God would affirm His identity and will by some form of sign first and then we could respond. But that is not what God is doing here.
God's call does not always make sense. It cannot be rationalized or reasoned out. It usually, if not always, stands in complete contrast to our own ideas. Why would God only offer the sign after Moses steps out in response? It’s because He wants Moses to live by faith. It seems so simple, and yet most of the time it is the hardest thing to do. God is calling us as well to respond to Him in the light we have been given. His promise is that is His call will one day be validated, but not until we respond to him in faith. We must choose to live by faith, even when God's call seems like foolishness to our minds. We must step out in obedience by faith in the light He has already given and worship Him when He gives us the sign down the road.
It is the sign itself that is the linchpin for those whole thing. What is the sign of God's call and providential ways? It is nothing more than the effective obedience and fulfilled calling of the saint. Wesley articulated this in a certain way in his doctrine of the witness of the Spirit. According to Wesley, first God's Holy Spirit witnesses to our hearts. We feel a inward impression from Him. We have one of those Aldersgate moments of having our "hearts strangely warmed." No doubt Moses' heart was ready to leap out of his chest while standing in God's immediate presence on that holy ground. Without question it was burning with a holy fire like what consumed the bush before him. But this direct, subjective witness is only half the witness for Wesley. There is also an indirect second witness that is more objective. It comes from our own spirit as we witness firsthand the call of God played out in every day life -- when we see the fruitfulness of a transformed life. For Moses it was coming back to worship God on the mountain upon being delivered from Egypt. For you and me, it might be victory over some habitual sin, or an extra measure of love that without the work of God in our lives would have otherwise been nonexistent. Wesley's dual witness, first by the Holy Spirit and secondly by our own spirit's observation of holy living, leaves no doubt in our mind of who God has revealed Himself to be and that we have been walking in His will.
So what is God calling you to in this moment? He is calling each of you to step out in faith in the light He has given. And the God who promises His presence will be with you, and He will deliver you, and He will faithfully lead you to the blessed mountaintop of worship.
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