Here I Am, Lord

Introduction

At the start of a new year, you often see this image circulating: an open book with blank pages, along with this line: "Tomorrow is the first blank page of the 365 page book you are the main character of. Write an unforgettable story." The idea is beautiful, but it is false. Your new year does not begin with blank pages. If you doubt it, Visa and Mastercard will remind you very soon.

We want change, renewal, something different. But someone once said: "Insanity is doing the same things and expecting different results." So how do you get real change in your life this year? In his message "Here I Am, Lord," Daniel Decary opens Exodus 3 and shows you four steps drawn from Moses' encounter with God at the burning bush.

Moses is 80 years old. He has been living in the desert of Midian for 40 years, married, with children, a shepherd for his father in law Jethro. He has nothing left of the prince of Egypt he once was. And yet, it is there, in his ordinary routine, that God comes to meet him.

Outline of the Message

1. Stopping in His Presence

Moses is leading the flock beyond the wilderness and comes to the mountain of God, at Horeb. The angel of the Lord appears to him in flames of fire, in the middle of a bush that is burning but not consumed. This detail matters: in the desert, under that scorching sun, it is not unusual for a bush to catch fire on its own. The fire passes quickly, and nothing is left. In 40 years, Moses has seen bushes burn plenty of times. But this one is not being consumed. So he turns aside to go and look.

How often does God act in your daily routine without you seeing it? We are so busy, so preoccupied, that we miss the manifestations of his presence around us. Very often, all we see is a small screen. Daniel tells of seeing teenagers at Disney World with their eyes glued to their phones. You are in an imaginary world, when all you had to do was look up. The parents paid a crazy price for them to experience that, and there they are staring at their screens.

We come to church, we spend a good time of fellowship, it is fun to see friends again, and we leave completely missing the real question: was God here? Did he want to tell me something? Was I in a posture of "Here I am"? Job 33 puts it this way: "For God does speak, now one way, now another, though no one perceives it."

Daniel remembers a Christmas evening when he was heading home after delivering food baskets. At the edge of the village, the railroad crossing barrier comes down. The train arrives with three locomotives. It passes, and passes, and the pressure builds. Then, disaster, it stops and starts backing up. Alone in his little car with the AM/FM radio playing Christmas carols, he had time to remember why he was doing all of this: the birth of Jesus. And he sensed the presence of God. It was not a bush that would not burn, it was a train that would not pass. But God was there.

When Moses draws near, God sees him and calls him by name. When you take a step toward him, he sees it.

2. Accepting His Forgiveness

God says to Moses: "Do not come any closer. Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground." Then he adds: "I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob." And Moses hides his face, because he is afraid to look at God.

Moses had been trying to run from what God had placed in his heart long ago. He carried his mistake, his fall, that sin that had made him flee to Egypt 40 years earlier. He had not yet discovered what he himself would write in Exodus 34: "The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin."

God is a God of grace. He forgives faster than we forgive ourselves. When we read these names, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, we picture heroes of the faith. Look more closely at their lives: they are extremely imperfect people. Yet God forgave them and used them. It is as if God were telling Moses: "I am the God of the imperfect. I know your mistakes, but my grace is greater."

Taking off the sandals is a symbol. First, sandals say who you are: a shepherd wears a shepherd's sandals. God asks you to take off what defines you in the eyes of others. If you are a nurse, take off your little nurse's shoes. An accountant, take off your little shoes. A mom running around the house, take off your slippers. Take off the letters before your name, the letters after your name, your diplomas, your titles. Just be you.

Sandals are also made from the skin of a dead animal. It is a symbol of the sin that separates you from God. Taking off the sandals is an act of confession. 1 John 1:9 says it plainly: "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness." Come before God with humility. The only thing you have is the finished work of Jesus on the cross.

3. Admitting Our Fears

Moses answers God: "Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?" You can feel the fear. What could God possibly do with an old 80 year old shepherd, with no network, no finances, no reputation? And above all, Egypt is the place of his failure. That is where he failed, killing the Egyptian and fleeing.

D. L. Moody, a great evangelist of another era, summed up Moses' life this way: "The first 40 years, it's 'what can I do?' The next 40 years, it's 'I can't do anything.' The last 40 years, it's 'what can God do?'"

Daniel tells of a morning when he was writing his resignation letter as pastor. The day before, he had lost his temper in a leadership meeting. He was telling himself: "Lord, you made a mistake, I can't be a pastor, I have too much of a temper, I look more like Peter cutting off an ear than a pastor calm in green pastures." And he sensed God telling him: "Daniel, it is not by your perfection that you show you are a Christian. It is by how you handle your imperfections." He called his board back that same evening and asked for forgiveness. One of the men, laughing hard, answered him: "Hey, welcome to the human race."

Nelson Mandela wrote: "I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear." How do you conquer fear? Through the certainty that God is with you. You are not alone.

4. Moving Forward in His Promises

God answers Moses: "I will be with you. And this will be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you will worship God on this mountain."

Notice what God does not say: "Go ahead, free the people all by yourself, I will wait for you here." No. "I will be with you." God does not ask Moses to free Israel by himself. He asks him to be an instrument in his hands. God does not look at what strikes the human eye. In 1 Samuel 16:7: "Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart."

It is God's people and God's reputation that are at stake here, not Moses'. And it is the same for you. It is not your church, it is his church. It is not your kingdom, nor your salvation, nor your reputation. It is his. God hears the cries of people around you who are suffering, who talk to the universe because they do not know there is a living, personal God. He asks you to be an instrument, with the gifts, the talents, and the personality he has given you.

Daniel tells another story: as a young man, he spent a year and a half at McGill University studying psychology. He knew the bars better than the libraries. One day, he fails his midterm exam in neuropsychology after partying too much. The professor agrees to make the final exam worth 100 percent of the grade. Daniel keeps the same pace. Results posted in the department hallway, ranked by grade: Daniel Decary, 7 percent. Years later, converted and become a pastor, he has to go back to university. And what does the university ask for? A transcript.

Sometimes God brings you back to the very place where you failed, to restore, to repair, and to fulfill his plan. Because he is the God of the imperfect.

Key Takeaways

• Your new year does not begin with a blank page. Real change requires an encounter with God, not a resolution.
• Stopping in his presence means stepping out of the routine long enough to notice what God is already doing around you.
• Taking off your sandals means letting go of what defines you humanly (titles, diplomas, achievements) and confessing what separates you from God.
• Fear often signals the exact place where God wants to act. Where it is humanly impossible, there is room for him.
• God does not ask you to act alone. He asks you to be an instrument in his hands, for his reputation, not yours.

Personal Application

• Where in your daily routine have you missed a manifestation of God's presence these past few weeks?
• What are the "sandals" you wear before God, the titles, achievements, or identities you use to justify your place before him?
• What sin do you need to confess today to concretely receive God's forgiveness?
• What fear is keeping you from taking a step God is asking you to take this year?
• Is there a place of failure in your past that God is asking you to return to, not alone, but with him?

Verses Cited

• Exodus 3:1-12 · Moses and the burning bush
• Acts 7:22-29 · Moses trained in all the wisdom of the Egyptians
• Job 33:14 · God speaks, though no one perceives it
• Exodus 34:6-7 · The Lord, the compassionate and gracious God
• 1 John 1:9 · If we confess our sins
• 1 Samuel 16:7 · The Lord looks at the heart
• Ephesians 2:8-9 · For it is by grace you have been saved

Frequently Asked Questions

Why does God ask Moses to take off his sandals?

In the Bible, ground becomes sacred because God manifests himself there. Taking off one's sandals is a gesture of reverence before his holiness. Daniel Decary also sees two symbols in it: sandals recall Moses' occupation and social identity ("just be you"), and they are made from the skin of a dead animal, an image of the sin that separates us from God. Taking off one's sandals thus becomes an act of confession and humility.

What does "Here I am" mean when Moses answers God?

"Here I am" (in Hebrew, hinneni) is not a simple response to being called. It is total availability: "I am here, at your disposal." Abraham uses it before God, and so does Moses. Standing before God in a posture of "Here I am" means choosing to listen before arguing, to accept the mission before knowing all its details.

How can I know if a calling truly comes from God?

Daniel Decary gives a striking criterion: if you are not afraid of what God is asking you to do, it may be that you have not yet actually heard from him. The space of fear is often the space where God wants to act, because that is where his resources become necessary. A true calling is beyond you and points you back to his promise: "I will be with you."