Today’s sermon is, once again, about Moses. Last week, I talked about how Moses was leading his sheep way beyond the wilderness, when he saw a bush that was engulfed in flame, yet was not burning up; and - overcome by curiosity - Moses turned aside to investigate.
As he approached the bush, he heard a voice call out to him. It was God, and God was calling him by name.
“Moses! Moses!”
And Moses replied: “Here I am.”
“Here I am.” In other words: “You found me.”
Have you ever played hide-and-seek with a child? You wander around, looking; and if it’s a very young child, you might call out, “I wonder where little Sally can be?” You probably know very well where little Sally is, but you keep looking in places where she is not.
“Is Sally behind the couch?”
“Is Sally under the table?”
You hear Sally giggling, and before you even reach her, she jumps out and laughs, “Here I am!”
Was Moses hiding, like a little child? The scripture says he was way beyond the wilderness. What was he doing there? Taking care of sheep?
Yes.
But perhaps he was also hiding from God. Perhaps he was hiding from what God was calling him to do. He had seen how the Hebrews - his own people - were suffering, how they were being oppressed by the Egyptians. But what could he do?
One time, when he thought no one was looking, he killed an Egyptian who was beating a Hebrew. But that didn’t solve anything. In fact, it made things worse.
So Moses fled. He fled to Midian, where he got married, joined his father-in-law’s household, and spent his days beyond the wilderness, taking care of sheep...and maybe feeling that he was beyond even the eyes of God.
But you can’t hide from God.
In the Garden of Eden, Adam tried to hide from God; God came looking for Adam, and when God found Adam, God said, “Where were you?”
And Adam replied, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid, so I hid.”
But you can’t hide from God.
And Jonah tried to hide from God. Instead of going beyond the wilderness like Moses did, Jonah hopped on board a ship and sailed to the farthest reaches of the earth.
But you can’t hide from God.
As the psalmist wrote, “Where can I go from your spirit? Or where can I flee from your presence? If I ascend to heaven, you are there; if I make my bed in Sheol, you are there. If I take the wings of the morning and settle at the farthest limits of the sea, even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me fast.”
God found Adam. God found Jonah. And God found Moses.
But Moses was wise enough to answer, “Here I am.”
Here I am, Lord. You found me.
Others in the Old Testament, when they heard God, also responded that way - by saying, "Here I am."
Do you know who they are - who else responded that way?
“Here I am” is the response Abraham gave when God called to him. Twice, Abraham responded to God with those words.
“Here I am” is the response Jacob gave when God called to him. Twice, Jacob responded to God with those words.
“Here I am” is the response that Samuel and Isaiah - two of Israel’s greatest prophets - gave when God called to them.
Samuel and Isaiah hadn’t been born yet when God called to Moses, but Abraham and Jacob had, and Moses knew their stories.
God had called Abraham and Jacob to great things, and Moses didn’t know yet exactly what God was calling him to, but Moses knew that the only response he could give when he heard God calling his name, was: “Here I am.”
So, whether Moses had consciously, intentionally, been trying to hide from God or not, at that moment Moses knew that there was nothing that could keep him hidden from God.
“Here I am, God. Here. I. am. This is me. You have found me. You see me. You know who I am, completely. I am here, and I am ready to listen.”
Saying “Here I am” is a good place for all of us to start, as we ponder how we might become more faithful, how we might draw closer to God, how we might more align our lives with what God intends for us… This might be a good prayer to pray.
“Here I am, Lord. Here I am.”
Sometimes we try to put too much of ourselves into our prayers, and don’t leave enough room for God. We pray as if we’re setting the agenda for our meeting with God, instead of listening for God to lay before us God’s agenda.
Whenever one of these prophets says, “Here I am,” they then shut their mouths, and listen. In that respect, the statement, “Here I am,” is a prayer of openness. “Here I am, ready to receive your word, your instruction, your teaching. Here I am, ready to hear what it is that you are calling me to do.”
“Here I am.”
“Here I am” is also a prayer of grounding. I may wish I were somewhere else. I may wish I could hide from God. I may wish I were on a tropical island. I may wish I were in another place, or another time - a time without all this turmoil we are facing, a time without COVID-19. Wouldn’t that be nice?
But that’s not where I am. I’m here. Here, I am.
Moses wished he lived in a time in which his people weren’t suffering under oppression. Maybe that’s why he tried to hide from God.
But God found Moses, and Moses - knowing that he had been found - said, “Here, I am.”
In addition to everything else, I also think that “Here I am” is a prayer of confession. I am not where I am supposed to be; I am here. Here I am, way beyond the wilderness, running away from my problems, running away from my purpose.
But you know what? I’m done running. Here I am, ready to listen. Ready to answer God’s call.
So. It can be a prayer of openness. It can be a prayer of listening. It can be a prayer of grounding. It can be a prayer of confession.
All that, in just three words.
What do you think would happen if you A. recognized the presence of God in your life, and B. responded to that presence by praying, “Here I am” ?
Try it. Just let that be your prayer. Just say, “Here I am, Lord.” Think about all that means, and then just listen.
For the one who does that, who takes time to recognize God’s presence and respond by saying, “Here I am,” the shell of self-deception falls away. The impulse to run away from God or run away from one’s problems or run away from one’s life disappears. Pride gives way to humility - the type of humility that is essential to a spiritual life.
And while it may sound scary to present oneself so openly to God, so nakedly to God, each of the prophets who said to God “Here I am” eventually found the courage and the confidence and the ability to do what God was calling them to do. They each found reassurance that God’s unfailing strength would be with them, and that God’s unwavering love would surround them.
Even Moses.
Moses was afraid; Moses was filled with self-doubt; Moses hid his face. But that didn’t stop Moses from responding “Here I am.” And it didn’t stop Moses from listening to God, and hearing God’s words of reassurance.
So let that be your prayer. Today; and in the week to come. “Here I am. I’ve got nothing to hide. All that I am, is right here. And I offer myself to you, Lord. I’m ready to do what you want me to do. I’m ready to be who you want me to be. In this time. In this place. Here I am…”
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