[2] There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in flames of fire from within a bush. Moses saw that though the bush was on fire it did not burn up. [3] So Moses thought, “I will go over and see this strange sight—why the bush does not burn up.” [4] When the Lord saw that he had gone over to look, God called to him from within the bush, “Moses! Moses!” And Moses said, “Here I am.” (Exodus 3:2-4, NIV)
Have you noticed the words which Old Testament people use when someone important calls them by name? They don’t say “What?” or “Yes?” They answer with the curious sentence, “Here I am.” So much is in that sentence: readiness to respond, a willing servitude, an offering of oneself to the other.
—Walter Wangerin Jr.
The Lord now sees that we are together, that we have “gone over to look,” though our situation is different from when Moses had “gone over to look.”
God saw Moses.
God sees us.
God called Moses by name.
God is calling us from within the bush, “Emmanuel! Emmanuel!”
I pray we are responding, “Here I am. Here we are.”
I remember a conversation with Greg Hearn about praying for our next president. Greg had ideas about what the new president would be facing, but Greg sounded sure about one aspect. I asked him, “Why don’t you apply?” He laughed the Greg laugh, then told me why he wasn’t the one.
Now here he is. He is the one. Greg eventually said, “Here I am.”
Eighteen years ago, I had no plans to move from Florida to Georgia and work at Emmanuel.
Three years ago, I had no plans to pastor a local church again.
Seventeen days ago, I had no plans to move my office into another place after being in one office space for seventeen years.
But each time, God gave guidance.
Each time, whenever God said, “Here is where you are to be. Here is where I want you. Here is where I need you,” I needed to say, “Here I am.”
As I informed people about my office relocation, for two days I misspelled one word in each text: “move.” Though it is often my mistake to spell words incorrectly, this time it wasn’t. It was my phone’s fault. Whenever I attempted to write the word “move,” my phone changed the initial letter from an M to an L. Rather than “move,” the text was about to state “love” until I corrected it.
But maybe my phone was right after all. Maybe I needed to be corrected. Maybe the call from God wasn’t just to move, but to choose to love. Maybe “Here I am” is stating, “I choose to move. I choose to love whatever it is You call me to do.”
Here we are.
Let us move correctly.
Let us love deeply.
Let us, as Emmanuel University “where we meet God together,” laugh and cry like President Greg Hearn does, and say, “Here we are.”
Let us, at Emmanuel University “where we meet God together,” state and stutter like Moses, “Here we are.”
Let us move forward. And let us love it.
What a moving — and loving — piece of writing, Chris. When we are willing to move wherever God leads — and love it — God is able to do the miraculous.
Paul and I moved to Georgia 41 years ago. Not happily but willingly. We moved to Kenya for a year — not necessarily happily — but willingly. But the happiness (more like contentment) comes later, knowing that we are moving — and loving — where God needs us.
Thank you. God continues doing His work through you.
I also thought this was very good Chris!
Funny, I just found out in the last couple of weeks about Greg being president. He is somewhat kin to us. His mom was my step grandfathers daughter!
Thanks. That is so interesting.
A beautiful piece of writing. Thank you for your ongoing encouragement to live in love.
Thank you, my friend.
Well said Pastor Chris. While reading this, all I thought of was Isaiah 6:8, when God is asking who will deliver His message to the people of Judah, Isaiah says, “Here I am, send me.” I think when God calls us, unexpected or not, we should be willing to step up to the plate. We may plan to do something but God’s purpose always prevails. Thank you for the encouraging message
This is an amazing blog Pastor Chris! I loved the story about how your phone kept changing from move to love. It is amazing how God can use the small things to remind us of His character, and how we can shift our attitude towards a certain situations. I believe that moving and change can be hard, but when we turn our eyes to Jesus and just focus on what He is calling us to do; peace will overflow. There might still be challenges, but we can rest that the Creator is in control! We can say Here I am Lord, and sit in peace that no matter what happens, God is in control! Thank you for this eye opening blog!
Hey Pastor Chris! What catches my eye in this blog is the story about the relocation of your office, and when you informed people of that, your phone would replace the word move with love. When God calls us to something different that we are uncomfortable with or uncertain about we should move, but we should also go about it with loving what God is calling us too because what He is calling us to is in His will. Personally, I love to be in the will of God because His ways are so much better than mine.
This was a great read. I felt very inspired and motivated. This is needed when I have times of doubt.
This is beautifully written Pastor Chris! I applaud your reaction to change and loving what it is we have been called to do. “Here I am” is something I need to apply more to my own life to react to differences in the plan of God from my own plan for myself.
This has reminded me of an uncertain time, my arrival at Emmanuel. I moved here uncertain of what was to come and what this school had to offer. But I have come to love it and have embraced this journey. I have been called here by God and I have embraced his call.
Hey pastor Chris I really like what you say in this writing. What I like is how it provides a new way to look at this next season for Emmanuel university while being a hopeful and inspiring writing that encourages us to follow the Lord in love and faith. Thank you so much.
“Here I am.” The parallels between President Hearn and Moses in this story are quite curious. Moses gave many reasons of why “he wasn’t the one”. But each time God would not drop it until he stepped forward into his calling. Praise the Lord that we serve a God who does not give up on us when we come to Him with all of our excuses and flaws. The opportunities we have are all blessings to serve Him and I am just thankful for the chance to say “Here I am.” Let us as a University come together in this and step into all that God has called us into. Where He leads, we follow. The only way God can be with us is for us to be with Him.
This is a very timely topic that a lot of us deal with. Trusting God in those kinds of circumstances is not easy at all, and it’s easy to forget the love of God in those situations. God reigns above it all, and sees everything; he has never led us astray, he never will, and he loves us more than we can possibly picture.
How beautiful, to serve a God that knows far more than we could imagine. How joyous, although sometimes begrudgingly, to submit to His plans. I love that He not only calls our bodies to move, but our hearts and minds to move forward. It is not up to us to decide whether or not His plan is good. He is a good God, as are His plans for His children. It is simply up to us to move forward in His will and be grateful for his provision.