Mike McClenahan

No one will be able to stand against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you. Be strong and courageous... (Joshua 1:5-6) I am always amazed as I read Joshua's conversation with God. Joshua is given the awesome responsibility of leading two million Israelites to Canaan to take the land God was giving to them. He was Moses' aide, so he saw the challenges of leadership through the wilderness: grumbling, confusion, discomfort, competing alliances, sacrifice and wandering.  Joshua needed some reassurance, some confidence that he could fulfill his role as a leader. So God gives him a promise and the people give him a promise. God says "As I was with Moses, so I will be with you." The people said, "As we were with Moses, so we will be with you."  I like God's promise a little better.  God was with Moses in personal and powerful ways. He went with Moses. He worked through Moses. ...

Moses is the greatest and most foundational leader of the Old Testament. Although the promise to become a great nation came through Abraham and the tribes through Jacob, scripture tells us of Moses' unique  greatness -- no prophet has risen in Israel like Moses --and his  humility -- Moses was very humble, more than any man who was on the face of the earth. ( Deuteronomy 34:10 and  Numbers 12:3) What made Moses so great? Through Moses the Israelites were rescued from Egypt, gathered in their first worship space, received the law, and led through the wilderness to the promised land.  He was a thorough leader, describing God's plan in detail so that the Israelites could be faithful to God in their worship and relationships.  He was a resilient leader, able to withstand the pressures and critiques of his followers. He was an advocate for his people, pleading with God to be gracious to them in spite of their stubbornness and grumbling.   He was a...

“You will be my treasured possession... You will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.” Exodus 19:5-6 NIV But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. 1 Peter 2:9-12 NIV Moses went up to meet with God on Mount Sinai and came down with a message for the Israelites: I treasure you. I have set you apart with these commands so that you will bless the world.  The Israelites were no longer slaves, but treasured. They were no longer in captivity, but free. They were no longer powerless, they could change the world.  Peter picks up this passage from Exodus and affirms the identity and calling of the first century believers. As Christians we are a kingdom of priests . Treasured. Free. World Changers. For Peter, kingdom  doesn’t refer to a political realm, just as nation doesn’t refer to a country or state...

God calls Moses to leadership through the burning bush in the wilderness-- a bush that burns but doesn't burn up. Moses doesn't run away, but he draws closer to the bush and God calls out his name then gives him a surprising calling.  Moses  responds, "Who am I?"  Moses was an unlikely and imperfect leader: a shepherd all alone on the far side of the wilderness, eighty years old, and a foreigner;  faltering speech,  a murderer who fled Egypt,  and how can a hebrew raised in Pharaoh's household lead the people whose God has no name? And yet he was rescued as a child by Pharaoh's daughter and raised as a prince of Egypt. Was he delivered in order to become a deliverer? And then Moses asks, "Who are you? What is your name?" God reveals his name, "I am" or "I am who I am." This is the first time in scripture God has a name. God moves from the general name El or Elohim (God) to the specific name Yahweh, and the very persona...