Many of the great men and women of God in Scripture were simply ordinary characters who encountered God in an extra-ordinary way. Their encounter with God was often a turning point in life that wakened them to God’s divine plan and purpose on the earth. For example, Genesis 11 reveals the story of Abraham and Sarah who were living in Ur (below Babylon). Sarah was 65 and barren and Abraham was 75. THAT’S IT! There was nothing great going for them until they encountered God and their lives were filled with extra-ordinary purpose.

Or take Moses for example. His childhood was certainly less then what we would call “functional” today. He was a Hebrew boy placed in basket on a river, raised in Egypt, highly educated, and displayed many great leadership qualities. Then, through a series of events, he falls from power, escapes to the wilderness and lives as a shepherd where it looks as if life had collapsed around him. However, when he encountered God through the burning bush, a whole new world of possibility opened up to Him as he was called to bring about deliverance to God’s people. Moses, like us, was not convinced that he was the right man for the mission and questioned God about the extraordinary plan to free His people.

God made His intentions clear to Moses about how this mission would be accomplished in Exodus 3. There are three things worth noting in the dialogue between God and Moses that will give us confidence in God’s call on our lives:

• “I have come to rescue…” (v. 8): God’s plan and purpose for humanity always involves rescuing or delivering people from the oppressions of this world, whether they are personal or societal. It’s called salvation! When the mission looks too great or even impossible for us to accomplish, we must remember: it is God who does the rescuing.
• “I am sending you” (v. 10): Whilst Moses was the man that God used to lead His people out of Egypt, it was the divine partnership between the Moses (the inferior) and Yahweh (the Superior) that accomplished the mission. Moses could not do this alone. It’s the authority and commissioning from God that gives us the right, to set the world right.
• “I will be with you” (v. 12): For Moses, knowing God’s Presence would be with him gave him the confident assurance he needed to fulfil the mission. When Moses asked God, “Who am I that I should go…” (v.11), God quickly reminds him, “I will be with you.” (v. 12) In other words, it’s never our name, our presence or our power that accomplish God’s purposes on the earth, it’s always Him working with and through us.

Time and time again when people encounter Yahweh in the OT or Jesus Christ in the NT, their lives are awakened to God’s redemptive purpose for the world. Suddenly, they see the world and humanity in a whole new light and have a deep conviction that they called for extraordinary purposes. Like Moses in the Exodus story, God continues to invite us to participate in his plans and purposes on the earth today. At Hillsong College, I love that we have the opportunity to partner with God in raising, equipping, empowering and releasing men and women of God into all the greatness God is calling them into. For many, their season in College is a time where, like Moses, God Awakens the Extraordinary within them!

Lee Burns
Hillsong College Executive Vice President