Exodus 4:11-12

The LORD said to him, “Who gave human beings their mouths? Who makes them deaf or mute? Who gives them sight or makes them blind? Is it not I, the LORD? Now go; I will help you speak and will teach you what to say.”

From Background Notes [BN] for June 7th & 8th written by Pastor Bob Brown:

The story of Moses’ call to a new identity begins with the sort of wonder that takes off its sandals and continues in the presence of slaves who see signs and then bow and worship. There is no new self, no new person, or no new identity without the profound experience of the Sacred before whom we bow and worship.

Exodus 4:10

Moses said to the LORD, “Pardon your servant, Lord. I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since you have spoken to your servant. I am slow of speech and tongue.”

From Background Notes [BN] for June 7th & 8th written by Pastor Bob Brown:

“That’s just who I am,” holds no muster with the God whose name is “I am who I am”! Karl Barth wrote in the earliest pages of his Church Dogmatics...

Exodus 3:4

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.”

From Background Notes [BN] for June 7th & 8th written by Pastor Bob Brown:

The time has come to tell the truth about you, Moses, and bring to the level of consciousness all the submerged secrets about who you really are. It will not be easy knowing your true identity, because with that knowledge comes serious responsibility that you will need to take for yourself.

John 8:28

So Jesus said, “When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am he and that I do nothing on my own but speak just what the Father has taught me."

From Background Notes [BN] for June 7th & 8th written by Pastor Bob Brown:

In other words, the answer to the question, “Who am I?” for Jesus, rests with his relationship to God as his Father. He does not label himself (“I do nothing on my own”), but allows God to give him his identity (“he has not left me alone”).

Proverbs 24:6

Surely you need guidance to wage war, and victory is won through many advisers.

From Background Notes [BN] for May 31st & June 1st written by Pastor Bob Brown:

Like the prospective kings of Israel, not all words they (our graduates) hear will help them. Part of their education has been the formation of critical judgment and wise assessment. Some things they learn will guard the truth, while other things will inform their footsteps.

1 Samuel 16:7

But the LORD said to Samuel, "Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart"

From Background Notes [BN] for May 31st & June 1st written by Pastor Bob Brown:

Johnson notes that the qualities of David’s heart, though not spelled out in detail, would seem to be exemplary to Yahweh because David’s heart is like Yahweh’s.

1 Samuel 1:27

I prayed for this child, and the LORD has granted me what I asked of him.

From Background Notes [BN] for May 31st & June 1st written by Pastor Bob Brown:

What shapes the story of the whole collection is the man Samuel: how he was born, where he was raised, and to what important purpose God destined him.