Who Am I

Exodus 3:11
Recently, during a battle update briefing (BUB) I was asked to give a presentation to my squadron commander which would discuss the mortar and rocket activity in our area. It would be the first time I would have spoken in such a briefing, and it should be no surprise that I was a bit nervous. I have only been in the Army for four short years, and though I have promoted quickly I knew clearly that I had only a fraction of the experience and knowledge that most of these seasoned soldiers before me had. Looking back at the situation, I’m convinced that Moses knew exactly how I felt. In Exodus chapter three God speaks to Moses upon Mount Horeb and commissions him to deliver the Israelites from the land of bondage. He is to go to Pharaoh and demand the release of God’s people that they might worship Him on the very mountain that he now stood. This would be the first time that Moses would have made such a speech to someone in that position, and at God’s request Moses asks the inevitable question “Who am I?” The question “Who am I” has haunted mankind since the fall. It deceives us; it presumes that we can be nothing more than what the world has already established. “Who am I compared to the status quo; who am I compared to all others; and worst of all, who am I to change that?” Like most of us who ask the question Moses knew exactly who he was. What he doubted; what concerned him most of all was his place in comparison to Pharaoh’s. “Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt (Exodus 3:11)?” Just as Moses asked the question, I too wondered “Who am I to stand before this panel of officers and presume to tell them anything about what’s going on outside the wire,” and as quickly as I asked it I realized that I knew exactly who I was. What I was really wondering was who they thought I was. You see, it’s not our place we’re trying to find when we ask the question, but where the world has placed us. It’s not our purpose we seek to discover, but what the world purposes for us. Nor is it our endeavor to establish our value as much as it is for us to see how we measure up to what the world values. We are haunted by the question only because we have misplaced the rule by which we gauge ourselves. It is not the world’s standard; it is not the world’s purpose; it is not the world’s place with which we need concern, rather, it is God’s. God has bestowed upon us a value beyond the world’s ability to measure. He has established for us a place that the world has never seen. Understanding now, that we are ambassadors of Christ; children of God, who’s worth and place in this world is beyond evaluation and appraisal, the question is not “Who am I,” rather “Who are they that I should even worry.” Who am I? I am one that is securely established, valued beyond compare, and known by the only one that matters. I am exactly what God has chosen me to be, I am one of His own; a measure of His love. Now, the question is to whose rule will you compare? [mp]

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Michael D'Urbano
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