MOSES AT THE BURNING BUSH
Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian. And he led the flock to the back of the desert, and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. And the Angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire from the midst of a bush. So he looked, and behold, the bush was burning with fire, but the bush was not consumed. Then Moses said, “I will now turn aside and see this great sight, why the bush does not burn.”
So when the Lord saw that he turned aside to look, God called to him from the midst of the bush and said, “Moses, Moses!”
And he said, “Here I am.”
Then He said, “Do not draw near this place. Take your sandals off your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground.” Moreover, He said, “I am the God of your father—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look upon God.
And the Lord said: “I have surely seen the oppression of My people who are in Egypt, and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters, for I know their sorrows. So I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up from that land to a good and large land, to a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanites and the Hittites and the Amorites and the Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites. Now therefore, behold, the cry of the children of Israel has come to Me, and I have also seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them. Come now, therefore, and I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring My people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.”
But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh, and that I should bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?”
So He said, “I will certainly be with you. And this shall be a sign to you that I have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain.”
Then Moses said to God, “Indeed, when I come to the children of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they say to me, ‘What is His name?’ what shall I say to them?”
And God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.” And He said, “Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’” Moreover, God said to Moses, “Thus you shall say to the children of Israel: ‘The Lord God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you. This is My name forever, and this is My memorial to all generations.”
Moses was supposed to be killed at birth; however, God allowed Pharaoh’s daughter to find him floating in the basket in the back waters of the Nile when she came to bathe. Pharaoh’s daughter rescued Moses and then gave him to his own mother as a wet nurse. Moses was raised and educated in Pharaoh’s palace; however, somehow, he realized that he was a Hebrew and that he was to help his people. Moses had to flee Egypt after killing an Egyptian foreman who was mistreating Hebrew slaves, spending forty years herding sheep in the wilderness. At this point, Moses was eighty years old and had undoubtedly resigned himself to herding sheep for the rest of his life. And that was when God suddenly appeared as a flame in the midst of a desert bush, burning brightly but leaving the bush unharmed.
Think about it-here’s an eighty-year-old man herding sheep in a remote area when God suddenly appears and calls him to lead the Hebrews out of Egypt. Moses must have had several reactions, including, “Who? Me? You’ve GOT to be kidding!” When God proceeds to inform Moses what He intends for Moses to do, Moses is appalled. “But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh, and that I should bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?”
God is unimpressed with Moses’ skepticism, exerting His authority instead. “So He said, “I will certainly be with you… And God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.” And He said, “Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’” Moreover God said to Moses, “Thus you shall say to the children of Israel: ‘The Lord God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you. This is My name forever, and this is My memorial to all generations.”
You can scarcely blame Moses. After forty years away from Egypt, Moses figures nobody remembers him anymore. And a scruffy shepherd is scarcely going to impress the Hebrews, let alone Pharaoh. Moses even tries to wriggle out of this task by claiming that he is not a polished public speaker, but God doesn’t care. What fits Moses for this monumental task?
God knows that Moses is brave, resolute, and tough. It takes physical stamina and courage to herd sheep under harsh conditions, protecting them from wild animals. God knows that Moses does speak the language of the Egyptians as well as the language of his own people. God also knows that Moses fears Him and reveres Him. Frankly, the Hebrews have been in Egypt for 400 years; many of them are now mixing Egyptian religious practices in with what few things they know about the One True Living God.
We all know the story. Moses and his brother Aaron go to Pharaoh and begin negotiations. Before things are through, God hits Egypt with ten plagues of escalating severity, culminating in the death of first-born animals and humans. Only the blood of innocent lambs smeared on the doorposts of Hebrew houses protects them from that final plague. Moses does lead his people out of Egypt.
As we face a new year, what lessons can we learn from the story of God calling Moses? ‘
- “God is more interested in your availability than your ability. “We were told this by veteran missionaries when we first came to Ghana.
- God is always doing new things, and we must be prepared to take part in those new things also. We should always be willing for God to expand the scope of our lives. One retired lady in Texas found her calling as a volunteer driver when she saw that another lady needed transportation for doctor’s appointments and cancer treatments. Then that same lady began transporting a man who was legally blind to and from work, so that he could continue to support himself. The father of a school boy found a new calling when he began coming to the school to greet children and teachers in the morning and send them home with his best wishes in the afternoon. Many of those children came from broken homes or homes where love and encouragement were in short supply. The school was so impressed that they created a special parking place for that man so that he could easily fulfill this simple ministry. You never know what God might call you to do.
- God isn’t worried about age or status. Look at Moses. God wasn’t bothered by Moses’ age or his occupation as a shepherd; in fact, God viewed those qualities as a plus. If Moses hadn’t spent all that time out in the wilderness, he would never have been able to lead others through it. And Moses’ father-in-law, Jethro, was even more desert-savvy than Moses, another plus.
- “Where God guides, He provides.” This saying was a favorite of Hudson Taylor, founder of the China Inland Mission. At one point, CIM had 1500 missionaries on the field in China, all of them supported by faith donations.
There’s a great deal more to learn from the story of Moses as we enter the new year. But today, why not ask God what new thing He wants to do in your life? Never doubt that God will surprise you!
PRAYER: Father God, thank You for loving us and for caring for us. Lord, many of us feel stuck in ruts. Thank You, that You are the One who can deliver us from ourselves and get us going forward into a glorious future. In the mighty and precious Name of King Jesus. Amen.
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