Day 17 - Exodus 3:1-4:17 - The Burning Bush

Holy Reverence

As we begin reading in Exodus 3, Moses is tending his father-in-law’s flock, minding his own business when he comes upon a bush that is on fire, but is not burning up. Moses doesn’t know what is going on but he is intrigued by this strange sight. When Moses went to investigate this strange phenomenon, God called out to him from within the bush. Moses responds by saying, “Here I am.” In Exodus 3:5 we read, “’Do not come any closer,’ God said. ‘Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.” After God identifies himself as the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, Moses hid his face as he was afraid to look at God. I love these opening verses of Exodus 3. What jumps out to me is not the fact that there was a bush on fire that wasn’t being burned up. I mean, that’s cool, but it’s not the coolest part of the story. What jumps out to me is the holy reverence that Moses had for God. God told him that he was standing on holy ground so that’s not the part that shows me Moses’ reverence for God. What shows me Moses’ reverence for God is when he hid his face being afraid to look at God. We could look at that and think Moses was crazy. If you had a chance to look at God, wouldn’t you take advantage of it? Well, you might feel that way. But Moses realized something important: God is holy. Who are we that we could look upon such a holy God and live? Really, I think that we need to have a viewpoint closer to Moses’ viewpoint. I believe that many people treat God as a mere man or as an equal. We are not God’s equal. We are not even close. We need to approach the things of the Lord with holy reverence and not ignorant nonchalance. We must be careful not to take God lightly.

God Cares

In Exodus 3:7-10, God tells Moses that He has heard the crying of the Israelites in their affliction as slaves in Egypt. God tells Moses that He is going to use him to bring freedom to His people. God cared for the Israelites through all their agony. In the same way, God cares for us. I’m sure the Israelites wondered if God was ever going to hear their cries and spear them from the brutality they faced. Sometimes we, too, might wonder if God is ever going to hear us when we have been crying out about a particular situation for a long time. When we face those moments, we should reread these verses and be encouraged that God cares!

It’s not about us

Exodus 3:11 says, “But Moses said to God, ‘Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?’” Exodus 3:12 begins by saying, “And God said, ‘I will be with you…” I love this short exchange. Moses questions God as to his qualifications for bringing the Israelites out of Egypt. Let’s be honest here. If someone came to us with that question, we would probably try to encourage them by pointing out all their experiences and characteristics that qualify them for the task, right? This is not at all how God responds, however. God basically says, “You make a good point. You’re right. You’re not qualified. But don’t worry, I’ll be with you, and I am qualified.” You see, it’s not about us at all. It’s about God’s ability to work within us. God seeks willing vessels. There’s a saying that I’ve heard which says, “God doesn’t call the equipped, He equips the called.” The truth is that God didn’t call Moses because He was qualified. God called Moses because that’s who He chose to use. God equipped him. The same is true for us. We can’t make our decision of whether or not we’ll obey God based on our qualifications; we need only to trust in His!

Enough Said

In Exodus 3:13, Moses asks God what name he should give the Israelites to show that God has truly sent him. I love God’s response in the next verse: “I AM WHO I AM.” I always read this as, “I AM…enough said.” God IS…and that’s all there is to it. The fact that God is who He is stands up on its own. We can think of all sorts of great reasons to worship God and to describe Him, but we really need to go no further than worshipping Him for who He is and describing Him as such.

Not Going to Be Easy

God gave Moses the game plan over the span of Exodus 3:16-22. God told Moses that he is to go to the elders of Israel and let them know that God is about to fulfill the promise He had given to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. God also tells Moses that he and the elders are to go to Pharaoh to request a three-day leave to worship God. God then tells Moses that He already knows Pharaoh will not listen so He will compel Pharaoh to let them go after a series of wonders. God even told Moses that the Israelites would have His favor in plundering the Egyptians. What interests me about God revealing the plan to Moses is that God didn’t lead Moses to believe that this was going to be a quick, easy process. God showed Moses that it would be tough. Basically He said, “Hey Moses, I want you to take on this task. Just so you know, getting Pharaoh to let you all go is going to be like pulling teeth for you. This is a very difficult journey ahead; it will not be easy.” Sounds pretty compelling, right? But, even though God let Moses know it was going to be tough, He had already reminded him that He would be with him. God had already let Moses know that he was going to find success in this process. In fact, God’s revelation about His favor for the Israelites to plunder the Egyptians must have been a real confidence builder. To finish the thought above, it’s like God said, “This is going to tough, but it’s definitely going to happen. It won’t be easy, but there will be victory. In fact, not only will you all leave, but you will gently plunder the Egyptians on the way out.” Even though God let Moses know how tough it would be, He didn’t leave him hanging. This may very well be the same for us at times in life as well. God may ask us to do something that is going to be incredibly difficult. Like Moses, we might even feel like we’re in way over our heads. But, in those times, we need to remember that if God has told us to do it, He will be with it and no matter how tough it may be, we will be successful in the end. We need to be sure to place our confidence in God.

Lose the Big BUT

We can read Moses’ response to God immediately after God told him the plan. Exodus 4:1 says, “Then Moses answered, ‘But behold, they will not believe me or listen to my voice, for they will say, ‘The LORD did not appear to you.’’” In response, God gave Moses three signs to use: his staff turning into a snake, his hand becoming leprous and water turning into blood. Armed with these signs, Moses responded to God with…another BUT. We read this response from Moses in Exodus 4:10, “But Moses said to the LORD, ‘Oh, my Lord, I am not eloquent, either in the past or since you have spoken to your servant, but I am slow of speech and of tongue.’” God replied by reminding Moses that He created his mouth and could teach him to speak. Armed with the commitment from God to speak for him, Moses responded to God with this, “But he said, ‘Oh, my Lord, please send someone else.’” This time, we read that God became angry with Moses. He told Moses that He would allow Aaron to be the person to do the speaking but that He would still speak directly with Moses. I feel like we can have similar responses to God sometimes. We like to inform God of reasons why we can’t do the thing He’s calling us to, as though He doesn’t know us better than we know ourselves. As we already established, if God calls us, then He will equip us. God will never tell us to do something that we cannot do. We should not seek to anger God by challenging Him. We need to lose the BUTs in our interactions with God and learn to simply say YES instead.