May 19, 2024
Reading: Exodus 3:1-6
Focus: Exodus 3:2-3 – There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in flames of fire from within a bush. Moses saw that though the bush was on fire it did not burn up. So Moses thought, “I will go over and see this strange sight—why the bush does not burn up.”
Father God, Thank You that you come to us in our everyday doings. Help us to watch for the times You try to catch our attention. Help us to be curious enough to go see what You are doing. In Jesus Name. Amen.
Moses, once a proud prince of Egypt, was now a humble shepherd. An occupation that was hated by the Egyptians. He didn’t even own the sheep he was taking care of. They belonged to his father-in-law. What a contrast. As a prince, he didn’t need to do a thing for himself. It was done by servants and slaves. Now, he was responsible for taking care of himself in a job that he had been taught to hate. Not only that, he was a foreigner in the land. Sure, he was married to a native of Midian, but that did not make him a Midianite.
It’s been forty years since he left Egypt. In those years, Moses had been humbled and learned to live without the luxuries that he had had in Egypt. These forty years were the boot camp that prepared Moses for the trek from Egypt to Canaan. He learned how to live in the wilderness and how to survive when it seemed survival was impossible. He learned how to move from place to place and how to make use of resources without depleting them totally. He had learned how to herd sheep. Soon he would be herding over 2 million people.
On this particular day, he was on Mount Horeb. Mount Horeb is another name of Mount Sinai. The name Horeb means desert. So you can get a picture of the land that Moses worked in. It was desolate. The location of the actual Mount Sinai has been disputed for centuries. Now, I am not a traditionalist when it comes to the Exodus. I’ll say that up front. So, I do not believe that the traditional Mount Sinai on the Sinai Peninsula is the actual Mount Sinai. I believe that it is in Saudi Arabia. There is a mountain called Jebel-El-Lawz or Jebel-El-Musa. Mountain of the Law or Mountain of Moses. Saudi Arabia has a fence around the mountain and will not allow any archaeology digs on or around it. Nor will they let any tourists get near it. Makes one wonder why. There have been expeditions that have secretly been to the mountain to look at what is actually there. There is a book and a movie about that expedition called “The Search for the Real Mount Sinai”. Both are very illuminating and may change your ideas of where God gave the Law to Moses and the Israelites. But now I am on a tangent. Let’s get back to Moses.
Moses had to move the sheep from place to place to find grazing for them. So, here he is on the mountain, and he sees a fire. Fire probably wasn’t uncommon in the desolate desert where dried vegetation could spontaneously catch fire. But he looks at the fire and notices that there is something different. The bush is not burning. The leaves did not curl, nor did the branches break and fall off. It’s on fire but it is not burning. It struck him as so curious that he had to go take a look at it. The Bible tells us that the Angel of the Lord appeared to Moses within the flames in burning bush. There are many ways to look at the symbolism of the burning bush. Some say it’s a picture the people of Israel, afflicted but not destroyed. Another picture is that of Jesus. The Hebrew word for this particular bush indicates a thorny bush. Jesus was crowned with thorns. He suffered the fires of judicial condemnation, but he was not consumed by it. So, Moses turns toward the bush to check it out.
When God saw that He had Moses’s attention, He calls him by name. Not once but twice. This double calling infers that there is something important and urgent that needs to be said. Throughout the Bible, God has called people by their names twice – “Abraham, Abraham”, “Samuel, Samuel”, “Martha, Martha” and “Saul, Saul”. Each time there was something important that they needed to hear. Same here. Moses needed to pay full attention to what was going to be said. Please note that God did not say anything until He had Moses’ undivided attention.
This is the same for us. He uses many different ways to get our attention. It can be an event, an experience, people or a song. It can be a sentence in the pastor’s sermon that grabs our attention. God needs our undivided attention for us to hear what He has to say. We can hear with our ears but if we don’t pay attention, we really don’t know what is being said. My dad used to say, “You hear with your ears, but you listen with your mind.” Your mind has to be engaged when you listen to God. He has to have our full undivided attention to teach us what He wants us to know.
Moses’ response should be our response when God calls out to us. “Here I am.” His response shows that his attention is focused on the voice that is speaking to him. I don’t know about Moses, but I would have been frightened if I stood near a bush that burned but was not destroyed and that had a voice calling out my name. I might have stepped backward a step or two. But not Moses. He approached the bush until God stopped him. God told him not to approach any closer than he was. We can approach God, but we are not able to see Him. We can come to the Father, through Jesus, His Son. But there is still a distance between God and ourselves.
He also told him to take off his shoes because he was on holy ground. Shoes have stepped on and in all sorts of things. To remove the shoes is to remove the dirt from your feet. It is symbolic closing out the world when you come before the Father. Removing the shoes is, in a sense, humility. Servants and slaves normally did not wear shoes. In some cultures, out of respect, you remove your shoes when you enter someone’s house. Moses was entering God’s house, holy ground.
God, at this point, reveals who He is. He is the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. By declaring his relationship to the patriarchs, God shows that He is the same God and not some new deity. By this He confirms that the Covenant is still in effect and that God is still the God of the Israelites. When Moses realized just who he stood before, he hid his face. A natural reaction when standing before a holy God. Don’t you wonder what was going through Moses’ mind at that time? The murder in Egypt and any number of sins that Moses had committed and some that he only thought he had committed. The Bible said he was afraid to look at God. Rather that standing as a proud prince, he hid his face as a creature, a sinful creature. When we come to God, we come with an attitude of reverence and humility. To approach in any other manner shows a lack or respect and sincerity.
Father God, Thank You for the lessons in this passage of Exodus. Thank You for the reminder that You need my full attention to tell me what I need to know. Help me to shut out the world so that I can concentrate on You. In Jesus Name. Amen.
Food For Thought
- Why do you think Moses was apparently content to herd sheep?
- Do you think Moses was surprised that God called to him? Why or why not?
- Does it take a miraculous event for God to get your attention? Why or why not?
- What are you thinking about when you come into the presence of God?
- Do you close yourself off from the world when you pray? Why or why not?
