Promise Keeper: Moses & the burning bush:
Last week, we saw the birth of Moses and how Moses’ mother trusted God with his future. Indeed, God had a big plan for Moses’ life. But the first couple chapters of Exodus don’t showcase Moses as powerful or particularly special. Since we last left him, Moses has fled Egypt because he murdered an Egyptian (Exodus 2:11-15) and rather than living as royalty, he is now a humble shepherd caring for his father in law’s sheep (Exodus 3:1).
Meanwhile, the Israelites are still slaves suffering under the rule of the Egyptians –
Exodus 2:23 | Years passed, and the king of Egypt died. But the Israelites continued to groan under their burden of slavery. They cried out for help, and their cry rose up to God.
While many years have passed and the situation of the Israelites has been difficult, God has not forgotten His promise to the nation of Israel–
Exodus 2:24-25 | God heard their groaning, and he remembered his covenant promise to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He looked down on the people of Israel and knew it was time to act.
As Moses tends to the sheep in the wilderness of Mt. Sinai, something amazing happens–
Exodus 3:2-3 | There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a blazing fire from the middle of a bush. Moses stared in amazement. Though the bush was engulfed in flames, it didn’t burn up. “This is amazing,” Moses said to himself. “Why isn’t that bush burning up? I must go see it.”
The angel of the Lord in the bush is God the Son Himself and when He calls out to Moses, Moses says–
Exodus 3:4b | “Here I am!”
God then reveals to a willing Moses exactly who He is–
Exodus 3:5-6a | “Do not come any closer,” the Lord warned. “Take off your sandals, for you are standing on holy ground. I am the God of your father—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.”
God tells Moses that He has heard the cries of His people and their suffering has not been a surprise to Him–
Exodus 3:7 | Then the Lord told him, “I have certainly seen the oppression of my people in Egypt. I have heard their cries of distress because of their harsh slave drivers. Yes, I am aware of their suffering.
In fact, in Genesis 15:13, hundreds of years before this, God told Abraham–
Genesis 15:13 | Then the Lord said to Abram, “You can be sure that your descendants will be strangers in a foreign land, where they will be oppressed as slaves for 400 years.”
But God, the Promise Keeper, still intends to keep His promise–
Exodus 3:8 | So I have come down to rescue them from the power of the Egyptians and lead them out of Egypt into their own fertile and spacious land. It is a land flowing with milk and honey—the land where the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites now live.
It is time for God to begin leading the Israelites to the promised land. But first, he must deal with their slavery. Surely the pharaoh won’t just let the Israelites leave the land of Egypt- they’re an army of free labor that he currently has complete power over. The Lord knows this and He has decided that Moses, the special baby He rescued in the Nile, would be the guy for the job–
Exodus 3:9-10 | Look! The cry of the people of Israel has reached me, and I have seen how harshly the Egyptians abuse them. Now go, for I am sending you to Pharaoh. You must lead my people Israel out of Egypt.
We’ll look at all of Moses’ full response to God next week, but for now, we need to realize the sovereignty of God’s timing. Years before this, Moses was the grandson and then the son of the Pharaoh. He was one of the most powerful men in the kingdom of Egypt. He would have been in line to rule the country. If God had come to Moses then to free the Israelites from their slavery, Moses may have had the power, riches, and ability to do something about it. But God waits until Moses is a poor, powerless, shepherd in the wilderness who isn’t even allowed in Egypt. When Moses has nothing to offer, then God chooses to use Him to rescue God’s people. Moses realizes this too, asking God–
Exodus 3:11 | But Moses protested to God, “Who am I to appear before Pharaoh? Who am I to lead the people of Israel out of Egypt?”
The New Testament explains that this wasn’t a strange choice for the Lord. In fact, it is a truth about who God is and how He works that is still true today.
1st Corinthians 1:26-29 | Remember, dear brothers and sisters, that few of you were wise in the world’s eyes or powerful or wealthy when God called you. Instead, God chose things the world considers foolish in order to shame those who think they are wise. And he chose things that are powerless to shame those who are powerful. God chose things despised by the world, things counted as nothing at all, and used them to bring to nothing what the world considers important. As a result, no one can ever boast in the presence of God.
God doesn’t need Moses to show Moses’ power by freeing the Israelites. Instead, He will use a powerless Moses to free the Israelites so that God gets the glory. This timeless truth is for us as well: God wants to use you for His glory.
While you might not have a burning bush moment, God does have a plan for you (Jeremiah 29:11) and will call you to live for His glory (Isaiah 43:7). If God did this in the areas of your life where you are already strong or confident, YOU would get the glory. We see through the life of Moses, that instead, God uses us when we are unqualified so that HE gets the glory (1st Corinthians 1:26-29). God wants to use you for His glory.
What did you learn or what stood out to you from the account of Moses and the burning bush?
Why do you think God began the conversation by telling Moses who He was? Wasn’t the miracle of the burning bush enough?
How has God made Himself known to you?
What does God want to use Moses to do?
Why doesn’t Moses feel like He is qualified to do the job God wants Him to do? How does the fact that Moses is NOT qualified make him exactly the right guy for the job?