Sometimes when we’ve seen the same sight or view over and over again, we don’t really take notice of it anymore. Staring out the back window into the neighbor's yard, day after day, year after year, you aren’t really even seeing it anymore. Your brain isn’t registering what you see, until suddenly there is something new, something different. Maybe he put in some new rose bushes, and you wonder how long they have been there, but you just didn’t notice. You drive to work everyday, the same route, the same view. Nothing’s changed and you could almost do it in your sleep. Until suddenly, a new stop sign is at a corner, and you almost drive through it! It’s important to be alert! In our Old Testament reading for this week, Moses was in a similar situation where it was important for him to be alert and notice what was around him.
As our Scripture passage opens, we see Moses out in the wilderness tending the flocks of his father-in-law in the land of Midian. Many years earlier he had to escape from the land of Egypt, from his privileged position in the royal courts, and fled into the land of Midian, where he met and married his wife. Now for many, many years he has been watching his father-in-law’s flocks. He sees the same sights each day, the sheep, the rocky ground with patches of grass and bushes. He sees the great Mount Sinai (called Mount Horeb here). Nothing new. Everything is the same as it’s been for decades. Then all of a sudden, one day he sees something different. There is a bush in the distance that is burning, but it isn’t getting burnt up (vs. 1-2). How long had it been there before he noticed it? We don’t know, but he finally does take notice, and goes to observe this new and unique sight (vs. 3).
It is at this moment, now that He has the attention of Moses, that Yahweh speaks out to him. God is often trying to get our attention, but are we alert? Often we are in such a hurry that we walk right by our “burning bush”. We don’t pay attention. We are too busy in our own thoughts, that we are oblivious to what God is doing. God had a very important job for Moses to do. He was the one that God had selected to deliver His people out from bondage in Egypt, but first He needed to get his attention. What job are we missing because we are not alert to the signs from the Lord? Because Moses was alert and took notice of God’s call, he was able to be God’s human agent in bringing the people out of Egypt, deliver to them His laws, and bring the people right to the border of the Promised Land.
When Moses came over to observe the burning bush, and when he heard the call of Yahweh to him, the first thing Moses did was to remove his shoes and hide his face (vs. 5-6). The Almighty Lord God was present there. Removing shoes was a sign of reverence in a holy place. Hiding his face was another reaction to a reverent fear in the presence of God. God is our Friend, but He is also our Sovereign Lord. To approach Him frivolously shows a great lack of respect. We should not come to Him casually, but as an invited guest before a King.
As the Lord spoke to Moses, He identified Himself as the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob (vs. 6). God did not say “I was the God”. He said “I am” proving that these Patriarchs were still alive, though they had died physically a long time before. As Jesus said later, God is not the God of the dead, but of the living (Mark 12:26-27).
As our Scripture passage closes, God tells Moses that He has seen the oppression His people are under, and has heard their cries (vs. 7-8). How many times in our life, when we are going through a very difficult time, whether due to health, financial, emotional, or family concerns, we cry out to God and feel He doesn’t hear? God is aware of what goes on in our life. God has seen, He has heard, and He is aware, just as He was over the oppression of the children of Jacob. Just as Yahweh delivered them, He will also come to our aid and deliver us.
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