I’d like to spend a little bit of time on the scene with Moses speaking to God through a burning bush.  It is amazing just by itself but the conversation is fascinating as well. I’ve included a portion of it from Exodus 3 but I encourage you to finish the story in Exodus 4 as well.  One thing that I find astonishing is Moses’ reluctance to God even as He is speaking to him through a burning bush.  I don’t know about you but I feel like I would do whatever a burning bush told me or asked of me.  Let’s look at the passage together today. 

But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?” 12 And God said, “I will be with you. And this will be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you will worship God on this mountain.” 13 Moses said to God, “Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ Then what shall I tell them?” 14 God said to Moses, “I am who I am. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I am has sent me to you.’” 15 God also said to Moses, “Say to the Israelites, ‘The Lord, the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob—has sent me to you. …18 “The elders of Israel will listen to you. Then you and the elders are to go to the king of Egypt and say to him, ‘The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, has met with us. Let us take a three-day journey into the wilderness to offer sacrifices to the Lord our God.’ 19 But I know that the king of Egypt will not let you go unless a mighty hand compels him. 20 So I will stretch out my hand and strike the Egyptians with all the wonders that I will perform among them. After that, he will let you go. 21 “And I will make the Egyptians favorably disposed toward this people, so that when you leave you will not go empty-handed. 22 Every woman is to ask her neighbor and any woman living in her house for articles of silver and gold and for clothing, which you will put on your sons and daughters. And so you will plunder the Egyptians.”

God is promising Moses a great outcome.  He answers all his questions and still Moses resists.  If we are honest we all at times resist that which we know God wants in our lives.  We often choose our path instead of His.  Moses is comfortable right where he is.  He is starting a family, has a job, things are going just fine.  He would prefer to stay in his comfort than have to confront his past and what he knows will be a difficult challenge.  It’s easy to point the finger at Moses as he is arguing with a burning bush but don’t we do the same thing.  We stay in our comfort zones instead of sharing our faith like we know the resurrected Jesus asks us to.  We avoid confrontation and hard conversations so we can remain in our comfort zone and avoid the pain of our past.  We all have a little bit of Moses in us.  My prayer is that we will, like Moses, get past our fears and watch God do great things in and through our lives.  

In His Grip,

Pastor Dave