3:1 One day Moses was tending the flock of his father-in-law, Jethro, the priest of Midian. He led the flock far into the wilderness and came to Sinai, the mountain of God.
I would guess that God allowed it to be extra arid that year, maybe extra hot, all so that Moses would lead the flock farther than he ever had before. He led them all the way to Mount Sinai, likely because, for some odd reason, there was better grazing there on that particular spot. So up on a mountain, wandering near a bush. God looks around, seeking a way to get the 80-year-old’s attention.
2 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. 3 “This is amazing,” Moses said to himself. “Why isn’t that bush burning up? I must go see it.”
God is a consuming fire. But His flames did not consume this bush. Why not? Because then Moses would not have considered a little brush fire to be unusual. But, no, this was not a brush fire; it was a torch. As we will come to learn, the presence of God is sometimes like a pillar fire or of cloud, but it is not caused by the consumption of some fuel; it simply IS. That is the mark of the presence of God, and it is amazing. Curious, Moses draws closer to see it.
4 When the Lord saw Moses coming to take a closer look, God called to him from the middle of the bush, “Moses! Moses!”
“Here I am!” Moses replied.
Note that the LORD saw Moses, and God knew his name. So He said it out loud. Twice. Of course, God didn’t need to ask where Moses was, and He didn’t ask. He simply called out the man’s name. There were other times in Scripture where God did the same thing: He called Samuel and Saul by saying their names twice. Let this be an encouragement to us all; when God wants to get our attention, He is very capable of calling us by name, of saying our name twice, of moving the weather and our plans to conform to His will and His calling. You cannot run from God, even across a desert in hiding for 40 years. He knows your name and He knows where you live.
5 “Do not come any closer,” the Lord warned. “Take off your sandals, for you are standing on holy ground. 6 I am the God of your father—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” When Moses heard this, he covered his face because he was afraid to look at God.
I think contemporary worship leaders always picture God as wanting to bring us closer. Our songs certainly repeat that theme: Draw me closer, let me see You, let me feel Your embrace, and so forth. That image of my relationship with God is shattered by this moment with Moses, when God keeps the patriarch at arm’s length.
I have no right to simply stroll into God’s presence, to sit and chat with Him and receive His reassurances that He loves me. Something needs to happen first, and only then can I come boldly into His presence by a new and living way. In effect, I need to remove my sandals and cover my face, and that is done by the sacrifice of Jesus on my behalf. We enter through the veil, which is the broken body of Christ, which enables us to look upon Him and live. God is in heaven, and you are on earth; therefore, let your words be few. Never take lightly what it takes to come before God.
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. 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. 9 Look! The cry of the people of Israel has reached me, and I have seen how harshly the Egyptians abuse them. 10 Now go, for I am sending you to Pharaoh. You must lead my people Israel out of Egypt.”
Twice, God calls them “my people.” Then, see the attributes of God here: I have certainly seen, I have heard, I am aware, I have come, their cry has reached me, I have seen. Again, it is clear that God knows individuals, and he knows His people as a whole, as well. He hurts when we hurt, and He wishes to deliver us out. But notice, also, how God is going to do this thing: “I am sending you” to do the work of leading them. God is the head, but often we serve as His hands and feet.
Let’s break this conversation down to some significant components, in order to reflect on certain aspects of it. First, notice how Moses doubts and questions the Lord.
But Moses protested to God, “Who am I . . . ? Who am I . . .?” But Moses protested, “If I go . . . what should I . . . ?” But Moses protested again, “What if they . . . ? What if they . . . ?” But Moses pleaded with the Lord, “O Lord, I’m not . . .. I never have been, . . . I’m not now, even though you have spoken to me. . . . ” But Moses again pleaded, “Lord, please! Send anyone else.”
I find it easy to judge Moses for these pathetic responses. If God were to speak to me so clearly, I’m sure that I would simply say, “Yes, Lord,” and go do what He said. So I presume. As did Moses. But I guess before I judge Moses, I should ask myself what I have actually said to the things that God has already said to me. Moses did not have the advantage of already having every word of God already written, as I do.
Actually, when God told ME to repent, did I? Maybe I’m no better than Moses here. How long did I take before I said yes? Moses was a fugitive from both Egyptians and Israelites, so he might be hesitant to move with confident conviction. What’s my excuse? Until I am asked to do the unthinkable, I cannot know what I would have done.
There are three things that God does in response to Moses, and these things are all that He ever needs to do.
1) God spoke: God answered. God replied. God also said. told me, has met, has appeared, appeared to me. The Lord said. The Lord said. The Lord said.
2) God said His name: I am who i am. I am. Yahweh. God of your ancestors—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. My eternal name, my name. Yahweh, the God of your ancestors—the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The Lord, the God of the Hebrews. The Lord, the God of their ancestors—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.
3) God promised what He would do: I will be with you. This is your sign. I have promised. I will lead you. I will raise my hand, strike the Egyptians, performing all kinds of miracles. I will cause.
What else did Moses need? He only needed to hear from God, he needed to know Who was sending him, and he needed the assurance of what God was going to do. These are the three things that God offers to us today: His word, His name, and His plans.
In spite of all that, in the end, Moses argues with God, so as to test the patience of the Lord. Moses pleads with the Lord, “O Lord, I’m not very good with words. I never have been, and I’m not now, even though you have spoken to me. I get tongue-tied, and my words get tangled.” Do you hear what Moses is saying here? He is accusing God of picking the wrong person, calling Moses to something that God did not equip him to do. He is questioning God’s taste, His choice, and His power!
Then the Lord asked Moses, “Who makes a person’s mouth? Who decides whether people speak or do not speak, hear or do not hear, see or do not see? Is it not I, the Lord? Now go! I will be with you as you speak, and I will instruct you in what to say.” God tells Moses those three things he needs to hear again: The LORD spoke, He gave Moses His name, and He told Moses what He was going to do to help him. The lesson for me here is that God does not call me to do what He has not equipped me to do. To think less of my gifting is to argue with my Maker! Don’t accuse God of giving you something that is not possible.
At that point, Moses simply pleads for God to send someone else. And that’s when God becomes angry with him.
“All right,” he said. “What about your brother, Aaron the Levite? I know he speaks well. And look! He is on his way to meet you now. He will be delighted to see you. Talk to him, and put the words in his mouth. I will be with both of you as you speak, and I will instruct you both in what to do. Aaron will be your spokesman to the people. He will be your mouthpiece, and you will stand in the place of God for him, telling him what to say. And take your shepherd’s staff with you, and use it to perform the miraculous signs I have shown you.”
I wonder if Moses’ refusal to take this mantle of leadership caused Moses to suffer from a lack of authority in the eyes of the Israelites for the next forty years, because he insisted on having his brother serve as his mouthpiece. When Moses was up on the mountain receiving the commandments, the people came to Aaron and asked him to make gods for them. Would they have asked Aaron for such a thing if Moses had been his own spokesperson? Would Aaron have been so self-willed to make a golden calf if Moses had not been handing his brother that spiritual authority? We’ll never know. But it was a bad mistake for Moses to ask for God to send someone else.
Nonetheless, this really blows me away: God had already planned for Moses’ refusal! Weeks before, God had stirred Aaron to come looking for his little brother, so that Aaron would arrive at just that time! What are the chances, huh?
The bottom line lesson? Obey. If God calls you, say yes. If it is a frightening mission, say yes. If you don’t see an end in sight, say yes. God has thought of all those details, and He already has it covered, if you will say yes.
YOUR ENCOUNTER
Maybe the center of Moses’ reluctance is his self-image. God answers all of his questions, and then Moses gets to the center of it by saying he is not eloquent of speech, had never been, and still hadn’t been “fixed” since God started talking to him just then. Later in the book (Exod 6:30) Moses says it again. “Since I speak with faltering lips, why would Pharaoh listen to me?”
God had two solutions for Moses: First, He said, “I will be with you.” That should have been enough for Moses, but it wasn’t. If his faltering lips were due to a lack of confidence, God’s promise should have been all the encouragement Moses needed. But apparently, it wasn’t enough. So God’s second solution was to send Moses’ big brother Aaron to be his spokesperson.
Now, here’s the kicker: Listen to how Stephen describes Moses in Acts 7:22. “Moses was educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians AND WAS POWERFUL IN SPEECH and action.” What??
You know, maybe we are not the best judges of our own skills. Maybe we should trust it when God tells us we have everything we need in order to carry out His will for us. When God says that “I am fearfully and wonderfully made,” maybe I should take Him at His word. Or maybe not.
So today, let’s take the challenge to focus on that special area of your life that you have always viewed as a weakness. Maybe it is your appearance, your family, your abilities or your environment. Like Moses, you might be holding back from saying yes to God’s call, because you don’t trust Him deep-down. Here’s some good advice: Change it if you can. If you can’t, then pray for God to change it for you. Like Paul’s thorn in the flesh, ask Him to remove it. If He does not, then accept that particular thing as God’s identifying mark on you, designed to shape you into the pattern of His Son. Thank Him for making you just the way you are, and rejoice that He can use you best when you accept the hand He dealt you. Share your journey with someone, and write about this experience in self-acceptance in your journal.