Exodus 3: 1-9
1 Now Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law, Jethro, the priest of Midian, and he led his flock to the west side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. 2 And the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush. He looked, and behold, the bush was burning, yet it was not consumed. 3 And Moses said, “I will turn aside to see this great sight, why the bush is not burned.” 4 When the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.” 5 Then he said, “Do not come near; take your sandals off your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.” 6 And he said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.
7 Then the Lord said, “I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters. I know their sufferings, 8 and I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. 9 And now, behold, the cry of the people of Israel has come to me, and I have also seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them.
In the first verses of Exodus chapter 3, the Lord appears to Moses from the midst of a burning bush on Mount Horeb. Moses looked out on the bush. He noticed that although the bush burned, it was not consumed by its blaze. We have all heard the story of the burning bush, and it is undoubtedly one of God’s great miracles. But how many times do we stop there and miss what comes next?
The purpose of this miraculous encounter was not just to show God’s ability to light a bush on fire without it burning up. The purpose was to give Moses a message and charge him with a mission. God saw the affliction of His people in Egypt and heard their cries. He knew their suffering. (v. 7) It was time to reveal His plan to deliver the Israelites out of their bondage and into Canaan, a land flowing with milk and honey – the Promised Land. It was a plan only He could deliver on.
My takeaway from this passage of scripture is that the God of the universe cares deeply about His people and has a plan to redeem us. He SEES us and HEARS us and KNOWS our sufferings. God is no different today than He was then and He has an eternal plan for our lives.
When we are in bondage, at our lowest point, do we cry out to the Lord for help? And when we do, are we then looking, waiting for His arrival? Are we trusting in His plan and are we following the path he sets before us? He may not arrive by setting our landscaping on fire, but God is all around us, and He wants to save and bring us into His Promised Land.
I’m a very independent person and don’t always ask for the help I need. I also live a very busy life and rarely would I slow down to look at a bush, even if it was on fire. If you’re like me, I challenge you to start doing 2 things:
1. Ask the Lord for His help and seek His plans.
2. Slow down long enough to look and listen for His response.
I have no doubt His blessings will follow.
