August 26, 2020
by Elizabeth Wang
Exodus 3:1-15
1 Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian; he led his flock beyond the wilderness, and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. 2 There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of a bush; he looked, and the bush was blazing, yet it was not consumed. 3 Then Moses said, “I must turn aside and look at this great sight, and see why the bush is not burned up.” 4 When the Lord saw that he had turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.” 5 Then he said, “Come no closer! Remove the sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.” 6 He said further, “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 observed the misery of my people who are in Egypt; I have heard their cry on account of their taskmasters. Indeed, I know their sufferings, 8 and I have come down to deliver them from 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 country of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. 9 The cry of the Israelites has now come to me; I have also seen how the Egyptians oppress them. 10 So come, I will send you to Pharaoh to bring my people, the Israelites, out of Egypt.” 11 But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh, and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?” 12 He said, “I will be with you; and this shall be the sign for you that it is I who sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall worship God on this mountain.” 13 But Moses said to God, “If I come to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your ancestors has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what shall I say to them?” 14 God said to Moses, “I am who I am.” He said further, “Thus you shall say to the Israelites, ‘I am has sent me to you.’” 15 God also said to Moses, “Thus you shall say to the Israelites, “The Lord, the God of your ancestors, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you’: This is my name forever, and this my title for all generations.
It’s our last week of the August in the Old Testament series and we are wrapping up with one of the best known texts in the Old Testament when Moses learns the name of God given to him by a bush that is burning and yet not consumed by the fire.
I think that my favorite part of this beloved account of Moses is that God meets Moses where he is. And Moses isn’t necessarily where he should be, he’s fled Egypt and his people and is hiding out because he murdered a guard. Yet, God comes to him. Meets him where he is while tending sheep and calls the place they meet holy ground.
It isn’t easy for Moses, or us when we are astray to get back on the right track. Sometimes it takes holy ground and hearing the name of God to remind us who we are and what we are called to do. Moses, you know the guy that saved God’s people tried three times to get out of what God was asking him to do before flat out saying, “O my Lord, please send someone else” (4:13)!
We’ve all been there having to do something we didn’t necessarily want to or feel equipped to do. And yet even in those seasons God meets us, like God met Moses right where we are on holy ground.
Leave a Reply