Exodus 3:1-15
According to Acts, Moses was forty years old when he ran away from Egypt and spent another forty years as a shepherd. God is now ready to use Moses to free the Israelites from slavery in Egypt and lead them to the Promised Land.
God calls out to Moses through a burning bush and introduces Himself as not only God of Moses’ father, but the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Moses’ parents must have taught him about God’s promise to his ancestors and how his people had come to live in Egypt through the activities of Joseph. It was important that Moses understands the relationship between God and his ancestors, and the future vision of the nation of Israel.
Moses feels that he needs to be able to tell the Israelites exactly which god has sent him, so God reveals His name to Moses. This name in some English Bibles is indicated by all upper-case LORD, and in Japanese Bibles with a bold 主. Due to misunderstanding, there was a time that people believed this name was “Jehovah”, but scholars now believe it is pronounced “Yahweh”.
If one wants to keep a distance from people, one does not reveal one’s name. The fact that God was willing to reveal His name to Moses means that He was seeking an intimate relationship with Moses and his descendants. He is not an aloof deity.
Although Moses’ father-in-law is a priest, Moses is not. He is not on a religious pilgrimage – He is just tending to a flock of sheep. Moses notices a strange sight, a bush that is burning and yet not consumed, and out of curiosity he decides to approach it. When God sees that Moses was paying attention, He calls out to him.
In our daily lives, we may find something that we find curious, or mysterious or interesting. It is possible that God is trying to get our attention. An example might be that we keep hearing about a certain Biblical passage over and over within a short period. That might be a good time to look at that passage and see how we might apply it to our lives. It might be an event or news about work or family or world events that make us look at scripture more closely. When God sees us stopping and paying attention, the Holy Spirit can lead us to what God desires of us.
God tells Moses that He is going to free the Israelites from the Egyptians and lead them to the Promised Land. It is a two-step process – Freedom and a fresh start. He does not just free them and leave them where they are.
For us, when we accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior, our sins are forgiven and eternal life with God assured. We do not have to move to a new land once this happens, but our priorities will need to shift. If not, we will soon find ourselves living a life that is no different than before. Ephesians 2:10 tells us that we are created to do the good works that God has prepared for us. Jesus commands us in Matthew 6:33 to seek first the kingdom of God.
When God first calls to Moses, Moses is ready – “Here I am”. However, after hearing what God wants him to do, he is not so sure – “Who am I?”. Moses wants some assurance that this is really God’s plan for him.
God responds by assuring him that God will be with Moses and the sign that it is God who is sending him will be that they will come back to this mountain to worship God.
This is a bit curious, since many things will happen, and many days will have passed until Moses comes back to this mountain with the Israelites. How could something so far off in the distance be a sign for Moses at this juncture? It is true that by the time the Israelites are freed, and Moses leads them back to the mountain of God, everyone will know that it was God who sent Moses to Egypt. But how is this supposed to help Moses at this moment?
This is how God works. He wants us to step out in faith and rely on His promises. We have a great future promised to us – eternal life with our LORD and fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. Sometimes the task at hand seems daunting to us, but we too need to rely on God’s promise that He is with us. We may not be sure until the tasks are complete, and we are worshipping and praising God, but that is part of living in faith.
God’s promises give us hope. Not the “I wish this would happen” sort of hope, but the type of hope that is assured. We can trust in the promises of God and step out boldly in the direction to which He leads us.
So let us be like Moses and be curious of what is going on around us, pay attention to what God is doing, and be ready to say, “here I am” when God calls.
(the above is a summary of the message shared by Shun Takano during our worship of April 14, 2024.)
Japanese Congregational Church 