EXODUS 3:1-12 MEETING GOD To even write such a title is done with a trembling hand. Even though the Lord God is my Father, I am conscious of the fact that He is the Almighty God, the Creator and Upholder of the universe, with all power in heaven and earth coming from Him. Some things are not learned well when we are young. I am approaching Moses' age when he saw an unusual sight. A burning bush would not be all that uncommon, but a fire in the middle of a bush that does not burn up, most certainly is. God made use of common things in an uncommon way to work His will with me. The ordinary things of daily life that are in some way - extraordinary, impresses me with the fact that God is here always. He is omnipresent. In the common activities of life, God is with us. He still is - Emmanuel. The bush in its lowly and stationary place perhaps would remind Moses, who had forty years to meditate on God and life; of Israel bound in slavery in Egypt. The fire in "the midst" of the bush would remind him that in spite of the situation they were in, God was there too.
Moses had come to the desert in the strength of life and mature years. But there was much he had to learn. Before he met God at the bush, he had years of training at home. He would have learned from his marriage the value of another person and our need of an equal to develop our personal and social skills. He would have learned from Zipporah how to give and receive love - and criticism. Interaction with her would have taught him the value of little things and our need of others. He would have learned from his two sons, patience when they react and respond differently to what he taught and expected. Every person is different and there is no template to guide us how to train and teach a child. We are to "train up a child in the way he shall go," not necessarily in the way I expect him to go. Moses was to be a father to a nation. He had to learn how to be a father in his family.
The desert itself was part of the training process God brought Moses into. When the sheep were brought in the darkness of early morning to the pasture before the heat of the day, he would have learned how to "lead them on softy." He would have learned the value of "coming apart into a desert place to rest awhile." People, like sheep, have to be led - not driven. They have to have rest at appropriate times. But Moses who also during those hours of watching the sheep, had lots of time to meditate on what he saw around him and what he thought within him. His intellect would have directed him to - and through, those questions of life that everyone asks. "Why am I here?" "Is there a God?" "What is He like?" "How can I know Him?" "Does he know and care about me?" And then one day, forty years into the training time, God spoke. In a few minutes of hearing God's voice, everything changed. God does not despise the humble and He is with His suffering people whether they know it or not. Moses learned the answers to the questions in mere moments. "I AM the God of the promised covenant." I have seen the affliction of My people." "I know their sorrows." "I am come down to deliver." "I have seen the oppression." What glory, what assurance, what joy in such a few words from the Great I AM!! Moses had learned, and was now ready. God knew that. Now Moses knew that.
Moses had also learned his own heart in those forty years. He knew what he was and wasn't. He had learned what is really important to a man, and was now ready to learn what was important to God. God wanted a kingdom, a nation of worshipful people who would enjoy His fellowship and He could enjoy theirs. When God calls a person, it is an individual matter and we are expected to respond personally. Moses' question, "Who am I that I should go...?" indicated his uncertainty didn't go away in a moment. When one feels their incompetence, that is a good sign of a humble person God can use. Trust and humility go together and humility brings hope. Moses was uncertain as to how to explain God to the Hebrews who had turned after other gods, and he had a fear of their reaction to him and his message from God because of their unbelief. This same attitude resonates in our day among the people of our nation. We have gone so far away from God as a nation, that "Your God and my god are different, but that doesn't matter so long as you're sincere," is not an uncommon statement. Others say, "You have your faith and I have mine, and we will all 'get there' in our own way." Some things we have to trust God to do in His own way. Moses was assured, and we can be too, that God said, "Certainly I will be with thee... I have sent thee."
Many of life's experiences are mundane and very predictable. We can easily get used to routine as long as things are peaceable. Then in just a few minutes of time, or an unexpected conversation - A change takes place that affects all of life, and calls for consecration To God, His work and His Word we know, we must now take to others. Some may be living in far away places, and some are our sisters and brothers. When God decides we are ready to rise up and boldly confront the foes - He doesn't do that because we think we are able - He acts on what He knows.
For some all of life is a training for a short time of effective service for Him. Others may be called to daily plod a path of service suited for them. One is not more important than the other, the Lord makes the major decisions As to what we do and where we do it, whether we have a low or high position. We may have to unlearn what we thought we knew, and cast it away as dross. Then God can bring us to realize that we should glory only in the cross. When that is really true, there is a humility that is not pretended. Then is when we have become the kind of person God originally intended.
When we represent God, there is a genuine desire to hide our pride from men - That they may hear the Word of God only as we seek to explain truth to them. They need to hear what God says Himself more than what I think is the meaning. To exalt God and present Christ clearly, we need to be humble, but not demeaning. The learning process usually follows the same track: how to deal with others alone. In the meditations of one's heart, perhaps is our desert where we learn to tell what Christ has done. From the solid ground of personal experience, God is able to take His trained persons - And use them in the work of building His kingdom when we have well-learned His lessons.
"Father, I think I have been a slow learner. But I know I have been entrusted with things that are way beyond my capacity. However, You gave them to me to do. So, I pray here today that by Thy grace, Thy strength may be perfect in my weakness. In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, Amen."