Why a Burning Bush

Moses Confrontation (Exodus 3:1-15)

Moses was a reluctant hero. Even when faced with the presence of God in the form of the burning bush, he was far from eager to begin his duties as the liberator of Israel.

Moses was called to achieve a task that must have seemed impossible, to have mighty pharaoh allow his slaves to go free. Why on earth would pharaoh be willing to do that? And why would he respond to the request of Moses - a man he once claimed as a brother but then rejected as a traitor to the royal house - to do anything for the people of Israel, let alone to allow them to leave.

A simple call in the night, as experienced by the prophet Samuel, may have started Moses on his journey, but seems hardly likely that such a call would have sustained Moses as he stood before pharaoh's throne.

God gave to Moses what he needed. He needed an image seared into his mind in the way that only the burning bush could. Moses needed to be able to confront pharaoh, to explain to the people of Israel what he was about - above all, Moses needed strength for the days and weeks ahead.

Throughout the story of Moses, God directly interacts with Moses at critical times. As the people begin to complain in the wilderness, Moses is called to the mountaintop. Faced with the approach Egyptian army, God directly tells Moses to raise his staff to separate the waters so that the people can pass through. Moses was a man who, when faced with challenge, first sought to say "Who? Me?" Through his direct encounters with Moses, God filled him with the strength and the courage needed to accomplish his many tasks.

God gave Moses what Moses needed to accomplish his calling. I believe that each of us has a calling. And God gives us what we need to accomplish that calling.

When we hear the term call, we often think about a person called to be in ministry. This is an excellent of one type of call, but to think in only these terms is far too limiting. A person can be called to be a teacher, a bricklayer or a check-out clerk at a grocery store. There are ways to serve God in each one of these profession as. Through living up to our potential, no matter what our particular calling, we give glory to God.

What do we need to live up to our potential? Moses needed the direct interaction of the burning bush. I think most of us can agree that Moses was called to a special task. Perhaps all of us would need such a burning bush experience to be able to accomplish what Moses did.

While few if any of us having a burning bush story to tell, we have all received a calling - and a special gift from God. We proclaim the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ as our source of strength, inspiration. We proclaim Christ as our everything. In Christ, all things are possible. No matter what our calling - butcher, baker or candlestick maker - we can strive to glorify Christ. And, through faith and trust in Him, all that needs to be done, can be done.

Note that I said that all that needs to be done, can be done. There may be things we WANT to do. We are not called to fulfill our wants. We are called to do that which God's will would have us do - be it face pharaoh or take the trash out after conclusion of Vacation Bible School.

It should be pointed out that what Moses was ultimately seeking was a gift of grace and hope from God to accomplish what is needed to be done. Not the wonderfully powerful words of God in verses 14 and 15. Asked who He is, God replies, simply: "I AM." Asked who he is several times in the Gospel of John, Jesus replies: "I AM (the resurrection, the good shepherd, etc.)" What Moses was ultimately asking God in Exodus 3 was for a source of hope in the face of this monumental task. Moses was hoping for a savior. Moses was given the hope and the promise that God would provide.