“…God called him out of the burning bush, and said, ‘Moses, Moses.’ And he said, ‘Here am I.'” Exodus 3:4
Dear Ones:
The story of Moses is a most intriguing, and instructive one. We find him born into a context of suffering and oppression, at a moment when survival for newly born boys was very questionable. God would use a mother’s love to hide him, and then, by faith commit him to God, by placing him in a basket on the waters of the Nile River. Here, Pharaoh’s daughter would find him, “…have compassion on him,” and this, knowing full well that this was “….one of the Hebrews children.” (Ex. 2:6) This is the first time Moses is saved…saved from being put to death according to Pharaoh’s orders.
Next we see Moses, with a consciousness and conviction that he is Hebrew (…he is about 40 years of age…). He has grown up, and been instructed in “…all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was mighty in words and in deeds.” (Acts 7:22) It is at this point that he will visit his people, defend a fellow Hebrew by killing his adversary. He is forced to flee from Egypt. Again, God saves Moses from death, but also, from Egypt, its culture and ways. He enters a life of forty years, in a “wilderness,” where he raises a family, becomes a shepherd of sheep, and most certainly, becomes a seeker of the God of the Hebrews. The Spirit of God had stirred Moses in Egypt, had revealed to him his heritage, his God, and his calling. But Moses was not ready to embark upon this calling. He must be saved a third time.
The burning bush that Moses will see in the wilderness of Mount Sinai will be the sign of God’s timing and intervention in Moses’ life. For eighty years, the Lord has known Moses, and this, in every way. He saw Moses rise to the heights of cultural Egypt. He saw Moses dive to the depths of rejection, and uselessness. And now, when Moses is ready to be saved again, Christ comes. This time it is a different kind of salvation, for he must be saved from HIMSELF. The rumblings of the calling of God resounded in his heart forty years previously, but now, he is brought face to face with the calling, but he is empty. “Come NOW therefore, and I will send thee to Pharaoh, that you may bring forth My people, the children of Israel out of Egypt.” (Ex. 3:10) The difference between the knowledge of the will of God, as the savior of Israel from Egypt, forty years prior, and now, is this: the first time Moses thought he could do it. Now, forty years later, he is convinced that he cannot. He is saved from himself when he understands and grasps the reality of God’s words: “Certainly, I will be with you.” (v.12)
Dear Father, we thank You for this testimony of your grace in the life of Moses, who needed saving from his circumstances, but mostly, from himself. You brought him to this place in order to reveal to him Your faithful sufficiency. Give us to grasp something of Your dealings with us in this regard, and be to us our life, as we trust you fully. Grant us grace to respond to Your calling, and this, to know You increasingly. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Love, Dad