Encountering God (Exodus 3:1-10)
Rev. Charles B. Evans, August 26, 2018Part of the Morning Worship at North Greenville Church series, preached at a Sunday Morning service
We have fear of encountering God. The burning bush captured Moses' attention. There seemed to be a sense of urgency, as with Samuel. Encounters are more frequent than we realize. The Puritans Thomas Watson and Robert Leighton wrote about this. God is in natural things; where is God not present? Our encounters are frequent but unappreciated. We need greater spiritual sensitivity. Our response to encounters should be awe but not fear or apprehension. If we are unaware of encounters, we deprive ourselves of blessings. We should consider our own burning bush experiences. Among these may be salvation, vocational callings, the selection of a mate and parenthood. Others may be worship experiences, during Bible study. We may hear God's still, small voice urging us to go and see; a divine dispatch. The effect of Moses' encounter was to express deep reverence, to listen and to receive the tasks he was to accomplish and to receive a call to mission. We likewise are called to respond with reverence and service. We must be faithful, as was Isaiah.
| Earlier: | Same day: | Later: |
|---|---|---|
| « Covenant of Circumcision | None | Entering The Narrow Gate » |
Exodus 3:1–10 (Listen)
3:1 Now Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law, Jethro, the priest of Midian, and he led his flock to the west side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. 2 And the angel of the LORD appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush. He looked, and behold, the bush was burning, yet it was not consumed. 3 And Moses said, “I will turn aside to see this great sight, why the bush is not burned.” 4 When the LORD saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.” 5 Then he said, “Do not come near; take your sandals off your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.” 6 And he said, “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 surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters. I know their sufferings, 8 and I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of 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 place of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. 9 And now, behold, the cry of the people of Israel has come to me, and I have also seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them. 10 Come, I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.”
(ESV)