Moses Converses with God
Notes
Transcript
Scripture of the Day (SOD)
Scripture of the Day (SOD)
Now Moses kept the flock of Jethro his father in law, the priest of Midian: and he led the flock to the backside of the desert, and came to the mountain of God, even to Horeb. And the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush: and he looked, and, behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed. And Moses said, I will now turn aside, and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt. And when the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called unto him out of the midst of the bush, and said, Moses, Moses. And he said, Here am I. And he said, Draw not nigh hither: put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground. Moreover he said, I am the God of thy 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 upon God. And the Lord said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters; for I know their sorrows; And I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land unto a good land and a large, unto a land flowing with milk and honey; unto the place of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites. Now therefore, behold, the cry of the children of Israel is come unto me: and I have also seen the oppression wherewith the Egyptians oppress them. Come now therefore, and I will send thee unto Pharaoh, that thou mayest bring forth my people the children of Israel out of Egypt.
Moses sees the burning bush
Moses is walking his sheep out on the mountain. This was a normal day for Moses. Just like a normal day for me is waking up, getting dressed, going to work, getting home to do college work, and then eat supper, shower, and then go to sleep. I am sure that many of ya’ll’s days are: wake up, get dressed, maybe eat breakfast, then go to school, come home from school, eat supper, then bathe, and finally go to sleep so that you can do it all over again the nest day.
When he gets up on the mountain, and then he sees a bush that just starts burning all by itself. Not only did it start by itself, but it is not burning up. Moses walks closer towards the burning bush and stares at it, because that is weird!
There is a similar story found in the New Testament, about a man named Paul. Paul just like Moses was out walking and he saw something very strange. Acts 9:1-9
And Saul, yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, went unto the high priest, And desired of him letters to Damascus to the synagogues, that if he found any of this way, whether they were men or women, he might bring them bound unto Jerusalem. And as he journeyed, he came near Damascus: and suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven: And he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? And he said, Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest: it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks. And he trembling and astonished said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do. And the men which journeyed with him stood speechless, hearing a voice, but seeing no man. And Saul arose from the earth; and when his eyes were opened, he saw no man: but they led him by the hand, and brought him into Damascus. And he was three days without sight, and neither did eat nor drink.
Paul sees a strange thing, and he stops where is he is and stares up at the sky, in the same way that Moses stopped and stared at the bush.
It is when Moses is standing there and staring at the bush that the Lord God speaks out of the bush for Moses to come closer so God can tell Moses something. But, before Moses was allowed to walk closer towards the bush, he had to take off his off his shoes, for the place where he was going was holy ground, because the same mountain that the burning bush is on, is the exact same mountain that God gives the Law to Moses!
At times in our life, we also see things that God does that we may not be able to explain. The Lord at multiple times in my Christian life has given me assurances many times that he is there, and that he hears and sees me. There are times in life when the Lord makes himself known. He does this often in the lives of probably every believer.
God Introduces himself
Here after Moses walked closer and was standing directly in front of the burning bush, God introduces himself to Moses: Ex. 3:6 “Moreover he said, I am the God of thy 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 upon God.” God wants to make sure that Moses knows that he is talking with the only true God.
Just like God introduced himself to Moses in the burning bush, the Lord Jesus, God’s Son introduced himself to Paul thousands of years later: Acts. 9:4-5 “And he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? And he said, Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest: it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.” We have read how God introduced himself to Moses, and how God’s Son Jesus introduces himself to a man named Paul almost two thousand years after that.
After God introduces himself to Moses, he then tells him why God is even talking with Moses: Ex. 3:7-9 “And the Lord said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters; for I know their sorrows; And I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land unto a good land and a large, unto a land flowing with milk and honey; unto the place of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites. Now therefore, behold, the cry of the children of Israel is come unto me: and I have also seen the oppression wherewith the Egyptians oppress them.” God has seen that his people, the people who were descended from Jacob, were having a really hard life; they were always suffering, being beaten, and being worked to death by the Egyptian slave masters.
Even today, God the Father, his Son Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit reveal themselves to people every day. When I was in high school, Jesus showed himself to me through the Bible. I was reading the Bible and it is there that I met Jesus. God showed himself to Moses, Jesus revealed himself to Paul, and the Lord showed himself to me in the Bible, and the Lord Jesus Christ wants to show you himself too. All you have to do is to read the Bible. This shows us that God never leaves us. He is always there fore us. When you are sad, pray. When you are angry at someone, pray and ask God to take away your anger. When you are happy and excited, pray to God the Father and thank him for your life. In everything, pray to God.
If you believe in God’s Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, then God is a father to you. And like any good father, God the Father loves you, and each and every single one of you. Then in the same way that a child should spend time with a father, spend some time with the Father, who is God.
God gives Moses his Mission
Moses first saw the burning bush when he was out walking his sheep. God then called out of the burning bush and told Moses to come closer so that they can talk, but before Moses could walk any closer, God commanded him to take off his shoes, because the mountain that he was on was special to God.
Next, God introduces himself to Moses, so that Moses knows for sure that it is the one and only true God that Moses is having a conversation with.
After Moses knows that it is actually God speaking to him, God then tells Moses why he even wanted to talk to Moses in the first place.
After God explains why he wanted to have a conversation with Moses, God then gives Moses a mission. Ex. 3:10 “Come now therefore, and I will send thee unto Pharaoh, that thou mayest bring forth my people the children of Israel out of Egypt.”
Just like we have looked at before, just like God gave Moses a mission, his Son Jesus gave Paul a mission about two-thousand years later. Acts 9:5-6 “And he said, Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest: it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks. And he trembling and astonished said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do.” God gave Moses the mission to free the Hebrew people from the slavery of Egypt. And Jesus two-thousand years later gave Paul the mission to tell the whole world about his death on the cross, his resurrection from the dead, and his ascension to heaven to where God is.
Not only did God give Moses and Paul a mission, but he gives each and every one of us one too. Not all of us have the same mission that God wants us to do, but we need to continue praying and reading the Bible every single day so that we can figure out what it is that our Father, who is God, does want us to do. Pray every single day! Read the Bible every single day!