What Have You Learned about God Lately?

modern political theory: never let a crisis go to waste. ‘

Don’t waste a trial! god is not interested in wasted trials in our lives.

Acts 7:20–22 “In which time Moses was born, and was exceeding fair, and nourished up in his father’s house three months: And when he was cast out, Pharaoh’s daughter took him up, and nourished him for her own son. And Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was mighty in words and in deeds.”

Yet, there were some things that Moses need to learn about God! For the last 40 years, he lived in obscurity on the backside of the desert with a priest named Jethro.

There is a God who wants to speak and teach of Himself!

Illumination comes to us, if it comes at all, as a gift. I don't know of a better picture of it than from the autobiography of Helen Keller. She writes that the day her teacher came to her was the most important day of her life. "I am filled with wonder when I consider the immeasurable contrasts between the two lives which it connects."

Illumination is the word for the process by which we come to see and think differently. A new world becomes available that was previously closed to us. Often this happens gradually; for Helen Keller it came in a single day:

One day, while I was playing with my new doll, Miss Sullivan put my big rag doll into my lap also, spelled "d-o-I-I" and tried to make me understand that "d-o-l-l” applied to both. Earlier in the day we had had a tussle over the words "m-u-g" and "w-a-t-e-r." Miss Sullivan had tried to impress it upon me that "m-u-g" is mug and that "w-a-t-e-r" is water, but I persisted in confounding the two.

In despair she had dropped the subject for the time, only to renew it at the first opportunity. I became impatient at her repeated attempts and, seizing the new doll, I dashed it upon the floor. I was keenly delighted when I felt the fragments of the broken doll at my feet. Neither sorrow nor regret followed my passionate outburst. I had not loved the doll. In the still, dark world in which I lived there was no strong sentiment or tenderness.

I felt my teacher sweep the fragments to one side of the hearth, and I had a sense of satisfaction that the cause of my discomfort was removed. She brought me my hat, and I knew I was going out into the warm sunshine. This thought, if a wordless sensation may be called a thought, made me hop and skip with pleasure.

We walked down the path to the well-house, attracted by the fragrance of the honeysuckle with which it was covered. Some one was drawing water and my teacher placed my hand under the spout. As the cool stream gushed over one hand she spelled into the other the word water, first slowly, then rapidly.

I stood still, my whole attention fixed upon the motions of her fingers. Suddenly I felt a misty consciousness as of something forgotten -a thrill of returning thought; and somehow the mystery of language was revealed to me.

I knew then that "w-a-t-e-r" meant the wonderful cool something that was flowing over my hand. That living word awakened my soul, gave it light, hope, joy, set it free! There were barriers still, it is true, but barriers that could in time be swept away.

I left the well-house eager to learn. Everything had a name, and each name gave birth to a new thought. As we returned to the house every object which I touched seemed to quiver with life. That was because I saw everything with the strange, new sight that had come to me.

On entering the door I remembered the doll I had broken. I felt my way to the hearth and picked up the pieces. I tried vainly to put them together. Then my eyes filled with tears; for I realized what I had done, and for the first time I felt repentance and sorrow.

I learned a great many new words that day. I do not remember what they all were; but I do know that mother, father, sister, teacher were among them-words that were to make the world blossom for me, "like Aaron's rod, with flowers."

It would have been difficult to find a happier child than I was as I lay in my crib at the close of that eventful day and lived over the joys it had brought me, and for the first time longed for a new day to come?

Helen had been alone, and now she was not. She had been imprisoned in her mind, and now she was set free. She had been trapped in anger and self-pity, and now she knew repentance.”

God’s Presence in a Burning Bush (1-6)- who He is

…the angel of the LORD appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush…

a holy God

fire

symbol of Gods presence

in the midst of them

voice

Father of a nation

a holy ground

this mountain

God’s Perspective on Moses’ Battered Brethren (7-8)- what He Knows

…I am come down to deliver them them out of the hand of the Egyptians…

a nation in the midst of God’s fire-

We are heard by God

We are seen by God

We are known by God

Isaiah 45:15: “Verily thou art a God that hidest thyself, O God of Israel, the Saviour.”

Psalm 10:1: “Why standest thou afar off, O Lord? Why hidest thou thyself in times of trouble?”

Even in the midst of God’s perspective on the people, we catch a glimpse of the heart of God— I know their sorrows.

Hebrews 4:15: “For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.”

purpose of fire

to purify and rid

to awaken a desire

God had a plan. Could it be that God loves us so much that He allows fire to shake us and discomfort us to move us in His direction?

land of Goshen

that which was familiar

God’s Proposition to Burn Brightly through Moses’ Life (9-10)- What He desires to do through us

God is at work here— Horeb

What a place! Horeb! The desert! And to this man! An excuse-maker! A murderer! A nobody!

Oh, yes, that is exactly where God goes to do His greatest work!

John Henry Jowett said, of Moses, “DOES that seem a weak ending to a powerful beginning? The Lord God looks upon terrible affliction and He sends a weak man to deal with it. Could He not have sent fire from heaven? Could He not have rent the heavens and sent His ministers of calamity and disasters? Why choose a man when the archangel Gabriel stands ready at obedience? This is the way of the Lord. He uses human means to divine ends. He works through man to the emancipation of men… He stiffens a frail reed and it becomes as an iron pillar.”

It is said that one man from Boston…a shoemaker…to shake America and Britain for God. It is estimated that Moody’s ministry was responsible for the conversion of 2 million souls! Yet, the secret of His power did not lie in his human abilities.

A journalist sent to Moody’s meeting once said, “"He never received a formal education. His numerous letters, many of which still exist, are filled with grammatical errors. His physical appearance is not particularly impressive. His voice is high-pitched and nasal….I cannot see anything in Moody that can explain his astonishing work.” To which the amused Moody replied, “The power of God has worked in me. The work is God’s, not mine!”

Think, then, of this fellowship of burning hearts!

I read of Jeremiah who refused to speak any more in the name of Jesus— but the word was shut up in his bones and he was weary with not declaring it!

It read in another place of two disgruntled, disillusioned, discouraged disciples on the road to Emmaeus who spake of Jesus and His death. Yet, the living Word God walked down the road with Him— and they did not recognize Him, until He broke bread and they saw the nailprints in His hands. Then they said, “Did not our hurts burn within us, as He walked with us by the way and while He expounded unto us the Scriptures?”

I ask you this morning, are you a member of this fellowship of burning hearts? Have you tasted and seen that He is good…that He is slow to anger and plenteous in mercy? Have you been moved by the coldness of men’s hearts and the fire of God’s Word to melt it?

In other words, God’s work starts right here!

There will come a day when Moses will return to this place…

leading 2 millions souls

pockets laden with riches

no longer slaves but sons headed to Canaan

And when Moses gets back here, something will stir in His heart. It will be that fire to remind him that what the Lord has done once, He can do it again!

So, what does God want to do?

You remember that bush aglow? Burned but not burnt? Fiery but not consumed? Do you remember that voice that came out of it? Do you remember that it was so noteworthy that it demanded Moses’ attention?

I say to you today, that is what God wants to do with your life and mine!

God is at work there— Egypt

God said- I have heard and I have seen— now, go be my eyes and ears- I will send thee unto Pharaoh….

God’s fire on Moses-

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