Meeting God

last week we talked about a woman that met Jesus. it took her only the length of her conversation to realize who she was talking with. And she was never the same.

just before that conversation in , we see Jesus having a conversation with a very religious man named Nicodemus. Jesus is revealing who He is, the Son of Man to Nicodemus. A different approach for a different person, but still Jesus is showing who He is and who the Father is.

Jesus, and the Father, have been in a process of showing the world who they are ever since the beginning. and it is all for a purpose.

we see it in our verses we read today about Moses.

Moses is a Hebrew man that lived under Pharoah for his childhood, by the way, a picture or type of Christ, since all the other babies were being killed but Moses was spared. He was also called to deliver his people as Jesus was.

But like so many others that were called by God, Moses tried to do it his way at first when He saw his people being mistreated. He stood up for them against the Egyptian, killed the man and tried to cover it up. didn’t work.

Moses ended up running away from Pharoah and sitting near a well where he helped some women which turned into a home and family for him.

So we jump into where Moses is working and keeping a flock, all the while his people back in Egypt are crying out.

Ever cried out to God before? I mean, life can have its tough times where you and I can get down. how about mistreatment? What a testimony to cry out to Him for deliverance.

God hears them and now God will reveal Himself to Moses, in a bush.

Exodus 3:2 ESV

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.

Ex 3:2

this had to be a sight. we have all seen fires, and they destroy. this fire, burning but not destroying. quite a sight. it makes sense that Moses got curious and wanted to check it out.

wouldn’t it be nice if God gave you a burning bush! that crazy thing that gets your attention and brings you near to Him so you get that meeting time. You get that one on one with God.

Maybe we do get a burning bush moment. it might look different, but what is the thing that gets your attention and turns you aside to get alone with God? whatever your burning bush, it is priceless. it got you closer to Him.

I like when I wake up before it is light, which is more often these days, but when the morning goes from darkness to light, for me it is a picture of God’s light, His revelation that opens my eyes to see Him.

Moses, beginning a conversation with God, God leads, calling out to Moses, and Moses says “here I am”

God called Moses name. He knew his name. Isn’t it something when you first meet God and you find out that He knows your name. Any stranger you meet needs to find out your name, but God knows it already....

Of course, we Christians know that God knows everything about us, so obviously He knows our name....but think back to that first meeting with Him. That first conversation. What a moment. It was a holy moment. it was a take your shoes off moment.

that is what God said. Now Moses would have connected this to his world as it was a custom when the Egyptian priests went into their temples, but where Moses was, he knew God was present.....so he hid his face as well. Moses was standing in the presence of the Holy God.

You know, sometimes we can come together and it can seem common. it can seem normal. And since we come to church for years and years, it probably makes sense that we feel a comfortable feeling when we come to church.

Church is a place for us to come together as believers, worship our Lord and dig into His word....also to lift our voices in prayer to Him.....so when we think about it a little more, we can see the power in a place like this. maybe even have a burning bush moment? or a time of deep connection with God.

Or maybe He speaks to our hearts when we are in our prayer closet at home, or maybe when we are walking through the woods like Moses was.

Where ever it is, how ever it happens, it is a glorious thing that God would take the time to speak to you and I. And at times, it is a fearful experience, like Moses was having, realizing the holiness and closeness of God.

The closer we get to God, sometimes the more we see our weaknesses, our impurities in the light of His perfection. Because sometimes we look at Him, and we look at ourselves, and we can compare ourselves to God and become completely overwhelmed like Joshua, when he met the angel of the Lord, all he could do was fall before God as we were dead. John had to same experience as well. this presence of God can be just so completely overwhelming.

But God wasn’t just speaking to Moses to overwhelm him, He was speaking to Moses for a purpose. He had a job for Moses to do. Moses would become the deliverer of his people after all.

we need to remember that God has a purpose for us too. that is why He is speaking to us. God has something in His mind for us to do. to live out, and by faith, we listen and follow His leading.

Just as Moses situation, there may be a back story to the purpose He has for you that you might know about or don’t know at all about. like the Hebrew people who were in bondage, crying out for help, you may be a person God calls on to be that help. or maybe there is something else going on, maybe your life is a witness for another person that is watching you, how you handle what you are going through, and maybe it will have such an impact on the other person that God will work through your life to touch theirs. It might be the thing that introduces them to Jesus.

If we look at life like that, then everything we go through is worth it, because there really is purpose in it, whether we can see it or not, and so listening to God and walking in God’s will becomes the most important thing we can do.

let me say that again.

if we see God has a purpose in our lives, then listening to God and walking in God’s will becomes the most important thing we can do.

think about it, what if Moses turned to the other side and never walked up to the bush.

We don’t have to worry about that though, do we. Moses met God, and God met Moses.

Have you met God? Do you need that meeting with Him?

God spoke to Moses about delivering the Hebrews from bondage,

So, what was the bigger purpose that God had in mind?

Exodus 6:7 ESV

I will take you to be my people, and I will be your God, and you shall know that I am the Lord your God, who has brought you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians.

God was the true deliverer of His people. God is making Himself known to His people by the power of deliverance.

He was also making Himself known to the Egyptians as well.

Exodus 7:5 ESV

The Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord, when I stretch out my hand against Egypt and bring out the people of Israel from among them.”

Since the beginning God has been in the process of revealing Himself to mankind through His creation, His power, His people, His Word, and His Son. because of the darkness in mans heart, man is living disconnected to God. But God is shining His light into the darkness and bringing truth to the world.

Now, by God giving the Holy Spirit to indwell His people, He has given us the opportunity to be a part of His introduction to people that don’t know Him. What an honor.

He is calling you and I to make Him known by our lives.

Matthew 5:16 ESV

In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.