God often breaks in on the most ordinary, even the most discouraging, days of our lives. Moses had once been a prince in Pharaoh's palace, yet now he was shepherding his father-in-law's flock in the wilderness of Midian, and forty years had slipped by. He assumed his life had quietly faded into nothing, until one day, beside a bush on Mount Horeb, he met the living God. That encounter rewrote the whole of Moses' life, and with it the destiny of the nation of Israel.
An Unusual Fire in the Wilderness
That day Moses led the flock, as he always did, into the far reaches of the wilderness. Suddenly he saw something extraordinary: a bush burning with fire, yet not consumed. A bush is the smallest, most unremarkable thing in the desert, one spark and it flares up, and in a moment it is ash. Yet this fire kept burning, and the bush remained untouched. Amazed, Moses said he would turn aside to look.
And Moses said, I will now turn aside, and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt.Exodus 3:3 (KJV)
God Is Calling You by Name
When Moses turned aside to look, God called to him out of the bush, twice over: "Moses, Moses!" God did not use some general title; He called him by his own name. The God who made the universe knows every single person, and He knew Moses in the middle of his discouragement and disappointment. His call is never a cold command, but a tender cry full of love and care. Moses answered, "Here am I."
Take the Sandals off Your Feet
God's first word to Moses was unexpected. It was not a task, but a matter of holiness. God said, "Draw not nigh hither: put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground." In Eastern culture, removing one's sandals was a sign of reverence and humility. God wanted Moses to understand that when we stand before God, the first thing we must learn is not ability, but awe.
And he said, Draw not nigh hither: put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground.Exodus 3:5 (KJV)
God Has Heard the Cry of His People
God then made plain to Moses why He had appeared. He is not a God enthroned on high, aloof and unfeeling. On the contrary, He saw clearly the affliction of Israel in Egypt, and He heard their cry under the cruelty of their taskmasters. God said, "I know their sorrows." This is a God who sees, hears, and comes down to save. Through the hand of Moses He would bring His people out of the land of slavery and into a land flowing with milk and honey.
"I AM THAT I AM"
Timid at heart, Moses asked God: if the people were to ask the name of the God who sent him, what should he say? Then God revealed to him that holy name which has shaken every age. This name declares that God exists dependent on nothing that He has made; He is the One who is eternal, self-sufficient, faithful, and unchanging. Yesterday, today, and forever, He is "I AM."
And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.Exodus 3:14 (KJV)
A Weak Man, a Called Man
It is worth noticing that when God chose Moses, Moses was no dashing hero. He was an old shepherd who thought himself slow of speech, who had lived years as a fugitive, and who had all but given up on his dreams. God's call never rests on how qualified a person is, but on the fact that God is with him. God promised Moses, "Certainly I will be with thee." What truly makes a person strong is not his own ability, but the presence of the One who sends him.
The Fire Still Burns, the Call Still Goes Out
The fire in the bush is a sign of God appearing to ordinary people: He is willing to meet us in the lowliest of places, burning us with an unquenchable love yet never destroying us. Today this God, "I AM THAT I AM," still calls to everyone willing to stop, to turn aside, and to look. Perhaps you are walking through a wilderness of your own, feeling ordinary, weary, forgotten. But God knows your name, and He has long since seen your tears.
May you open the Scriptures yourself and read Exodus 3 slowly, listening for God to speak to you. In the BiblePro App you can use "chapter-by-chapter parallel translations" to set the KJV alongside other versions and study them side by side, and wherever something puzzles you, you can use "AI Search" to ask questions and find light. And may you find a real church where you live, to worship together with brothers and sisters and to experience this living and true God together.
In this series
- 1In the Beginning, God Created — The Story of Creation in Genesis
- 2The Fall of Man: Temptation in Eden and the First Promise of Salvation
- 3Cain and Abel: The World's First Tragedy Born of Envy
- 4Noah's Ark and the Great Flood: Grace in Judgment and the Covenant of the Rainbow
- 5The Tower of Babel: Human Pride and the Will of God
- 6The Altar of Isaac: The LORD Will Provide a Lamb
- 7Jacob's Ladder: The Grace That Met a Fugitive (Genesis 28)
- 8Joseph in Egypt: You Meant Evil, but God Turned It to Great Good
- 9Flame in the Bush: Moses and the Call That Would Not Burn Out (Exodus 3)
- 10The Ten Plagues of Egypt: The LORD Reveals to Pharaoh That He Is the True God
- 11The Passover Lamb: When I See the Blood, I Will Pass Over You
- 12Crossing the Red Sea: Stand Still and See the Salvation of the Lord
- 13Thunder and Fire on Sinai: The Ten Commandments and God's Covenant of Love
- 14The Golden Calf: The Idol Below the Mountain and Moses' Plea
- 15The Twelve Spies' Choice: Faith or Fear (Numbers 13-14)
- 16The Bronze Serpent Lifted High: A Picture of Salvation, One Look and You Live
- 17Balaam's Donkey: When God Turned a Curse into a Blessing
- 18Rahab and the Two Spies: The Scarlet Cord in the Window
- 19The Walls of Jericho Fall: When Obedience Is Mightier Than the Sword
- 20Hannah's Prayer: Giving Back to God What We Treasure Most
- 21Samuel Anoints David: The Lord Looks at the Heart
- 22David and Goliath: The Battle Is the LORD's
- 23David and Jonathan: A Covenant Love That Laid Down Its Own Rights
- 24David Spares Saul Twice: Leaving Vengeance in God's Hands
- 25You Are the Man: Nathan Confronts David
- 26Glory Fills the Temple: The House Solomon Built for the LORD
- 27Fire on Mount Carmel: Elijah Confronts the Prophets of Baal
- 28Elijah and the Widow of Zarephath: Faith in the Last Handful of Meal
- 29Naaman's Leprosy: The Humility He Learned in the Jordan
- 30Jonah and the Great Fish: The Turnaround of a Runaway Prophet
- 31The Fourth Man in the Fiery Furnace: Three Young Men Who Would Not Bow
- 32Daniel in the Lions' Den: Praying Three Times a Day and God's Deliverance
- 33The Writing on the Wall: A Kingdom Weighed in a Single Night (Daniel 5)
- 34Esther: Who Knows Whether You Have Come to the Kingdom for Such a Time as This?
- 35The Wise Men Follow the Star: Worship with Gold, Frankincense, and Myrrh
- 36The Transfiguration: A Glimpse of Glory Before the Cross
- 37Living Water at the Well: Jesus and the Samaritan Woman
- 38Zacchaeus Climbs the Sycamore: An Outcast Found by the Lord
- 39Pentecost: The Day the Church Was Born
- 40Stephen the First Martyr: The First to Die for the Lord
- 41Philip and the Ethiopian Eunuch: A Gospel Appointment on a Desert Road
- 42The Light on the Damascus Road: How Saul Became the Apostle Paul
- 43Peter and Cornelius: The Door of the Gospel Opens to the Gentiles
- 44Songs at Midnight, an Earthquake at Dawn: Salvation in Paul and Silas's Prison Cell
- 45Paul's Storm at Sea: The Miracle on the Island of Malta
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