Perceptive Moses

1 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.

2 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.

3 And Moses said, I will now turn aside, and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt.

4 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.

5 And he said, Draw not nigh hither: put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground.

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.

7 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;

8 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; (Exodus 3:1-8).

This is a rich experience between Moses and The Lord. First comes the sign of the glory of The Lord – the burning bush. Why a burning bush? Moses was out in the desert. Seeing wildfires was not uncommon. So maybe at first Moses saw the bush appearing to be on fire and didn’t think much of it. But then he realized that the bush was not being consumed – the fire was not wildfire, it was something else. So Moses turned aside, temporarily leaving his flocks, to investigate. When The Lord saw that Moses was paying attention and taking the time to approach, He spoke to Moses. Moses heard and heeded and was in turn blessed to not just see the presence of The Lord but also to see Him.

How many times in our lives does The Lord wait for us to notice Him and approach Him? How many times have we missed great blessings because we did not or would not notice the Lord’s presence? Do we put the things of the world first rather than putting God above all else? Do we take the time to see the many signs of God around us? Do we recognize His hand in our lives? Do we see and appreciate the tender mercies of The Lord?

Moses did and was richly blessed with the presence of The Lord. At first, Moses was afraid, hiding his face but Moses gained confidence at the urging of The Lord and spoke with The Lord face to face, learning the calling The Lord had for him. Moses was called as prophet, a great prophet who would go before the children of Israel and lead them out of captivity into a land of promise.

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