Here I am

DEVOTION

EXODUS

HERE I AM

Ex 3:1-6

3:1 Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the far side of the desert and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. 2 There the angel of the LORD appeared to him in flames of fire from within a bush. Moses saw that though the bush was on fire it did not burn up. 3 So Moses thought, "I will go over and see this strange sight — why the bush does not burn up." 4 When the LORD saw that he had gone over to look, God called to him from within the bush, "Moses! Moses!" And Moses said, "Here I am." 5 "Do not come any closer," God said. "Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground." 6 Then he said, "I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob." At this, Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look at God.

NIV

Some questions has been posed as to whether Reuel was also called Jethro or is the original word translated father-in-law simply mean relative. What is proposed is Jethro is actually Moses brother-in-law who seceded his father as the priest of Midian, Reuel now being dead, since it has been forty years now that Moses has been among them. However that is not germane to our lesson here. What we have is the calling of Moses by God in the most of spectacular of ways. Why did he choose to draw the attention of Moses by having a bush full of fire, yet not being consumed by it, leaves some questions. Perhaps Moses was not very aggressive in his faith. Although, he was very aware he was a Hebrew, he did spend forty years in the household of Pharaoh with all the beliefs in multiple gods. Now he has lived and married into the household of a priest of Midian, who we are not certain whether he was a priest of God or of some god. We know looking ahead into chapter 18 that after Moses tells him all that God, Yahweh, has done in the rescue of the Israelites from Egypt, he praises Yahweh and acknowledges he is greater than any other god. So at this point we might believe he is serving some other god. By the time of his experience seeing the burning bush, he has spent some eighty years surrounded by people who serve other gods, actually being family a member with them. First as a son of Pharaoh and now as a son-in-law of the Priest of Midian. Could all those years have influenced his belief system enough that God needed to do something spectacular in order to grab his attention? Although Moses was indeed a person God had predetermined to use he needed to wait until Moses was ready to be used. We recall the preceding passage about God remember his covenant, hearing the outcry of the children of Israel. If he had preplanned to use Moses when he reached eighty years of age, he had already determined to deliver Israel from the hands of the Egyptians eighty years before their outcry, when Moses was born. However our lesson is in this mindset of Moses. Was he in tune with God all those years or had he sort of drifted away having been diverted by being surrounded by those who worshipped other gods. Surely he was aware of Yahweh, but was he serving and worshipping him? We too are surrounded by people everywhere that serve other gods. We are continually being influenced by their beliefs. Every television ad, every radio ad, every magazine ad, even many of the programs themselves we watch and listen to could have some influence on our thinking. The people we associate with at work, or at play, even other Christians can have an influence on our thinking. Although other believers do worship God, denominational biases might override our common worship. Conversations turn to attempts to influence us to believe their denominational bias is the right interpretation of scripture. As with Moses, we are continually bombarded with external influences that could affect our relationship with God. God needed to get his attention so he could speak with him about what he needed Moses to do. Does God need to do something extra ordinary to grab our attention in order for him to have a conversation with us? Without spending much time on the Holy ground aspect of their encounter, it is certainly Holy ground whenever God shows up. Now having said that, are we not the temple of the Holy Spirit? Then should not our bodies be Holy ground and should not we be in constant communication with God? He has already done some spectacular to grab our attention, he has revealed the truth about his salvation of our soul through Jesus and he has sent his Spirit to dwell within us. How more spectacular could he be to get our attention? Do we need some physical miracle, like a burning bush? He has even done physical miracles for many of us as well. He has healed, he has provide miraculously. He has guided us directly, actually speaking so we can hear his voice. He has told us to be still and know he is God. Over and over again he wants to be the major influence in our lives, so let us not allow those distractions to overpower his still small voice when he calls upon us to do his will, his bidding, his requirements of service. Let us always be ready to answer, “Here I am”.