Stop and Look

 DEVOTION

THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES

STOP AND LOOK

Acts 7:30-32

30 "After forty years had passed, an angel appeared to Moses in the flames of a burning bush in the desert near Mount Sinai. 31 When he saw this, he was amazed at the sight. As he went over to look more closely, he heard the Lord's voice: 32'I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.' Moses trembled with fear and did not dare to look.

NIV

Although it seems like we are in Exodus, we are still in the middle of Stephen’s answer to the question of the high priest as he stands before the Sanhedrin. Stephen is laying out the case of being disobedient to the word to show all the members of the Sanhedrin how they are just like their forefathers, being disobedient to the word. He is recounting that after another forty years of the life of Moses, having time for his spiritual maturity to grow, God calls him to the task that he was born to do. Stephen is showing them, through Moses, that God does call and speaks to his people. He showed Moses a sign that could not be of natural causes, flames in a burning bush that was not consumed by the flames. Then Moses heard the voice of God, still, he did tremble. Stephen has heard the voice of God in some sense, as he was full of faith and of the Holy Spirit as well as full of God’s divine influence upon his heart and of God’s power. A man cannot be so full of all this from God and not have heard God speak. It is interesting how God chooses at times to reveal himself to us through His creation, such as this burning bush. All throughout the Exodus of the people of Israel, God showed signs and wonders through nature. Even all the plagues in Egypt were within the nature that God created. Stephen will continue to demonstrate how he uses men for his purpose through the life of Moses, but at the same time showing these supposed leaders they are just like the people who rejected the words of God. We need to be very careful in our looking at the word of God. It can be easy for us to “cherry-pick” only the truths we want to use for our benefit but overlook those commands that could reveal the needed change in our lives. An example of this is the fact that Jesus told us that we need to change and become like a little child and if we don’t, we would see the kingdom of heaven. Do we do that? Do we have the faith of a little child? Do we believe everything God has told us and act accordingly? If we “cherry pick” then we are not believing everything. Moses questioned at first but then as assured God was with him and still at the end, Moses disbelieved on one issue. It seems men will always struggle with complete undoubting faith, as our humanity gets in the way from time to time. We tend to look through natural eyes and see only what we want to see, but God is there, ready to reveal himself within his creation if we only stop and look. Moses stopped to look at the burning bush, he could have just passed on by, but he did not. We cannot just pass by either; we need to stop and look and we will see and hear from God. Maybe not always in nature, but it could be, but we will see him and hear from him from within his word if we but stop and look.